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Nicole Javier

Douglas Shepardson

Philosophy of Human Nature

June 29th, 2022

Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?

Have you ever questioned whether or not you are living in a simulation? Questioned

whether or not the government was watching you right now through your computer screens?

Questioned whether or not the world will be taken over by robots? If we doubt reality, how can

one be certain of it? The 1999 movie, The Matrix, alludes to the notions of reality, Cartesian

Skepticism, and seeking the truth as depicted by philosophers Descartes, Plato, and Bostrom.

Philosophers are constantly seeking to discover the truth and reach the forms. When we learn the

truth, we become wiser and know the starting points and end goals of things. Though the truth is

not easy, the truth will set you free.

If you had a choice between choosing a red pill and blue pill in which the red pill would

make you continue living in the dream world whereas the blue pill would take you on a

strenuous journey of discovering the truth, which would you choose? How can we be certain that

everything we see is real? How are we certain that our dreams aren’t real? What if our life is

instead a dream within a dream? In the Matrix, the main character, Neo wakes up and wonders

whether or not he’s live in a dream world or in the real world. Neo is contingent on the fact that

there is something wrong with the world. The philosopher Rene Descartes was a skepticist who

theorized that, “We must doubt everything in the world until we find a point of certainty.” On

page 12 of “Meditations on First Philosophy,” Descartes asserts, “But from time to time I have

found that the senses deceived, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have
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deceived us even once.” Descartes uses the fool me once principle proclaiming that if something

has fooled you once, you cannot rely on it as a point of certainty. Neo doubts the perception of

reality multiple times and questions whether or not he is dreaming. Morpheus, a leader who

fights to help people break free from the matrix, tells him, “You have the look of a man who

accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up.” Neo’s skepticism of reality is

prevalent as he is cognizant of the fact that our senses, specifically our eyes can deceive us. We

cannot be certain that what we are seeing is real. What is real? How do you define real?

However, not everyone endeavors the journey of leaving the dream world or the matrix and learn

the truth. Descartes gives a prison analogy, he compares that to a prisoner dreaming of freedom

and conspiring with the dream to stay asleep longer. On page 15, Descartes proclaims, “I am like

a prisoner who is enjoying an imaginary freedom while asleep; as he begins to suspect that he is

asleep, he dreads being woken up, and goes along with the pleasant illusion as long as he can.”

Oftentimes, your dreams are better than your real world; thus, would you prefer to stay asleep in

the dream world or wake up and go back to reality? In the Matrix, the character named Cypher

no longer wanted to be free from the matrix, as he was living in misery. Cypher states,

“Ignorance is bliss” elucidating the notion that when you lack knowledge, you don’t have to

worry about it. Rather, you affirm life and are content with being oblivious of the real world as

long as you are happy.

How can one free their mind and learn the truth? In the Matrix, Neo is prophesied to be

“The One''; he is the one to free the world from the prison. Think about it this way, the Matrix is

like a prison; as Morpheus states, “The Matrix the world that has been pulled over your eyes to

blind you from the truth.” When you are imprisoned, you have no recognition of the outside

world, rather, the prison is your reality. Life in the matrix is paridoxical to Plato’s Allegory of
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the Cave in which human beings have been living in an underground cave since childhood and

are solely starting at the shadows on the wall. The prisoners, as well as Neo, are oblivious to the

fact that the reality they think they know is false. In other words, the prisoners are staring at

shadows on the wall, that represent a false vision of the truth and reality. On page 464 of Plato’s

Republic, Socrates states, “All in all, then, what the prisoners would take for true reality is

nothing other than the shadows of those artifacts.” Imagine that, our real world was in outer

space and our dream world was in Earth. If we never travelled outside of the cave or the Matrix,

we would not know what the real world is like. Neo as well as the others living in the Matrix rely

on perception and though they may question the nature of their reality, they are succumbed to the

life of false perceptions blinding them from the truth. However, all Neo has to do is free his

mind; free himself from the Matrix. When Neo is free from the Matrix, he proclaims, “Why do

my eyes hurt?” in which Morpheus responds, “You’ve never used them before.” Hence, since the

Matrix blinds you from the truth, Neo has never truly “used” his eyes before. When in the

Matrix, Neo’s “eyes” were deceiving him and giving a false reality. The matrix was forcing him

to see what it wanted him to see. Correspondingly, in the Allegory of the Cave, On page 464,

Socrates proclaims, “And if he were compelled to look at the light itself, wouldn’t his eyes be

pained and wouldn’t he turn around and flee toward the things he is able to see, and believe that

they are really clearer than the ones he is being shown?” Neo is depicted as the prisoner who sees

the light and travels outside of the cave to see the forms. To reiterate, the question comes up on

how what is real and Morpheus depicts that real is, “simply electrical signals interpreted by your

brain.” Intrinsically, those who free themselves and come perceive reality have a duty to return

and teach others. When Neo begins to believe, he frees himself and represents the prisoner

leaving the cave to discover the truth. In other words, Neo is leaving the matrix and seeing the
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real world, as the prisoner leaves the cave and reaches the forms. Neo is the one; the one who

will save humanity and the widespread ignorance. At the end of the movie, Neo goes back to the

Matrix or the “cave” to free the world and inform them about reality. Neo says, “ I am going to

hang up this phone and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see.”

Neo is contingent on telling the truth and teaching the truth to all the other prisoners or humans

living in the matrix. Similarly, on page 466 of the Allegory of the Cave, “And as for anyone who

tried to free the prisoners and lead them upward, if they could somehow get their hands on him,

wouldn’t they kill him?” Hence, it is a strenuous journey to try to free the prisoners who are

embedded into a false reality all their lives and will fight to protect the matrix. Both The

Allegory of The Cave and The Matrix depict the effects of education on the human soul. As one

gain knowledge and wisdom, one is able to free themselves.

With the increasing rate of technological advancement, how certain are we that the future

may or may not live in a computer simulation? According to the Matrix, throughout human

history, we became dependent on machines to survive. However, The Matrix is control. As

Morpheus asserted, “The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under

control in order to change a human being into a (battery).” The Matrix was designed as a way to

control human beings. Bostrom’s “Are We Living in a Simulation” argues, that we are 99.9%

sure that either the human race dies out before become advanced enough to run a computer

simulation, we become advanced enough to do so but due to ethical reasons, we chose not to, and

finally, we are certainly living in a computer simulation. The world continues to become more

technologically advanced, hence, it is possible in the near future for the world to be living in a

computer simulation. According to the Matrix, after the 21st century, humans gave birth to and

began to depend on artificial intelligence. Morpheus states, “ Artificial intelligence is a singular

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consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines.” In today’s history, we’ve developed

types of artificial intelligence such as facial recognition, maps, e-payments such as apple pay,

chatboxes, and virtual reality games. Some people are hopelessly dependent on the system, they

will fight to protect it. It is difficult to distinguish between the simulation and the reality. In the

article, “Are We Currently Living in a Simulation?” On page 2, Bostrom discussed the substrate-

independence stating, “Provided a system implements the right sort of computational structures

and processes, it can be associated with conscious experiences.” Hence, Bostrom’s theory

supports the notion that consciousness doesn’t require any special material. John Locke’s theory

of persons implies that machines could be conscious, primarily because consciousness and

memories are more important than the body. Hence, the body is neither required nor enough to

be the same person. Imagine this, you input your consciousness and memories into a robot, that

robot now becomes you. Next, think about it this way, after humans die, our bodies persish,

however, our souls are reincarnated. Instead of reincarating into another body, the person is

inserted into a computer simulation. A person with the same consciousness and memories as you.

With the development of virtual reality, scenes and objects may seem real; thus, in the near

future a computer simulated world is possible.

One must free their mind, and seek the truth. If you doubt reality, you can longer rely on

it as a point of certainty. We must educate ourselves of the world and of the truth because if not,

we’ll be living a life filled with false perceptions and false reality. Imagine a world where

humans are longer born but rather grown. In the Matrix was designed to be a prison for your

mind, and one’s mind is one of the most important entities. Though ignorance is bliss, you’ll go

crazy if you stay in skeptical mode. If you had the choice to know the truth of the world, would

you want to or continue living in a false reality?