The Matrix – welcome to the unreal world

by Captain Walker

Categories: Humanities, Psychology & Philosophy, CW

For those who don’t like Sci-Fi, kindly move on NOW! I’m not giving time to grumbles. I began looking at older Sci-Fi films recently, as I’m fed up with modern Sci-Fi and other films that just lack an interesting story line. Passengers was one exception.

The Matrix was a blockbuster movie that came out in 1999. Idiots who go “I hate Sci-Fi!” missed some important insights into life – which is fine because ‘everybody’ is entitled to their own choices, or so they think. What they missed, is that what they know to be their own choices is often times not! I’m being interrupted by Stupid in the background, bawling “It’s just a movie for conspiracy theorists!” It’s difficult to write my blogs when this interruption happens. I explained this before. I must have shared the video below before now, but I’m not sure. I certainly listen to that clip on average once every 2 months or so.The 1999 film was followed up by two others – and if you think I’m going to spoon feed those, you are certainly in the wrong place. Those who saw the 1999 main film and the two follow-ups, were the sort of people who wanted to dig deeper into their own existence – by way of the metaphors in the film series. The film is what can be described as an allegory. That means you take from it what you want (or not).

The allegory

The Red-Pill-Blue-Pill is a metaphor for the ultimate choice i.e. to look or not look, to see or not see, to think or not think, to explore or not. Transcript below (from YouTube).

The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us.
Even now, in this very room.
You can see it when you look at your window, or when you turn on your television.
You can feel it when you go to the work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes.
It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
That you are a slave, Neo.
Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you can not smell or taste or touch.
A prison…for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be…told what the Matrix is.
You have to see it for yourself.
This is your last chance.
After this, there is no turning back.
You take the blue pill…
The story ends…
You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want believe.
You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland.
And I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Remember…All I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

Choice

‘Choice’ or ‘Choices’ are themes that are explored in all of The Matrix films. Choice is for most people, a thing that they do consciously. The reality is that many decisions that minds make are actually orchestrated by a whole load of factors ‘below the surface’ of consciousness. Your choice of a religion for example is not actually ‘your choice’. How? What percentage of people in the Middle East are Christians? Compare with the West? Or look at pockets of people in India who are devout Christians and the larger picture where they are not. If you do, you will see that there are important historical determinants for those in small pockets.

The sort of food you decide to eat on a daily or average of a year, is predetermined by cultures. So – I’m afraid your choices have been made for you by a much larger process well in advance of your mind making them. The times at which you feel hungry was actually determined by history, somewhere in the 16th Century, but many don’t know that!

Be honest – what would you prefer, the easy and secure life, or the hard life? Unless you’re a stoic, you choice is the easy life. Reality is not an easy place. What people actually want is the security and ease of fantasy. In the clip below, Cypher gives up on the pain of reality. [Warning: if you are a vegetarian or otherwise would be traumatised from seeing someone eating a steak, then kindly do not traumatise yourself and blame me i.e. avoid clicking the video!]

Agent Smith: Do we have a deal, Mr. Reagan?

Cypher (aka Mr Reagan): You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.

Agent Smith: Then we have a deal?

Cypher: I don’t want to remember nothing. Nothing. You understand? And I want to be rich. You know, someone important. Like an actor.

Agent Smith: Whatever you want, Mr. Reagan.

Cypher: Okay. I get my body back into a power plant, re-insert me into the Matrix, I’ll get you what you want.

Message from Stupid: “Are you saying people need to have a hard life?”  I’ll ignore that sort of nonsense.

Decisions

What is a decision? It is the taking of one among two or more options or choices. In clinical medicine, there are often algorithms that help doctors to make decisions. In airplane crisis situations, there is a manual to run through – often with algorithms for trouble shooting and taking decisions. Those work pretty well, but obviously not all the time. On a minority of occasions they fail because all algorithms are based on body of experience and lessons learned. When something outside of that historical experience arises, the algorithm may fail to provide the best option. That’s when human skill and experience has to come in.

But this post is not about those sort of decisions. It is about the stuff of life e.g. What car to buy? When to buy a home? Who to marry? To what extent our daily lives are orchestrated by factors below the surface of consciousness? Obviously medical decision-making or flying a plane is not that sort of thing. Few people do a spreadsheet when deciding which car to buy.

Take who to vote for – research has indicated that the degree to which a candidate is seen, the number of hands they shake, their messages of hope, how charismatic they appear etc – all weigh heavily on the minds of voters. Individual voters may not be consciously be aware of those influential factors. The logic of the individual voter does not really matter in the big numbers game of elections. Why? Because in the power game, the ruling party only needs a spread of attitudes (which then shapes beliefs) to drive the final balance of votes in their favour.

What wins elections? Talk about lower taxes. Increase spending on social care. More jobs for everybody. Improved health services – and so on. So – it’s only a matter of which candidate is more convincing – and that’s not about belief. It’s about attitudes. As I’ve said before, “Control the attitude and you’ll control the belief.” Did I say every time? I did not! I’m speaking probabilistically. Jeez – people have such a problem with probabilities. Well, your leaders do not.

This is the equation they use: Human values → Attitude → Belief → Decisions. So ‘control’ the attitude via manipulation of sentiment on human values and ‘victory is yours’! Did I say always? I did not!

In the video below, the how the Architect operates is explained.

Control

The Matrix as conceptualised in the film, is a metaphor about political control. Obviously many other things control our lives. Yes – political is a big one because it determines loads of things – and no, I’m not going to unpack (or spoon feed everybody). Why can’t people do their own bledy thinking?! Because they’re bledy lazy! That’s it.

The point is that political and social systems apply influence to values which then orchestrates minds into choices. Who really has the control? You or ‘them’?

Some believe that their sense of agency is immune to all influence, and that nobody or organisation or political system can tell them what to think or say. Yuh know the sort of, “I’m a mature, educated adult so I decide what I think or believe!” Well, I have to laugh really. Mind control is beyond ‘agency’ – it caters for your sense of agency. They’ll control your ‘agency’ as they very well like. How? Control your attitudes and beliefs, and choices you make will fall exactly where they want them to, enough of the times for their purposes. Did I say every time? I did NOT!

I could go on to discuss control or influence form religions and spiritual organisations, but I won’t because I’ll be accused of attacking somebody.

The mindmap

Look, it’s a mindmap so don’t come asking me, ‘Are colleagues at work, relationships?‘ Those types are too busy being lazy and mis-prioritised. They don’t have time to think, you see – recovering from a busy night. So they won’t spot that work colleagues might be covered by ‘work related’, in part. The simple mindedness of some people is mind-boggling. They think that quick validation of my thoughts or acknowledgement is ‘their job done‘ – yuh know, to show support and say, ‘I’m your friend‘ (when they know I don’t have any bledy friends!).

The whole web of influence is a Matrix i.e. a thing that leads to who you are, in the ways you operate, think, behave and make you believe that what you think are conscious choices. But think – or not – who’s really in control? Your sense of control is that given to you in the ‘prison for your mind’.

As we know prisoners – in real prisons – do make conscious decisions that they know to be in their control. They are not free though, to make real choices. Can they order up a takeaway from KFC and have it delivered to their cell? Nope! So they make conscious choices from the menus they are provided with,  at a canteen (most times). But what of the prison that you don’t see? You do nothing about it. You can’t! Just to be clear, I’m only using prison as way of explaining how choices are orchestrated. I’m not saying ‘everything’ is a prison. This is about metaphor – to the thick-as-two-planks who cannot think abstractly.

What does it mean?

I’m not here to tell ‘everybody’ what my thoughts should mean to them. I know what it means to me.

I look very carefully into my ‘choices’, and under my choices.

And – do I care how mad I appear in posting all this? I do NOT!

What’s next?

You bugger off and do what you like! End of!

Disclaimer & Guidance

The reading of posts on this blog is subject to the Terms & Conditions. Unpalatable truths and personal experiences may be told. Nothing posted on this blog is directed at any identified person. On occasions individuals are quoted anonymously. That does not mean that they have been identified to the world. Should any person or organisation reading this blog find something that makes them feel or know that they  are being referred to – any such perceived identification does not mean ‘identified to the world’. ‘Stupid‘ is an impish figment of my imagination who occasionally is allowed to pop up – and does not represent any known individual, individuals or groups. The treatment of  ‘Stupid‘ is not representative of the way people are treated in real life. Adverse inferences made are dismissed in advance.  


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