Essay 1: In-class (typed version)

Society overall has a hard time accepting the realities of the world we live in. Though many are very knowledgeable of the painful truths, most ignore their surroundings for a happier state of mind as others act upon it, passing down this way of being to generations to come. In the text “The Allegory of the Cave”, Socretes describes a scenario of a prisoner who learns the pain of reality yet accepts it as time passes. In the movie “The Matrix”, we find the protagonist Neo, struggling with what was his reality, actually being a made up world and the reality that the world is a post war land of human slaves. In comparison to today, “The Matrix” point of view is more accurate.

            “The Allegory of the Cave” is a good description of how today in age we are raised by our parents/guardians. We live in the cave we’re sheltered in our whole lives from real bills and expenses and our obligated to go by their rules as long as we live in their households. It is not till we are on our own and face real responsibilities that we understand the painful reality that life does not come as easy as our guardians made it out to be. After Socretes explains to Glaucon the metaphor of his story and that life can be blinded to the problems of the world, he is confused. This differs in the case of “The Matrix” were he actually experiences the painful truth of what has become of the world.

            Having faith that he is “the one”, Morpheous shows Neo the simulation he was living in. He sees people generically going about their day oblivious to what’s going on around them.  As he compares it to the reality of what has happened to humanity in post war he finally takes an understanding. Today, we often go about our days in our normal routines not stopping to think of how we got here and suppressing our problems. In history we can learn the reality of how we murdered thousands of Native Americans and attempted to teach them our ways and suppress their knowledge. Today, the Native Americans that live on reservations live tax free as if that makes up for the damage we caused. Yet we choose to blind ourselves until someone addresses it.

            After Neo accepts the truth of reality he makes his own destiny. For many it is easier to live ignorantly so that a life of happiness is possible. After Cypher accepted the reality of his new life, he bargained in order to live ignorantly and blissfully; reason being life was so harsh. We see the same outcome in the play “Oedipus and the King” when Oedipus ignorance leads him into finding out he murdered his father and married his own mother. Unable to bare the guilt, he blinds himself. Unlike Cypher in “The Matrix”, Oedipus chooses to never witness happiness and deal with the painful reality of his choices.

            We tend to ignore the long term effects of our choices so that we may live blissfully ignorant today. Whether it be the childhood fables our parents feed us when were younger or the effects of topics such as pollution, it is easier to succumb to our everyday routines. “The Matrix” has a good way of depicting this real life scenario.

Blog #5: “The Other” and Gattaca

                In the essay “The Man on the Moon” by George Annas, he discusses that “The new ideal human, the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’ If history is a guide, either the normal humans will view the ‘better’ humans as the other and seek to control or destroy them, or vice versa”. I agree with this quote due to the fact that our society is obsessed with pushing the envelope in scientific advancements. I believe in a short time, it is inevitable that one group, the normal humans or super humans will wipe out the other before wiping out themselves.

            In history, we have seen how the advancements of one set of people have wiped out another group of people without hesitation. In Annas writing he discusses how the Spanish conquistadors moved from Mexico to Peru and throughout the Americas killing the natives and using the name of God as an excuse in search of new territory and natural resources that they could profit on. We as humans become greedy without taking caution and because of this not only were the natives murdered for simply be inhabitants of their land, but so were many of the Spanish conquistadors for over estimating that they could control the natives and undermining the ability of the natives retaliating.

            In the Movie Gattaca we see Vincent, the main character who was born and “normal” human faces the discrimination of the genetic advancements of the future. Because of his genetic makeup and the probability that he would succumb to diseases, heart failure and a short life span, he is counted out and treated as a somewhat of disabled, not given the same opportunities as his brother Anton, who his genetically designed to be an “ideal” human. This movie is the perfect example of what is to become of society when science interrupts natures course. Like nations, human kind will be divided leading to more problems future generations will have to face.

            Like in the book, My Sister’s Keeper, we see a perfect example of how “super” humans will rebel against the rights as humans. In the novel the main character sues her parents for emancipation and the rights to her body. She was genetically designed as a way to help her sister who was battling a rare form of cancer. Though the approach of the novel was on a lighter side, we the readers get an understanding of the psychological effects on the genetically gifted. Though they are genetically gifted, they are no different than “normal” humans.

            As we continue to advance in altering genetics, woman will be given the opportunity to have children that they once did not and we will start to find cures for diseases that will change our world history. The fact that we are almost computerizing humans so that they can be better in all aspects than the “naturally born” us is the problem we are failing to realize. After we obtained the knowledge of creating a “superior” human I believe that those humans will face unnatural and unfair circumstances as somewhat of a minority. It is when they (finally and will) become the majority of the population than mankind will face the real issues of this situation and that is when the conflicts will arise.

Blog 4: Ignorance, Bliss and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix

In The Matrix and Oedipus the King, characters find ignorance a happier state of being. As some of them gain the knowledge of the reality around them and painfully accept the truth, others suppress their realities and live blissfully.

 In The Matrix, after Neo accepts being reborn into what has become of the world, he fights the truth and has a hard time understanding this false reality he had been living in his whole life as he looks from outside into that realm. As he begins to gain the knowledge of what is real and what is not, he begins to fall into the hope of being “the one” but when he is told that he is not ready, he questions his purpose. At the same time, we see the character Cypher, who had accepted his new fate long before Neo questioned his new reality. Although he is fully aware that The Matrix is not a real world, he compromises a deal that would wipe out his memory of the harsh reality in order to live blissfully ignorant.

In Oedipus and the King, Oedipus seeks out to find the murderer in Thebes though he is the murderer himself. Throughout the play, we find Oedipus to be ignorant and aggressive as he continuously opts the ignore the advice of the prophets and the Oracle. A series of events finally leads him to face to truth told to him by his servant, that he in fact was the one responsible for his own fathers death. In shame for the murder and insets with his mother, Oedipus blinds himself, unable to cope with the truth. "But the hand which stabbed my eyes out was mine alone. In my wretched life, why should I have eyes when nothing I would see could bring me joy? " (Line 1331). Oedipus being painfully aware of his wrongdoings, chooses to be blind to the world to live a blissful life. Like the matrix we find characters who  understand the reality of the world around them and trade it for a life of ignorance and bliss.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Blog 3: The Matrix: Utopia, Dystopia, and Realities

                In life, we sometimes feel as the illusions are minds escape too is far easier to live in than facing our reality. In The Matrix, the protagonist realizes the world he always knew was an illusion and when faced with the reality of the real world, he is taken back. In Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, Plato points out that when we learn our reality has always been an illusion, although somewhat uncomfortable, we adjust with time. In my opinion, the Matrix was more accurate about escaping illusions and embracing reality. We as society have learned this from early childhood, when we are confronted with the fact that what we believe in, is false when it comes to fictional tales about people like Santa Clause. In History, Americans were blinded by the reality of what was becoming of Germany and how hundreds of thousands of Jewish people were been held and murdered of what the image rulers were portraying as being the perfect race and eliminating those who didn’t.  In text we commonly see that at the end of a story, a character no matter what standpoint he or she has, becomes excepting of the truth.  At some point in the time we are faced with the honest truth whether it is what we would like to except or not.

            From our early adolescence, we are constantly fed with fables and stories such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, all consisting of fictional characters that live a life of hardships but somehow come to live “happily ever after”. As we grow older and gain knowledge, we lose our innocence and are confronted with the reality that in life there isn’t always a happily ever after and nothing comes as easy as those stories we were once told. The same goes with the tale of Santa clause. We were told that a man would come bring us gifts if we behaved, but when we learned the truth we realized that Christmas doesn’t come as easily we thought it did, but solely up to whether we were economically fortunate enough that year to receive something from our guardians.  The reality of childhood is not as sweet once we gain responsibilities as adults. In The Matrix the main character has a hard the accepting the bitter truth of the reality of the real word.

            After world war two, Adolf Hitler was becoming a dictator in Germany. He believed an Aryan race would keep intact the German race and keep it pure. Hitler sought out to eliminate all Jewish believers because of his personal hatred towards specific people who followed this religion. He managed to come up with an army of followers who believed his ignorance and kill thousands of men, woman and children. After Hitler was finally over thrown, the rest of the world finally saw the aftermath of the holocaust and impact history forever. In The Matrix the main character realizes how many people are brainwashed by what he once thought to be reality and sees the corruptness of the system.

            In literature we see characters face harsh lessons even in the most simplest of books such as in the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The Hare underestimates the endurance of the Tortoise and because he’s so far ahead in the race he decides to take a nap. When the Hare awakes he sees the Tortoise slowly crossing the finish line. Although the moral of the story is that you never underestimate the strength of your opponent, from the story you can take that the though the odds were against the tortoise, he never lost hope in finishing the race. In the matrix, the main character Neo sacrifices himself to save his mentor Morpheous although doubtful because he was told he wasn’t “the one”. It was the endurance inside of him that proved he was “the one” after all.

            It is very easy to be consumed with the illusions were surrounded in life. Though some find more comfort it just what is, those who do face reality eventually prevail.