The Matrix

This was my first time seeing The Matrix. I think it succeeds as a cheesy action movie and as a powerful thought experiment. For me, cheesy action movie isn't the most effective vehicle for a powerful thought experiment, but you can't be original and accessible and effective.

If the Matrix was built well, we wouldn't have any way of knowing we were in it, so we'd just have to live like everyone before us -- hopeful or hopeless, depending entirely on ourselves. If I'd be happier with the blue pill, I'd take it. The red pill delivers some fascinating information, yet leaves you as uninformed as humans outside the movie. It doesn't tell you about God or death. It just tells you about your transitory life. If the blue pill is happier, that's worth more than transitory knowledge. If the red pill told me about the afterlife, I'd consider it, out of pure curiosity, but I doubt it'd be the wiser option, if the blue pill is happier. The thing is, the ignorant option is rarely happier, at least in movies. We can't guarantee people in the Matrix are happier. That makes red the wiser option, as truth reigns when happiness is a horse apiece.

If I was being smart, I'd choose happiness -- by definition, right? If happiness is unclear, I'd choose truth. If you'd soberly choose truth over happiness, I feel like you aren't giving happiness its due credit. If I really consider happiness, I don't envy any righteous person who would choose anything else.

The movie compared us to dinosaurs -- a blip in history -- and there's no reason for me to question that nor to change how I'm living because of it. If humanity is doomed, if the red pill told me death is the end, if we're in the Matrix, none of that should really affect me. All I have is my psychological experience; what happens after or outside it shouldn't affect me.