Philosophical question about Free Will in The Matrix?

Question

First, if you are reading this post to tell me about Jesus, leave me alone. If you are going to tell me to accept the lord, leave me alone. Do not post. According to your religion I am going to hell and there is no way you can save me...I will not believe in a story written 2,000 years ago that has a reasonable suspicion about it's credibility. Do not answer unless your answer is intelligent and helpful.

Now for the question:
As I understand it, people in The Matrix could do anything they want. For example, I am in The Matrix right now. It would be possible for me to fly if I believed I could fly. But I cannot believe it without doing it first, so it never happens. If I believed in it, it would be possible, correct? So let's go back a few years...I am 6 years old. I am standing on top of my dresser with a sheet thinking I am superman. I believe that I can fly, so I dive off of my dresser into the air expecting and truly believing that I will zoom off into the air. But instead...

I fall 5 or 6 feet and bust my face open. If I truly believed I could fly, why didn't I? Is there some explanation behind this?



I believe that The Matrix is very possible. There is no reason it shouldn't be considered as seriously as so many people consider Christianity. I agree with what I read earlier that The Bible is probably fictional, and that The Matrix was written better. I do not wish to offend, but this is my opinion. This is the only problem I have found with the idea of The Matrix as a religion.

razor

I don't believe in the movie, I believe in the concept. I'm talking about...how about a few years ago. Didn't you read about the little kids killing themselves by jumping out of trees because they thought they were power rangers? If they believed fully (which I'm sure they did or else they wouldn't have jumped), why did they fall? Thanks for the awesome responses so far, and the response about me going to hell and accepting jesus...You ignorant bastard. You did exactly what I politely asked you not to do. You will go to hell.

razor

Mojave, to some people, ignorance is bliss. Maybe you have already had the chance...You were offered the red and blue pill, and you chose blue of course. You then passed it off as a dream...
To most people, The Matrix is a movie. To me, The Matrix is a movie. However, the idea expressed by the movie is just as believable as the idea of Christianity...The only difference is that the producers of The Matrix admitted it was a fictitious story.

razor

Belief in God isn't illogical...We think that because we exist, something had to create us. I'm not saying that there isn't a God. The theory of The Matrix doesn't say there isn't a god, and it doesn't say that any religion is wrong. The Matrix Theory is like a step deeper than any religion. It says that this life we are living in isn't real, it is a simulation type thing. That doesn't mean that there isn't a religion for when the body dies. It says that our bodies do exist, and they do die when we die in The Matrix...It doesn't say what happens when we die except for that we are removed from The Matrix. As for the thing about laws of The Matrix not being able to be broken...Haven't you ever seen anything 'impossible'? Who's to say it's impossible if it happened? If you think about it this way, anything is possible. We are learning all the time and if we told people from 300 years ago what we thought now they would think we were crazy. Think about it.

razor

Answer 1

I am intrigued by the Matrix too and I do see similarities in our world. I think about the 1 minute mile - people knew for ages that it was simply not possible to run a mile in 1 minute, until someone did it. Once that person did it, lots of people did it right after him. Why? Because now they could see that it could be done.

You, as a child, may have thought to fly, but you had never seen another human fly in this manner and so the belief is not 100%. I think that this table is hard and solid, largely because I have been raised to believe it by be people who have also been raised to believe it. It is in the universal consciousness that it is solid (and it must be for the physical plane to work properly) but if we could suspend our certainty for just a moment we could put our hand right through the table.

The trick is to really know it - and that is the hard part. That's was it so interesting about the Matrix - Neo finds people who can open the door for him, though he must learn the Truth for himself (and he is one of the few who can understand and use that truth even though others have taught it to him).

There are people who can fly. We are co-creators in this existence and thoughts become things. Anything can happen - but just as neo had to leave "the real world" to experience that, so would we. We would have to remove ourselves from society and spend time in meditation, envisioning such a goal in isolation or with like minded others to really get off the ground.

Peace!

Answer 2

I read that the bros who wrote the movie got a lot of their ideas from a cult of early christianity called the gnostics, the same ones who have so many books appearing lately like the gospel of judas. they believed that everything in the physical world was evil and were heavily into mysticism. Their ideas were a form of man made philosophy.

I like the concept of the movie and actually believe that a lot of things are meant to deceive us also and we're not yet living the real life as mentioned by the apostle paul in 1 Timothy 6; 19. That's because we live in a wicked world right now under the control of unseen forces ( read Ephesians 6; 12)

I wouldn't recommend trying to break the laws of nature though, remember that song ' I fought the Law and the Law won"

Answer 3

Okay so what if reality is a "matrix" of what we believe?

A six year old is still under strong mental influence of her parents so part of what she believes is from her parents minds. Thus her beliefs happen in her imagination but subconsciously she is attached to her parents ideas and will experience life through her conditioned consciousness including the limitations we are all used to.

If an adult gained mental independence from parents and society and developed her faith abilities so incredibly strongly that she could actually believe in super powers, maybe it would work. But you would have to shake off all conditioned ideas of the material world and that is like a god-level of consciousness. Very few people in history acheive it if it is even possible.

So if you try jumping off a dresser put a mattress on the floor just in case you aren't there yet.
In the mean time, in my opinion practice kindness, that's the best religion anyway.

Answer 4

Consider the matrix for what it is, a computer program. It has certain rules programmed into it that, if you recognize as artificial, can be altered or broken. However, it's not just belief that changes a computer program. Consider the example of Neo after he has come back to life. At that point, he is able to fully read the source code and can therefore manipulate it.

In other words, the rules exist because they do have an effect. To change them, you must first be able to understand them. Merely neglecting them does nothing.

Answer 5

Well there is a simple reason it doesn't work, the matrix was fictitious. Although it may have been paraphrasing a 6,000 year old book that has yet to be proven wrong, that doesn't mean that everything in the movie should been taken literally. True it was a good action movie and fun to watch for many people, but if you are looking for deep meaning in the story (and yes there was a lot of that put in there on purpose) you aren't meant to take the situations literally. most of the things are simply metaphors.

Answer 6

Belief in God is quite logical, and follows philosophical, even scientific laws, with a simple step of faith required. The Matrix is illogical and merely follows "what if" rather than physical and scientific laws. In addition, a giant leap of faith is required -- so giant, in fact, it can get you killed. I'd stay away from windows higher than the 1st floor if you think the Matrix is the truth...

Answer 7

I dunno if this Question belongs here in this category or not since it involves clearly a work of fiction which no one claims to be fact . but on to the question . if it was indeed the matrix then maybe but there is no way to test that since the author of the work did not specify . but the children under training were doing exactly that maybe
also when neo goes on the final journey at least for me it appeared that the matrix was actually a matrix with-in a matrix as if it was he should have been a normal human outside the matrix obeying the laws of physics and clearly he was not .(dunno maybe it was just me who felt like it or maybe its common knowledge and I haven't run into someone who discusses it )


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Answer 8

i assumed it interesting that they have the main significant character a savior and at diverse factors in time he resurrects himself and others. yet another parallel to Gods is the relationship of guy and device. device, guy's creation, defeats guy and takes over the international very like the greek gods defeated the titans and took over. those people left serve a purpose and/or are chained very like atlas and Prometheus. on a similar time as i don't think of those parallels have been intentional they're there and bring up the question of ways we as a species view opposition

Answer 9

I could never understand why anyone would want to leave their warm and happy life in the Matrix to live in the sewer and eat rat meat while constantly fighting for their lives.. ??? I vote "stay in the Matrix and be happy"... I wish I could have stayed in mine...

Answer 10

You had a thought of doubt in your mind. In that split second of doubt, you hit the floor...... Your belief must be total and focussed......