Blog 6 "The Truman Show"

In observation to "The Truman Show," similarities can be seen to all the topics that have been discussed throughout class. One thing that struck me right away was the similarity from Trumans "world," to the matrix. Throughout the movie we can see how even though Truman in his own nature is reacting entirely natural, the world around him is controlled and staged to be a certain way. Truman sees this to be the real world and if we notice his personality and his character we can also see that because of this staged "world," he has become a very happy, gleeful and very respectful person. The similarities between these two movies is astounding. I never realized until today how these films are so similar in the sense that they both convey a story of being enslaved in a world that isn't real. We can also see how the girl Sylvia is sort of like a Morpheus/Trinity figure. She is like Morpheus in the sense that she tries to reveal the truth to him about the fake world that he's living. She is like Trinity in the sense that she falls in love with him and is trying to help him in his conquest to be free.
Another observation is how Christof is kind of like the "God" of The Truman Show. He's in control of everyone, the weather and how things are in the truman show. I dont know if i'm looking to deep into this but when you look at Christof's name it can actually be two words; Christ of. I can also make the observation that Christof is the "Christ of" Truman. In the film there was the scene where Christof tells Truman that he can be safe in his world and that all that lies outside of it are worse deception and lies. In a sense Christof is trying to save Truman from a world that is totally different from his own and where Truman's life is not protected. The thing that make Christof different from God is that he is not omniscient or all-powerful. His knowledge is limited and he can't foresee the future. He can stage a scene but he doesn't know the outcome or how Truman will react. Also, he can't do anything. The only powers he has are those available to him in his studio.

Blog 5 "The Matrix"

Free Will is the ability to make a choice and no one interfering in that choice. I believe that we do have free-will. I say this because we as people can make our own choices, decide what we want to do and how we want to do it. The problem is not in finding out if Free-Will is certain. The problem is in the decision-making process in our minds. What I mean is that we do have free will, but because of our way of thinking, we will always make the same decisions because of what we have grown to know and how we react.
In the Matrix we see how Neo lives in The Matrix, not knowing if it’s real or not. We see how he sees the “world” as a vague and unreal world to him. Since he already has this view sinking in his mind, Morpheus is able to convince him to make the decisions that lead to him being unplugged from The Matrix. If we really think about it, if Neo was someone who wasn’t lonely or someone who was happy, he probably wouldn’t have left the Matrix. The point that I’m trying to make is that we do have free-will to make our own decisions but most of the time we will make the same decisions because we have never done otherwise. Another way that we can look into this is by the idea of Determinism.
Determinism is basically the idea that everything that happens, is caused by something else in order to push it into fruition. I believe that this is true, but not to the extent that Laplace claims it to be. He states that nothing happens without a cause. I understand that. The only thing is that he says that the same cause always produces the same effect. I disagree because the effect depends on the decision of the person in the cause. I probably won’t react the same way as someone else because we are all different in character and values so that cannot be determined.
If free-will is based on us being able to make our own decisions then we do have free-will. The problem is not in the concept. The reality of it is that we need to consider many possibilities. We have to consider our upbringing, knowledge, and beliefs because these things all determine the paths and choices that I will make.

Blog 4 "Metaphysics"

Source and ontological status are both terms used to distinguish between the "real" and the "unreal" world. I found that these terms are explained in a complex manner but are not too complex in there nature.
Source is basically a person, place or thing from which something originates from. Gracia and Sanford are stating that we know the source of human beings beings born in the city of Zion, but we do not know the prime source for these things. What they are saying is that we don't know from where all humans came from and how they started living in the "real world." What is known is that the "unreal" world does not directly affect the "real" world. The source of all things in the matrix, or the "unreal" world, are the artificially intelligent machines in the "real" world. What we have to understand is that in looking for the source we are trying to find what the ultimate origin of all these things are such as humans, machines, and everything else. We are trying to find the beginning of these things and where they came from primitively.
Now, when we look at the ontological status, we can see that it distinguishes the "real" and "unreal" world by the way they exist. The solution is found based on dependence. In the movie we see that there is nothing that the "real" world is dependent of. The matrix, or the "unreal" world however, is dependent on the machines in the "real" world for it's existence. When we see how the "real" world and "unreal" world relate, we can see how that which is "real" and that which is "unreal" is determined.
Throughout the reading of "The Real and the Unreal," source and ontological status are two terms used to name two ways in which we can distinguish between that which is real and that which is unreal.
I agree and disagree with Gracia and Sanford. I agree in the sense that we can distinguish between that which is real and that which is unreal in our own perspective. But, how is it that we can determine the things that are real or unreal if we can't determine if what we're living is truly real? That is the real question. It is something to think about