[lit-ideas] Re: Decisions, decisions

  • From: Michael Chase <goya@xxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 10:58:02 +0200

Le 24 oct. 04, =E0 08:11, Eric Yost a =E9crit :

> RP> Yes, of course. I was confusing his decision to 'go back' with his
> taking a blue
> RP> pill. (I'm not sure how he returns to the Matrix.)
>
> I'm not sure either.
>
> _______
>
> He didn't go back. He was killed in an attempt to take over the
> hovercraft and sabotage our heroes, then in the Matrix, from outside.
>
> It always bothered me that -- like so many issues accessed by pop
> culture -- the real problem in the Matrix was never addressed.
>
> Neo becomes the Uebermensch of the Matrix. Big deal.

M.C. Well, in fact it *is* quite a big deal. As the Chosen One, Neo has=20=

realized the *real* situation of human beings, i.e. that they're living=20=

an illusion, and he's also realized that since he's living an illusion=20=

he can modify the content of that illusion in almost any way he wants.

        Let's assume for a moment that the Putnam/Nozick scenario is in =
fact=20
true (and of course, as Chalmers points out, we can't really *know*=20
that it isn't). How could that situation be changed, in Eric's view,=20
other than by one person's becoming aware of the situation? Later on,=20
of course, he would somehow have to communicate this awareness to=20
others....that is, if he were a nice guy. If he were a power-hungry=20
jerk, of course, he might wish to maintain absolute power and maintain=20=

the rest of the race in a state of illusion.

        So the movie doesn't give us an unamibguous ending. Eric would =
have=20
liked a nice Hollywood  film where the bad guys die and the good guys,=20=

having solved all the world's problems, walk arm-in-arm into the sunset=20=

as the saccharine violin-chords rise to a crescendo in the background :=20=

something nice and simple(-minded) that doesn't make the audience think=20=

too hard, and that especially doesn't leave it in any kind of a state=20
of doubt.

        So much like the eighties.



>
>
>
Michael Chase
(goya@xxxxxxxxxxx)
CNRS UPR 76
7, rue Guy Moquet
Villejuif 94801
France

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