A Metaphysical Evaluation of The Matrix: Realism or Anti-Realism?

The Matrix is a Wachowski brothers (Bound) film put out by Warner Brothers in 1999. The film presents a machine-made world, the Matrix, in which people are trapped without knowing it. In reality humans are in vats of pink goop and electrical impulses are used to deceive the mind that they are living normal everyday lives in the late 20th century. The real year is thought to be closer to 2199. The unreal world, the Matrix, has been pulled over the eyes of humans so that the machines can feed off of their energy as though they are nothing more than batteries. Some humans have escaped the Matrix and fight to free mankind from the slavery of the dream world.

The aim of this paper is to understand the metaphysics of The Matrix and evaluate the results in terms of realism and anti-realism in order to determine which view this film supports. First "The Metaphysics of The Matrix", an article by Jorge J.E. Gracia and Jonathan J. Sanford from The Matrix and Philosophy, Open Court Publishing, 2002 will be evaluated.

Fundamental Categories

Gracia and Sanford feel that it is important to distinguish the fundamental categories of The Matrix. First, there are two worlds: the real world in which A.I. (artificial intelligence) enslave humans for energy, and the unreal (virtual) world in which humans believe they are living their lives in freedom (aside from the restrictions humans place on other humans, e.g.: law). From this distinction we can say that whatever is real (the world where machines enslave humans) is not unreal, and what is unreal (the Matrix) is not real.

Now let us distinguish the categories of real and unreal. We can break down the real into three main categories. There is mind, which are those minds that are human. Secondly there is non-mind that consists of machines and the human body. Thirdly are mind-non-mind composites like the human, which are a mind and a body (which presupposes dualism, which will be discussed in the last section of this paper).

Gracia and Sanford divide the unreal world into eight subcategories. They are: 1) simulation 2) residual self image 3) digital self 4) dream 5) appearance 6) mental projection 7) matrixes 8) computer programs as part of virtual reality. Now a distinction between the real and unreal worlds can be made by determining what properties are or are not shared (Gracia and Sanford, 2002).

Gracia and Sanford give us two ways to distinguish between the real categories (mind, non-mind, and composites) and the unreal world (simulation, residual self-image, digital self, dream, appearance, mental projection, matrixes, and computer programs as part of virtual reality). One way is to find the causality of the two worlds, or the source for the existence of things in the two worlds. The other concerns the ontological status of the real and unreal worlds, or the way things exist in the two worlds (Gracia and Sanford, 2002).

Causality

What are the causes of the real world? From the movie we know that man made the machines (A.I.). But are we told what made man? Are we told where matter comes from? Or where mind comes from? Are mind and matter one in the same? Gracia and Sanford feel that no answer is given to these fundamental questions of metaphysics. However, we can determine the causes of the unreal world. We know that machines made the matrix and there is no question of this. So what we are left with is that whatever the causes of the real world, they have nothing to do with the unreal world and the unreal world is completely dependant on the real world (Gracia and Sanford, 2002).

Ontological Status

To determine the ontological status of the real and unreal world we must look at the two worlds in terms of dependence. We know that the unreal world is completely dependent on A.I. As long as electrical impulses keep being sent to the enslaved humans in the pods of pink goop there will continue to be a virtual realm known as the Matrix. Contrary to this the real world seems to be dependent on nothing. However, if the real world were dependent on something or someone, the unreal world would remain weaker since it would be further down the ontological chain of existence (Gracia and Sanford, 2002).

The Metaphysical Conundrum of The Matrix

Gracia and Sanford recognize a dualistic metaphysics of The Matrix. There is a dualism of the world of deception that is the unreal world and the real world where machines enslave humans. How can we reconcile these two worlds after we have determined that they consist of fundamentally different categories? For one thing, how can death in the Matrix mean death in the real world and vice versa? What bridges the gap between these two worlds? Gracia and Sanford think the bridge is mind. Minds are real and can produce the unreal. This can be done to itself by dreaming, or by electrical impulses to the brain that creates an image (like the Matrix). Here we have an answer to the question of inconsistencies. The real affects the mind directly. The unreal only affects the mind indirectly. Only when the mind is deceived so that it takes the unreal to be real. The reason for death in the real world when death occurs in the Matrix is because of this grand deception (Gracia and Sanford, 2002).

This is in fact not hard to believe. From 1981-1990 120 mysterious deaths were reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The deaths occurred in healthy adult men who were members of the immigrant Hmong community from the Laotian highlands. They all died in their sleep. There was no medical cause determined, but the Hmong explained this by the men being victims of a nocturnal spirit that visited them in their sleep and pressed the breath from their bodies. A few Hmong survivors who had similar experiences of this spirit reported paralyzing terror of a creature sitting across their chests. This became known as Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome. This makes the death in the Matrix plausible, even if the mind knows better after having been freed from the Matrix (Korsmeyer, 2002).

The answer then lies in the mind-body composite or human beings. We know that Neo and his comrades aboard the Nebuchadnezzar (the ship in the real world of which Morpheus is the Captain) live entirely in the real world except when jacked into the Matrix. The prisoners of the Matrix live in both worlds. If the prisoners are to be freed there must be a way to reconcile this metaphysical dualism. As we learned with Neo from the movie, this can only be done individually with guidance from someone on the outside of the Matrix. This is how they may be freed or else the Matrix destroyed. If these two worlds were not reconcilable by mind, then no one could be in the Matrix or even dream (Gracia and Sanford, 2002).

Realism or Anti-Realism?

I agree with Gracia and Sanford that in order to distinguish between the two worlds of The Matrix that it is important to determine the fundamental categories of both. After this is done we can determine what characteristics, if any are shared. From here it is possible to come to the conclusion that the Matrix depends on the real world and that no known causes are given for the real world. But what does this tell us about the metaphysical philosophy proposed by the Wachowski brothers? Is it a realist position? Will the world continue to exist without minds? If so then there must be universal principles that allow for things to continue to be things without mind. For example, I see the keyboard before me as I type. If all of a sudden all other humans and myself ceased to exist in the world there would continue to be a keyboard, or what it means to have keyboardness. And what is the Wachowski's take on mind in The Matrix? Is it material and nothing more than the physical brain and chemicals? Or is mind something more than just the physical brain? Do the Wachowski brothers support an anti-realist position? In this metaphysical philosophy the world cannot exist without mind. There are no universals outside of the mind. So, if all other humans and I disappeared from this earth there would cease to be a keyboard, computer, or anything else.

Anti-Realism, Mind and Artificial Mind

It seems that the humans of the unreal world in The Matrix are right to be anti-realists. The reason for this is that there are no ultimate truths or universals. The only truths are the ones that humans make since the world they live in a world of deception. This may seem to beg the question that machines cannot have minds. After all, machines are doing the thinking behind the charade that is the Matrix, right? But is this the same thinking that you or I do? Yes, but with an artificial mind. We will use this illustration to exemplify the difference between a real mind and an artificial mind. There are people who cannot feel pain because of damage sustained to the neurons of their brain. Technology is a truly amazing is leading to the ability to replace damaged neuronal groups. The development of an artificial "painmaker" is a possibility of the near future. If one who had sustained damage to their pain-sensing neurons were to receive an operation in which they were implanted with the artificial "painmaker" would that pain be real? No, it would be pain that is as artificial as the thought of the machines, or A.I. So what can we say about the thoughts of machines in the Matrix? Even though they are artificial they are the perceivers and creators of truth similar to humans. The differences being that it is artificial mind doing the perceiving and that the machines are aware of what the Matrix is and understand the anti-realist nature of it. The truth of the unreal world can change at any moment depending on what A.I. determines to send through electrical signals to the human minds in the pod of pink goop. The way to have knowledge in this world is through verificationism. Science must continue to test the unreal world to determine what the laws of that world are (Holt, 2002).

We see in The Matrix that the laws of the real world cannot be applied to the unreal. For instance, the A.I. can alter the physical characteristics of the unreal world. This is seen when the notorious Agent Smith (an A.I. member of the Matrix) sits down with our hero, Neo and tries to persuade him to fight against the humans who have escaped form the Matrix. When Neo declines and demands a phone call Agent Smith responds "What good is a phone call if you cannot speak?" Neo is then alarmed that his lips grow together so that he is unable to speak. When these kinds of laws of nature are defied we have no choice but to abandon universals since the truth of the world can be changed at the will of A.I. Without certainties of determining the truth of the world it is unintelligible to try to posit universals on the world to determine truth. The true nature of the world can never be determined, so it is ridiculous even try to understand it. The best that can be done is to use science to explain the events of the unreal world so that it is possible to make statements about it.

In the unreal world/the Matrix Neo learns to bend spoons, stop bullets, and fly. Neo's mind determines the nature of this world. Before Neo stops the bullets coming at him he says "There is no spoon", which means that there are no objects in the Matrix without the mind perceiving them, or in Neo's case choosing to perceive them. However, this is only done after Neo is shown what the Matrix is by Morpheus, the leader of the human freedom fighters of the real world. In the real world an anti-realist position does not hold. Neo cannot alter the world of the real. He is bound to the same laws that govern our world.

Realism and "Materialism or Mind-Independence"

At first it may seem that The Matrix asserts a materialists conception of mind. A.I. deceives humans in the Matrix by feeding electrical impulses to their brains. There is no need to go beyond the physical to explain the sensations and perspectives that humans in the Matrix experience. Death in the Matrix supports this. If one dies in the Matrix one dies in the real world. There is no separate spirit-like mind that perceives the deception of A.I. However, we explained death by deception earlier with the Hmong example. Only a grand deception to the senses can cause the mind to distinguish. The mind cannot live without the body and in death the senses have told the body to shut down. And what explains the discomfort that Neo felt in the Matrix before he was freed? Before Neo learned the truth of the Matrix he felt that something was wrong with the world that he was presented with. We are warranted in asserting that this is Neo's mind is aware that something is off. Despite the electrical impulses fed to Neo's brain outside the Matrix, his mind is still not completely deceived, though his body is. Others understand this as well. When Trinity first meets Neo in the nightclub she tells him "...I know why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night you sit at your computer." The senses may be deceived by the Matrix, but not necessarily the mind. This causes the discomfort that Neo feels in the Matrix. It seems that what is needed to "feel" the deception is for an individual to be independent in nature and highly intelligent. We can assume that Trinity and Neo are both these things because of what Trinity told Neo in the nightclub and that they were both successful hackers while living in the Matrix. Maybe the solitary lifestyle reduces the corruption of the senses on the mind. Maybe some minds know that the Matrix is not its natural world. Whatever it is it is there is no denying that mind can perceive things that the senses cannot.

We are given many clues in the real world to a metaphysics derived from realism. The clues for this begin when Morpheus asks Neo if he believes in fate. Neo responds "No... because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life." An anti-realist may say that this is because realism cannot allow one to be at home in the universe because one can never know the true nature of the world. However, this is because Neo had lived in the unreal world all his life and has felt the "splinter in his mind" about something being wrong with that world. Morpheus later takes Neo to the Oracle who resides in the Matrix. The Oracle has the power to see into the future. Much like the Greek Oracle at Delphi she speaks in riddles and tells people only what they need to know in order for the future she sees to come true. Being that the Oracle can see into the future there must be some pre-existing fabric of the universe on which the mind of the Oracle has access. This asserts Morpheus' position that there is such thing as fate. If there was not mind independence the Oracle can not use her mind (unaffected by her senses) and perceive the future. With this information we can believe that the metaphysical position that the Wachowski brothers asserts is the one of the real world since it has a higher ontological status then the Matrix. Thus we are given the position of mind-independent metaphysical realism.

Works Cited

Gracia, Jorge, Sanford, Jonathan. "Metaphysics and the Matrix." The Matrix and Philosophy, 2002, 55-65.

Holt, Jason. "The Machine-Made Ghost." The Matrix and Philosophy, 2002, 66- 74.

Kosrmeyer, Carolyn. "Seeing, Believing, Touching, Truth." The Matrix and Philosophy, 2002, 41-52.