Matrix Essay- would you take the red or blue pill? TOK - 90%
by
harshpatel2396 (student)
Harsh Patel
Red Pill
A question that arises in an inquirers mind is, “what is the point in living in ignorant existence?” I would definitely decide to take the red pill which allows me to discover the world as a truth and reality over mere illusions through reasoning and not just sense perception. My secondary reason is the motivation to find true existence and appreciate truth. The last and major reason to swallow the red pill is acquiring the knowledge to determine the amount of control on one’s life. I have a natural crave for finding new perspectives of viewing the world and appreciating the way it functions.
Through sense perception but more importantly reasoning we are able to discover the world for what is reality and just illusions. In Allegory of the Cave by Plato, the prisoners are stranded by chains as only see projected shadows of real objects. However this changes, when anyone “is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck and walk and look towards the light… to see the realities of which in his former states had seen the shadows.”(Plato 2) The prisoner begins to question the shadows he sees and start to reason them which motivate him to get up and seek answers. Similar to Neo from The Matrix, when he is able to bend the spoon as the spoon kid advices him to, “not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible, instead... only try to realize the truth… There is no spoon.”(The Matrix) Neo, like the prisoner, inquires his sense perception to discover what he believes to be real and what is actually real. A philosopher named Descartes is also one who inquires his sense perception and uses reasoning to differentiate reality and illusions, in particular dreams. Descartes writes, “How often have I dreamt that I was in these familiar circumstances, that I was dressed, and occupied this place by the fire, when I was lying undressed in bed?” (Descartes 2) Our senses deceive us in the way that many times we are unable to determine whether the inmate objects in our dream are real or illusions. Contrary to Descartes, Morpheus tells neo, “I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up.”(Matrix) However, both Descartes and Neo recognize there is a truth beyond what they see as potential illusions in the current state. I believe that being able to tell between truth and illusion is greater than living in only a fake world.
