Activity 1 (make a blog post)
- Would you want to be released from the Matrix? Why or why not?
- Can you think of any institutions or concepts in our world that are like the Matrix?
- How is the way you understand the world, your ideas and beliefs, shaped by the actions of others?
- Who has the power to shape your ideas and beliefs? In what ways is this good and in what ways is it not so good?
Extension: Read Plato's Allegory of the Cave to get an idea of where the filmmakers got the idea for the movie.
Activity 2 (respond as a comment)
Let's pretend there is a machine that would let you experience absolutely ANYTHING that you wanted. If you've seen Total Recall, it's something like that (or the Holodeck on Star Trek). Be a rockstar, write a novel, become an astronaut, fall in love, invent cold fusion -- you could experience ANYTHING you wanted, just by programming the machine. You wouldn't be 'actually' experiencing these things; you'd be floating in some tank of water, being fed vitamins and nutrients through a tube. The illusion would be so perfect that you wouldn't know that it's an illusion.
- Do we care about certain things independent of the experiences they create for us? For example, is being in reality important even if the experience isn’t pleasant?
- Is it better to live happily in the Matrix than miserably in reality? Why or why not?
- How do we know that we are not in an experience machine? Can we prove we are not? How do we know that what we perceive is real?
