Welcome to the Matrix

Once in a while we come across some brilliant movies which mesmerize us and capture our imagination. For most viewers the plot, the action and fine execution of the story-line are enough but there is one section which is intrigued by the abstract part of the movie, the philosophical aspect which is open to interpretations. This leads to intense discussions on forums and a detailed analysis of what exactly the movie is trying to convey. The Matrix is one such movie. I was quite young when the first installment came out. No doubt the basic idea of the movie and the action scenes led me to like it. I did read some articles explaining the philosophy behind it, but only recently have I come to understand it through experience.

From the moment we are born, our senses start capturing everything they can; sight, sounds, feel, smell, taste. All this is processed, interpreted (immediately or later), stored and used (immediately or later) for action. The key stage here is interpretation. This is heavily influenced by information we already have stored or which we would get sometime in the future. In the second case, the stored information gets amended and our memory catalog updated. All things are good until we are living with this set of inferences, believing that it’s the truth or reality. Then out of nowhere someone comes and tells you that some of these things you know are wrong. This is backed by “evidence” to make you believe in the real truth. This is where things start getting confusing and “reality” gets muddled. Such things keep happening and then you start wondering, what exactly is this “reality” or “truth”? Is there really such a thing called the “truth”? Or is it always only perceptions? What you see is how your eyes and brain interpret the light captured. Now if someone sees red as blue for whatever reasons, isn’t that the reality for that person? (Now there would be a problem if someone sees something that’s not there; and this is not an uncommon phenomenon; I will not venture there). 

In today’s world most of our wakeful time is spent on our phones, tablets and PCs getting continuously bombarded with humongous amount of information. However smart you think you are, it is not too difficult to influence our mind. It is said that ‘seeing is believing’. But as more and more of what we see is streamed off of digital media, this saying falls apart because all that content is, more often than not, far from reality. It is what they want us to see and believe in. And “they” is no one else but people like us with interests of their own and who have effectively harnessed the power of digital media. A large proportion of what we know today comes from social media with people sharing stuff on their walls, or through tweets. We hardly ever give a second thought to the veracity of these things before forming our own opinions and propagating those ahead. Imagine what a twisted version of the events would take form. (Slightly off topic… but do read up on this idea called Memes by Richard Dawkins). Digital media is now reshaping entire democracies and giving birth to revolutions. It is a powerful tool and yet dangerous if in wrong hands. What we need to realize that from the moment we are born we are captured in the Matrix called Real World and there is going to be no Morpheus coming to rescue us with red and blue pills (or is there??)

This Matrix is the reality of today, although what it propagates may or may not be the reality. We all need to be Neos in our own capacity and raise our level of awareness so that the Matrix will not harness us in a way that will belittle our existence. We need to be responsible filters of what we propagate. This awareness can only come from good education, reading, talking to people and most importantly questioning everything because blind acceptance would be a trap. Unfortunately a large section of us do not like this idea of questioning everything (for obvious reasons). The Matrix we are in is here to stay and it is only going to get stronger by the day. We are its Architects and we are its Neos. Coexistence is the only option. So we better compile this fact in our brain and adapt to stay autonomous lest the movie becomes a reality.