Descartes’ Meditations and the Matrix

The Matrix represented a world in which humans merely lived in a computer controlled environment. The theme of being fooled is prevalent because at first Neo did not believe in the Matrix either. Living in a world confined by physical rules and limitations was the strongest proponent of this. Indeed, the Matrix depicted the whole human population living in complete denial of the existence of the Matrix with the exception of the freed ones. Everyone within this reality had the power of sensation and perception, but had no clue that they were in a dream world. Even when there were glitches and situations in which reality was dwarfed with changes, this was justified through superstition within the dream world.

The reality within the Matrix justified Descartes’ notions of dream doubt because of the consistent nature of our experiences. For example, Descartes maintained that as we live our lives and experience consistency among our senses and perceptions, we train ourselves to merely accept it as a truth. Even when we are presented with evidence that contradicts it, we still believe our senses. Similarly within the Matrix, this is epitomized by the fact that not everyone can handle it. For example, when Neo was talking to Morpheus initially, Morpheus remarked that not everyone’s mind can be freed simply because they cannot accept the reality of the situation. This means that the senses and perceptions we constantly have are powerful enough to fool us constantly. This is the essence of dream doubt according to Descartes simply because we cannot tell the difference between a dream and what is real. Our brain interprets it just the same.

Another correlation between Descartes Meditations and the Matrix is that the relationship between the body and mind is much more separated than we think. For Descartes, he could only justify the existence of his mind because of the fact that he has thoughts. He could not prove he has a physical body because it was only an extension of his mind. The idea of a body came solely from his mind, where his senses and perceptions are processed. In relation, the Matrix idealizes the notion that mind and body are two separate things. Morpheus mentioned to Neo that he must “free his mind” in order to achieve physical feats in the matrix. Bodily strength and fighting skills were not acquired in the physical world, but solely from the acceptance of it in the mind. Consequently, the body and what it could do was only an extension of the mind as well. This was why Neo was finally able to dodge bullets and jump across roof tops. 

Ultimately, Descartes’ Meditations pointed to two important conclusions in regard to the Matrix: there is dream doubt and the body is merely an extension of the mind. These points relate to the Matrix in that all humans live in a dream world while their senses and perceptions suggest that they are in reality. Moreover, in order to perform extraordinary feats, Neo had to accept that his body was only an extension of his body and all of the power and control was associated there, not the body. Because we are constantly reminded by our senses that we live in a unified reality, this may not be true as there is no difference between dreaming something and experiencing it, according to the brain at least. Finally, while Descartes only justified the existence of the mind as an absolute, within the matrix the mind was the main emphasis in terms of manipulating the dream world, or matrix.