The Matrix: the red pill or the blue pill

[EmoBorg]

Let say you met a man by the name of Morpheus and he explains to you clearly and convincingly that your conscious is loaded onto a massive simulated reality and he offers you two choices.

Blue pill - stay in the simulated reality in blissful ignorance.

Red pill - wake up from the simulated reality and join the free humans in Zion.

You had an encounter with agents, who are actually powerful sentient programs that eliminate threats to the system and you came to the realization that things are not what they are.

What will be your choice.

 

[Skellington]

Red pill; otherwise, everything I do is bound to be pretty meaningless. Who wants to go to sleep on a glorified life support machine for the rest of their existence?

 

[Tosk]

Considering the reality they had to live in...blue for me. If I don't know the difference, what difference does it make? Joey Pants had the right idea.

 

[EmoBorg]

Considering the reality they had to live in...blue for me. If I don't know the difference, what difference does it make? Joey Pants had the right idea.

Cypher's views about the Matrix

 

[Tosk]

Exactly.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Wait a minute. Can this "Morpheus" character guarantee me that the Red Pill reality is not itself a simulation?

 

[Starkers]

Considering the reality they had to live in...blue for me. If I don't know the difference, what difference does it make? Joey Pants had the right idea.

This. One of the major problems I had with the Matrix is that Joe Pantoliana was about the only character I could empathise with, he was also curiously one of the only members of the resistance who seemed to have, well any individuality. It always struck me as strange that a bunch of people who are fighting against a homogenised society where free will is frowned upon should all be so lacking in personality or individual style, seriously they all dress the same, act the same...

 

[Gov Kodos]

The red pill was the computer's way to silence Neo's mind and let him think he was escaping.

 

[Icemizer]

I took both and ended up being able to create my own simulations.

 

[JarodRussell]

What if he didn't take any pills? Stay in the reality knowing it's not real?

 

[EmoBorg]

What if he didn't take any pills? Stay in the reality knowing it's not real?

That is interesting. I think that he will continue to have doubts if he choose not to take either one of those two pills.

If he chooses either pills, he has made a choice, freeing him from doubt. His doubts will be cleared either by choosing ignorance or by actual reality.


Not choosing can leave you doubtful and feeling guilty about not choosing.

 

[Gaith]

Red pill; while sleek, the City of the Matrix looked pretty sterile and dull. I doubt the machines programmed it with much culture or good movies; better to risk your life fighting for freedom than do fake corporate busy work until your body fails and is recycled into the food supply.

... Besides, I hear Mouse can arrange one some private quality time with the Woman in Red.

It always struck me as strange that a bunch of people who are fighting against a homogenised society where free will is frowned upon should all be so lacking in personality or individual style, seriously they all dress the same, act the same...

But... Switch wore white!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd also choose the Blue Pill.

I couldn't live in a shithole like Zion. And I'm definitely not cut out to be a fighter or revolutionary or any of that crap.

Plus, in the original film, I got the impression that Morpheus was out to permanently destroy the Matrix and wake up everyone in it - whether they wanted it or not. Needless to say, I wouldn't have been in favor of that at all. Thankfully, at the end of the trilogy the Matrix was maintained; IMHO, anyone should have had the right to willingly choose to live in it.

(People in the Matrix do still have free will - it's not like the Agents were fascist dictators or anything like that. It seemed that the Agents actually interfered very little in people's day to day lives. It was only to go up against Morpheus' group that the Agents manifested themselves.)

 

[Robert Comsol]

It always struck me as strange that a bunch of people who are fighting against a homogenised society where free will is frowned upon should all be so lacking in personality or individual style, seriously they all dress the same, act the same...

Morpheus' and Niobe's actions and their ability to choose and do so suggest anything but a "homogenised" society.

Zion itself is the collection of all these misfits and individualists because these wouldn't fit in into the homogenised virtual society of the Matrix. They consist of various ethnic groups and that most of them dress the same is obviously not a question of choice but availability of materials.

The basic question is of philosophical nature. I think it comes down to what your goal in life and your understanding of the meaning of life is.

A fake and virtual existence would lack what I personally cherish most: truth and authenticity.

Or, as the great philosopher and my personal hero Socrates once said: The unexamined life is not worth living.

In the Matrix your fate is determined by the machines and the whole recruiting process of Neo is apparently part of a deliberate program.

While the Cypher character's choice is understandable it is also despicable because his choice comes at the expense of other fellow human beings.

Bob

 

[ManOnTheWave]

What if he didn't take any pills? Stay in the reality knowing it's not real?

My thought as well. Learn to manipulate fake reality, but fly under the radar of the agents.

 

[Marten]

Knowing what a shitty place the real world was, I'd choose the blue. If you do not know the difference, it doesn't really matter which is real. It would be real to me, and that's enough.

 

[Anwar]

What fi you took both pills at the same time?

 

[Gaith]

^ The red pill only serves as a locator for the trace program. So the redpills who gave you the pills would be able to find your physical body, but if you chose the blue pill, why would they bother?

(People in the Matrix do still have free will - it's not like the Agents were fascist dictators or anything like that. It seemed that the Agents actually interfered very little in people's day to day lives. It was only to go up against Morpheus' group that the Agents manifested themselves.)

As I said above, I think it's pretty safe to assume from the visual sickliness/drabness of the Matrix that that system is not exactly a great or particularly cultured place to live. It may not be North Korea bad, but I don't think it's at all unreasonable to assume that there are sub-Agent programs whose purpose is to stifle, discourage, or even eliminate those who, whether by artistic, scientific or other means, endanger the general passivity of the population.

So yeah, you might be free to be an accountant by day and a stamp collector by night, but even if we accept that freedom is possible within the confines of a computer program, saying that those plugged in have free will is a stretch.

 

[bbjeg]

Once the vale is removed and I know life is fake, it would be hard for me to go back to it. Red pill please, before an agent inhabits me.

 

[Mister Fandango]

They consist of various ethnic groups and that most of them dress the same is obviously not a question of choice but availability of materials.

So that's why when they entered the Matrix, they all wore exactly the same kinds of outfits in the same color, moved the same way, acted the same way, and otherwise were practically clones of each other. Even though they could have dressed and acted any way they wanted to.

The fucking agents were almost more diversified than these people were...