Allegory of the Matrix

The ideas portrayed in The Matrix have an uncanny connection to Plato's The Allegory of the Cave, a story that explores the difference between seeing knowledge through one's experiences versus the truth. People who have lived their lives forced into a position that only allows them to look at shadows on a wall know nothing beyond the cave they are bound to. As a result, they end up naming the shadows they see, and the shadows become their reality, their truth. People have a tendency to believe what they see and narrow-mindedly restrict their beliefs to what they establish to be "reality". At that point, even if the truth dances in their face with a mustache and top hat while doing backflips in the air, they remain so fixated on their own beliefs that they are blind to the truth. This concept reminds me of a saying I have once heard about how a goldfish who has only ever lived in a glass bowl wouldn't know how big the ocean is; and if I told it that a dingy little pond about two or three times the size of its bowl was the ocean, the goldfish would be none the wiser.

Now, back to The Matrix, a film that reveals the illusions of the mind and portrays the difference between a filtered, artificial reality versus a true reality. As seen in modern society today, humans believe what they choose to believe rather than what is true, allowing them to be chained down by their own minds. Similar to how the people of Plato's The Allegory of the Cave considered shadows to be their reality, Neo considered the "Matrix" to be his reality until his eyes were opened and he came to the realization that he was living in an AI simulation. Had Neo never encountered Morpheus, he would have remained in the simulated world, completely unaware that the world he was living in was a "fake".

In The Allegory of the Cave, Socrates goes on to explain how a person released from the cave and exposed to the sunlight will initially reject the new reality they are introduced to but then eventually learn to accept the truth and even prefer it over their previous view of the world. After explaining the truth about the Matrix to Neo, Morpheus offers a blue pill and a red pill to him. The blue pill would return Neo to his previous life of “normalcy” in the Matrix, a representation of mankind’s rejection of reality, while the red pill would take Neo deeper down the path of truth, a representation of acceptance. These ideals are often reflected in modern day politics, as many people who are stubbornly fixated on their personal beliefs refuse to listen to the truth; even when the truth is presented on a platter, overwhelmingly supported by scientific evidence and held together by layers of logic. On the other hand, those who are willing to open their eyes are presented with a new worldview that allows them to realize the power of the truth.