Page 20 - PowerE-L05-D

Lesson 5

What is real?

In the movie “Matrix”, Neo (played by Keanu Reeves)

was presented with the choice between a red pill and a
blue pill. If he were to take the red pill, he would go back

to where he was before: ignorant but happy, enslaved but
secure. But if he were to take the blue pill, he would wake

up, and he would realize that he is just a battery operated

machine. But with this knowledge is a chance to be free
and to be really human. If you were Neo, which pill would you take? The movie

further explores the nature of reality, albeit in a philosophical way. How do we
distinguish illusion from reality? You might think that you are awake, but you

are just dreaming. After all, the dream state is indistinguishable from a waking
state. You might think that the railway tracks meet in the distance, but they are

always parallel. You might think that you are real and your image in the mirror

is just your reflection, but what makes you think you aren’t the reflection?. All
these might seem obscure, but isn’t perception just some electrical activity in
our brain? And why are you so sure that a mad scientist hasn’t stuck pins in

your brain and making you think this and that by pushing all those buttons?

Indeed, you do not really exist, but only made to believe you do.” Cogito ergo
sum”, Descartes rebuts. I think therefore I am. True. But why do you have to

exist if your thoughts exist?

Comprehension

1. What would happen if Neo took the red pill?
2. How does the movie explore the nature of reality?

Questions

1. What is reality? Can we be sure of anything at all? why or why not?

Vocabulary & Expressions

enslave: to reduce to or as if to slavery
realize: to conceive vividly as real
albeit: even though
illusion: a misleading image presented to the vision
indistinguishable: not clearly recognizable
obscure: not readily understood

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