Power resides where men believe it resides.
— Varys, Game Of Thrones
What if some guy in a black leather gimp suit and a deep, seductive voice told you he could show you The Truth and offered you two pills?
You’d tell him to fuck off. As would I. Because that is an offer you absolutely should refuse.
The consequence of that decision, the possibility left behind, the road not taken… These are major themes explored in The Matrix.
Are our decisions really our own? Do our destinies belong to us, or are they out of our control?
Fate.
Big philosophical jargon. Best leave it to the lecture halls, the late night bar stalls and the couch surfing baked bro’s.
I choose to tackle a, relatively, easier topic. One heavily prevalent within the workings of this film. Although, many of us seem to have forgotten it’s there.
But first, a little background filler…
“It’s the question that drives us”
“What is The Matrix?”
The Matrix is reality as you or I see it.
Hear it.
Taste it.
Smell it.
Feel it.
The inspiration for The Matrix is a theory proposed by French philosopher Rene Descartes. He’s popular for his quote, “I think, therefore, I am”.
Descartes’ theory is called The brain in the vat. It’s an idea that has puzzled intellectuals for centuries.
How do you know that the world around you is real? That any of this is really happening? How do you know you aren’t just a brain, floating, in a vat?
The air you breathe, the smells in your nostrils and the sights you see could all just be electrical wires stimulating the cells in your brain.
“If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”
— Morpheus
Alas, there is no easy way to disprove this theory. If philosophers were as gifted at drawing conclusions as they are at asking questions, they’d ruin their livelihoods.
Like I said, I’m not here to tackle the philosophy.
The Matrix is not a story about philosophy. Nor is it all that scientific. It’s not just a Kung-Fu flic, or an action junkies paradise (although it has those moments).
What it is, is a story about belief.
Belief in yourself.
Belief is what makes, or breaks, The Matrix.
Fair Warning, this will get weird.
I’m not concerned. You know what you clicked on.
You know what this is about.
Bear with me as I try and lead you through this.
Or don’t.
I guess, what I’m asking is…
The Scene
The Spoon
Now, at this point in the film, Neo’s gone down the rabbit hole. He’s been to wonderland, and it ain’t wonderful.
Having realized he’s been brought up in an artificial reality, he’s back in The Matrix, looking for answers.
He comes across the little boy, bending spoons, with his brain, like he’s fucking Alakazam.
This comes as a neat revelation to Neo, who has seen some crazy shit. His relationship with reality has grown tenuous as best.
Neo’s mastered 8 different marital arts in 11 hours. He’s had a robotic centipede pulled out of his bellybutton.
But he can’t bend a spoon. Not with his brain anyway. He could probably do it with his hands, but that wouldn’t be as cool.
So why can’t he bend the spoon?
Because, like the majority of humans, Neo wasn’t born in the natural world.
He was born in the Matrix.
“Like all of us you were born into bondage. A prison that you can’t smell, hear, taste or touch. A prison for your mind” — Morpheus
Their conscious minds have known no other reality. They live and die, having never realized the truth.
“What truth?”
My political science teacher showed me this photo once.
It made me angry. So angry I could’ve bent 10 spoons without touching them.
You see, the painting above isn’t a pipe.
It’s a painting of a pipe.
The reason I was so angry is that I felt like she had wasted my time.
“Oh really, wow. Thanks for that.” What an important distinction.
The problem is, now, I see her point.
That isn’t a pipe. There is no spoon. And I’m not in a vat.
How do I know this?
Because the moment that you think the spoon is the real, is the moment you can’t bend it.
As soon as you realize that pipe isn’t a pipe, it becomes a painting.
And my brain isn’t floating in a vat, because I’m sitting on a couch, and I can see the back of my head, in the reflection, in the window, and there are no wires coming out of it.
This could all equate to: Your thoughts define your reality.
But there is more to it.
You can think all you want that there is no spoon, and still not bend it.
You can think that is a pipe, and smoke it (or try).
And I can think that I’m starting to feel claustrophobic in this jar that some sicko is keeping my brain in.
But that doesn’t change anything.
Where the switch is, is in the belief.
Believing, the spoon is not there.
That that pipe is a painting.
That I really am here. Now. Unpickled.
That’s what makes the magic happen.
“Don’t think you are. Know you are”
At its core, this movie isn’t scientific. It’s got hackers, space ships, robots, coding, gadgets and gizmos galore.
AI, alternate realities, visual effects and CGI.
The questions it’s posed have puzzled the great scientific and intellectual thinkers of our age;
“I’ve had so many simulation discussions it’s crazy,” Musk said on stage at Vox Media’s Code Conference Wednesday night. “In fact, it got to the point where basically every conversation was the AI slash simulation conversation and my brother and I finally agreed that we’d ban any such conversations if we’re ever in a hot tub. Because that really kills the magic."
— Elon Musk (Business Insider, Jillian D’Onfro, 2016)
Yet the plot revolves around this simple premise:
“Then you will see that it is not the spoon that bends…
It is only yourself”
