FREE ESSAY ON THE MATRIX

THE MATRIX

Drew Vetter
English 101
Argumentative Paper
THE MATRIX
Have you ever had a dream that you thought was so real? Well, what if you never woke up?
How would you determine the difference between the real world and the dream world
(Matrix,1999)? Some people in this world live their lives knowing that something is
wrong. They can feel it in everything they do. They can feel it when they stare out a
window or go to work or even when they pay their taxes (Matrix,1999). This feeling which
these individuals are experiencing comes from the matrix.
What is the matrix? The matrix is an artificial world, which has been pulled over to
blind us from the truth, that we are slaves (Matrix,1999). We are trapped in a prison for
our minds (Matrix,1999). We will never really get to feel, touch, or see anything for
ourselves, except objects created through the matrix.
Early in the 21st century, humans joined in celebration in the creation of artificial
intelligence (Matrix,1999). Throughout our lives we have depended on machinery to
survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony (Matrix,1999). The human body
gives off as much bioelectricity as a 120 volt battery or as much as 25000 b.t.u.'s of
body heat (Matrix,1999). Artificial intelligence depends on solar energy in order to
survive, so our human race decided to scorch the earth, therefore blocking the sun's rays
(Matrix,1999). This attempt failed and we were taken over by robots. The matrix was soon
after created by artificial intelligence as a computer-generated world made for us to
live out our lives while it uses the natural energy given off from our bodies for its
survival in the real world (Matrix,1999). Humans are grown in fields like crops, some
never even able to be inserted into the matrix. Babies are randomly picked out by the
working robotic hands to fill the spots of the dead. Right now, our real bodies are being
stored in capsule-like bubbles where we are plugged into the matrix. These plugs are
connected throughout our entire spine and other various parts of the body. The main
connection is in the back of our necks, leading to the brain, where the matrix controls
our minds by ensuring all five senses. 
When the matrix was first created, a man was given the power to change anything he wanted
in it (Matrix,1999). This man chose to free five individuals from the matrix. The few
humans who were chosen to be freed from the matrix carry permanent metallic holes in the
back of their necks which act as connectors to the matrix. Any physical ability from
drunken boxing to kung fu can be programmed through these holes into their brains. It is
done the same way we download programs into our computers. In order to be entered into
the matrix, a needle-like computer device must be driven into this hole. Exiting the
matrix can be accomplished by electronically connecting themselves to the real world by
answering a telephone call from someone there. 
We, as humans in the matrix, base our lives on sets of rules, such as gravity, never
allowing ourselves to overcome our distinct sense of reality (Matrix,1999). These humans
who are able to transport themselves in and out of the matrix use their special
downloaded physical abilities and knowledge of freeing their minds to accomplish
impossible feats such as jumping hundreds of yards or dodging bullets by running up
walls. The main objective of the freed humans is to destroy the matrix by allowing their
brains to understand it enough to break the code. The challenge in this is not only
decoding the matrix but also avoiding enemies within the matrix. These enemies, referred
to as "agents", are able to transform themselves in and out of anybody's body inside the
matrix. They are everybody and nobody (Matrix,1999). If you kill an agent by shooting
bullets in their head or crushing them by a train they will not die. Instead, they will
simply leave the person's dead body and enter into another living one. Despite the
agents' capabilities, they still live in a world based on rules (Matrix,1999). Because of
this, they are in a sense, mortal, therefore giving the freed humans hope and a motive to
save the world from the matrix.
The real world is living around the year 2199 (Matrix,1999). The freed human's mode of
transportation is a hovercraft. They not only use this large piece of machinery for
transportation, but are also forced to live in it. They travel throughout the sewers of
old cities trying to hide from killing machines made up by AI for one purpose, to search
and destroy. 
Perhaps you still feel like the chair that you are sitting in and the air you are
breathing is real. Well, what is real? How do you define real? If it is what you can
smell, touch or feel then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain
(Matrix,1999). This dream world acts as a neural interactive simulation of the real world
ensuring all five senses, therefore appearing to be real (Matrix,1999). The only real
thing in the matrix is death. After being shot or falling twenty stories, the brain
thinks that it is dead. If you die in the matrix, you die in the real world also because
the body cannot live without the mind (Matrix,1999).
In the beginning, the matrix was made as a perfect world where everybody was happy
(Matrix,1999). Shortly after, it failed miserably because our cerebellum kept trying to
wake up (Matrix,1999). Our brain was unable to determine if it was sleeping or awake. The
main reason for this failure is because humans define reality from suffering and misery
(Matrix,1999). Instead of making the matrix perfect, artificial intelligence recreated it
into the present world. 
The matrix can also help explain occurrences such as deja vu, lost items, or missing
people. Deja vu is a glitch in the matrix that happens when something is changed
(Matrix,1999). Have you ever lost money or a hat that you were positive you laid on the
kitchen counter? Perhaps the matrix simply erased it or forgot to save it, like a
computer in your home would do to a file. The same logic could be applied to people who
mysteriously disappear with absolutely no traces. Another explanation of this could be
that the body malfunctioned and naturally died in the bubble-like capsule. A person
vanishing off the face of the so-called "earth" where we live does not happen near as
much as a heart attack or a stroke. The reasoning behind this is since we are trapped
inside a bubble, we cannot harm our bodies by using drugs or eating fatty foods.
This explanation of the present world might seem disturbing or hard to believe because
our lives are based on sets of rules that do not allow our minds to fathom. Despite these
rules, everybody, at least once in their lives, experience feelings or see things that
they cannot explain. Perhaps they believe that these feelings are the actions of a God or
another world or even themselves. Never underestimate the power of the mind.