The Matrix does exist. In the film The Matrix, one of the rebels, Morpheus, tells the Messiah-like figure, Neo, that ôMatrix is the wool that has been pulled over your eyesö (Wachowski and Wachowski, 1999). The ôMatrix,ö then, is a fantasy world in which its inhabitants are drones who supply energy to the forces that control society, primarily corporate leaders. As noted at Why-US.org (2005), ômost U.S. citizens really are living in a Matrix û a dream world of government and corporate distortions that permit the powerful to execute their plans with minimal interferenceö (p. 1).
As such, the ôMatrixö does truly exist. I would prefer to be on the outside of the Matrix, if I had my choice. Egocentric thinking is responsible for most people being on the ôinsideö of the Matrix, primarily because they fail to consider the limitations of their own perspective. As well, most people are concerned about their own needs, which makes them incapable of seeing that the fantasy world created by those who control the Matrix are using their desires to serve their own purposes. As noted in lecture, this would represent innate wish fulfillment, because most people believe things are true because they want to believe they are true. I would prefer to be on the outside of the Matrix, for while this might make me separate from the crowd or rabble who are being used by the controllers of society, it would at least provide me with a realistic impression of the nature of society and my place or lack of place in it. This would prevent me from being the ôself-deceivedö animal referred to in lecture.
The Matrix. Viewed on Jan 18, 2005: http://www.why-us.org/movie.shtml, pp. 1-
Wachowski, A., & Wachowski, L. (Directors). (1999). The Matrix, (Film). USA, 136 min.
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