Moral Deliberations in Modern Cinema | Page 7

humans - can tell the difference.
Moreover, if the Matrix were a computer program of infinite
complexity, no observer (finite or infinite) would have been able to say
with any certainty whose a decision was - the Matrix's or the human's.
And because the Matrix, for all intents and purposes, is infinite
compared to the mind of any single, tube-nourished, individual - it is
safe to say that the states of "making a decision" and "appearing to be
making a decision" are subjectively indistinguishable. No individual
within the Matrix would be able to tell the difference. His or her life
would seem to him or her as real as ours are to us. The Matrix may be
deterministic - but this determinism is inaccessible to individual minds
because of the complexity involved. When faced with a trillion
deterministic paths, one would be justified to feel that he exercised free,
unconstrained will in choosing one of them. Free will and determinism
are indistinguishable at a certain level of complexity.
Yet, we KNOW that the Matrix is different to our world. It is NOT the
same. This is an intuitive kind of knowledge, for sure, but this does not
detract from its firmness. If there is no subjective difference between
the Matrix and our Universe, there must be an objective one. Another

key sentence is uttered by Morpheus, the leader of the rebels. He says
to "The Chosen One" (the Messiah) that it is really the year 2199,
though the Matrix gives the impression that it is 1999.
This is where the Matrix and reality diverge. Though a human who
would experience both would find them indistinguishable - objectively
they are different. In one of them (the Matrix), people have no
objective TIME (though the Matrix might have it). The other (reality) is
governed by it.
Under the spell of the Matrix, people feel as though time goes by. They
have functioning watches. The sun rises and sets. Seasons change. They
grow old and die. This is not entirely an illusion. Their bodies do decay
and die, as ours do. They are not exempt from the laws of nature. But
their AWARENESS of time is computer generated. The Matrix is
sufficiently sophisticated and knowledgeable to maintain a close
correlation between the physical state of the human (his health and age)
and his consciousness of the passage of time. The basic rules of time -
for instance, its asymmetry - are part of the program.
But this is precisely it. Time in the minds of these people is
program-generated, not reality-induced. It is not the derivative of
change and irreversible (thermodynamic and other) processes OUT
THERE. Their minds are part of a computer program and the computer
program is a part of their minds.
Their bodies are static, degenerating in their protective nests. Nothing
happens to them except in their minds. They have no physical effect on
the world. They effect no change. These things set the Matrix and
reality apart.
To "qualify" as reality a two-way interaction must occur. One flow of
data is when reality influences the minds of people (as does the Matrix).
The obverse, but equally necessary, type of data flow is when people
know reality and influence it. The Matrix triggers a time sensation in
people the same way that the Universe triggers a time sensation in us.
Something does happen OUT THERE and it is called the Matrix. In
this sense, the Matrix is real, it is the reality of these humans. It
maintains the requirement of the first type of flow of data. But it fails
the second test: people do not know that it exists or any of its attributes,
nor do they affect it irreversibly. They do not change the Matrix.
Paradoxically, the rebels do affect the Matrix (they almost destroy it).

In doing so, they make it REAL. It is their REALITY because they
KNOW it and they irreversibly CHANGE it.
Applying this dual-track test, "virtual" reality IS a reality, albeit, at this
stage, of a deterministic type. It affects our minds, we know that it
exists and we affect it in return. Our choices and actions irreversibly
alter the state of the system. This altered state, in turn, affects our
minds. This interaction IS what we call "reality". With the advent of
stochastic and quantum virtual reality generators - the distinction
between "real" and "virtual" will fade. The Matrix thus is not
impossible. But that it is possible - does not make it real.
The Shattered Identity
By: Sam Vaknin
Read these essays first:
The Habitual Identity
Death, Meaning, and Identity
Fact and Truth
Dreams - The Metaphors of Mind
I. Exposition
In the movie "Shattered" (1991), Dan Merrick survives an accident and
develops total amnesia regarding his past. His battered face is
reconstructed