In class Essay

    

            Plato’s excerpt ‘The Allegory of the Cave” and the movie The Matrix both have similarities and differences as well. They both face a change due to their choices.

     In Plato’s excerpt, Socrates explains about the slaves being in this dark cave filled with shadows, and chains. The slaves haven’t been accustomed to anything else in the outside world. He explains that if they were set free they would have nothing but pain and they would be too afraid to go anywhere else. It will take time for them to adjust to their surroundings and accept the fact that they are in a different environment. Many people don’t accept change at all and rather stay where they were before then to experience something that most likely is better. According to Plato “he would rather suffer anything than enter these false notions and live in this miserable manner.” Although the prisoners don’t want to leave their comfort zone which is the cave, they know it will be a positive turning point and they would just have to adjust to it. For example if there was a woman that has been in a relationship for a really long period of time and her boyfriend was a very abusive companion, she would not let anyone get in the way of her relationship. She will ignore all help and deny it completely. She will start to believe her own lies and never want to leave this terrible situation. It will take a long time for her to come to her senses and leave this abusive person she calls her boyfriend. She will have to take time for her to get it together.

    However in The Matrix it is somewhat the same. Neo is faced with two choices. One is to stay where he is with his normal boring life and the second choice is to become a part of an illusionary world. Neo ends up in a dystopian world even though it took him a lot of time to adjust. In they play “Oedipus The King” it is similar as well. Oedipus was exposed to the truth and he didn’t take it very well. He was miserable so he tried to flee from his problem. The irony is even though he tried to run away from his problem it kept getting closer with every move he made. They prophecy at the end came true. Oedipus still ended up miserable just like in The Matrix. Where Neo still ended up in a post nuclear apocalyptic landscape where humans are slaves.

    With all of my readings, and the movie I find that in “The allegory of The cave” the message is way more accurate than the others. It clearly states the main idea which is once someone is so use to being in one place once they go through change, they will suffer and be in pain. They wouldn’t a just or accept they change. The prisoners had not experienced anything else but being in the dark cave filled with shadows and chains. Of course and human being wouldn’t grow to a new world with no trouble at all. It was told that women back in the 1800’s   believed that everything they went through and what their emotions where it would affect their baby instantly. If they would listen to loud music their baby would be born blind. A while after it was said that it was a myth. Women didn’t want to accept the fact that it was a lie. They refused it but deep down they knew it was true. People ignore what is true and it stops us from doing great things in life.

Blog #5: The “Other” and Gattaca

 In Goerge J. Annas essay, he talks about genetically engineered ‘superior’ humans and how the normal humans view them. They refer ‘the other’ as in the better humans, the ones that aren’t normal humans. The normal humans feel threatened by the the genetic engineered ones that they seek to destroy them and be the only ones left. The essay and the movie Gattaca have many similarities.

    In the movie Gattaca, Vincent was born a normal human, a lower version then a perfect engineered human like his brother Anton. People judged him and his abilities by the way his blood type was. He couldn’t fulfill his dream to travel and be in space. He put his dream to the side because he knew that he couldn’t make it. Everyone put him down. Even his own family believed what they said about him. They always paid more attention to his brother. Even though Vincent wasn’t seeking to destroy his brother or the others that seemed to be even more important than him he tried to reach where he wanted to go, to reach his only goal. Vincent and his brother always had a swim match to see who could swim out farthest and who would chicken out first. Anton always won but one day Vincent’s state of mind was to not look back.  He wasn’t thinking about the way back and he won. Finally he beat his brother. Something came about him that he could do whatever he set his mind to. By the end of the movie Vincent reached his dream and didn’t look back to all the negative feedback people gave him. Vincent was born a normal human and his brother was ‘better’ but it turned out the complete opposite. The new ideal human isn’t always perfect and ‘better’ then a normal human. It depends on their will to do better. Whoever puts there mind to reach where ever they might want to go, they need to do their best and in their heart they are ‘better’ then those who are genetic engineered to be perfect.    

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

    The Matrix and Oedipus the king both show the concepts of knowledge, Ignorance, and bliss. Everyone in this world are afraid to face the truth in one point of their lives and at times we chose to turn away and live in a world of illusions. Once we've been living in a huge lie, we are faced with the truth but if that truth is something we don't want to acknowledge we simply walk the other direction. Sooner or later we do want to be aware of all the truth and will be forced to deal with it and try the best we can through it.
    In Oedipus the king Oedipus was well known in his town and deeply respected by his people. He was care free and didn't have any worries until he was faced with the truth he terribly wanted to deny. His joy and happiness switched rapidly. To his people he was once known as great and intelligent but now they viewed him in a complete different way because of the truth. When Teiresias informs Oedipus of the truth, (540-560) Oedipus becomes furious with their conversation. He just wants Teiresias out of his sight forever and does not want to hear another word. When the prophecy is out in the open, Oedipus wants to dreadfully prevent it so he flees from his town and the truth really did destroy him completely.
    In The Matrix Neo starts off as a regular human beinng going on with his own life as a computer hacker when Morpheus comes in his path.  he suddenly has two choices. One is to stay where he has been his whole life and the other choice is to go to a world that's way more exciting and beyond any world out there. Neo and Oedipus have similarities in many ways. for instance in the beginning not knowing any of the truth, both Neo and Oedipus suspected something was going on. Oedipus asked many questions because he suspected something was going on and he was right all along. Neo also suspected the existence of the matrix as well. Another similarity is that They both suspect and both act on it. They trust their gut feeling and that brought them to the real truth. Oedipus trys to run in the other direction of the horrible truth but every step that he takes brings him closer to what the prophecy had said. All of Oedipus actions lead him to the ugly future that was already said. Even though both play and movie end differently, both characters had choices. We are all human and act on what we think is right and we choose carefully. Sometimes we make the right decisions and other times our choices bring us to a horrific ending. 

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

In “The Allegory of the Cave” Socrates explains that leaving the cave is stressful and the prisoners will be terrified and will have to adjust to the outside world, and it will take them a while to accept it even though it is way better than the world they were living in. Once anyone leaves their comfort zone they become ignorant and know nothing about the new world they are in at the moment so they are somewhat slaves.  Even if they leave the terrible illusion they still end up in a dystopian world which they are clueless in. I’ve faced situations in which I had to adjust to the reality and it did cause a lot of pain and confusion. I didn’t know how to confront it at all. This is how the prisoners felt in “The Allegory of the Cave”. Many Women back in the 18^th century started believing that due to their personal experiences their baby would be affected by it. They believed that if they listened to music and were peaceful it would help their baby. If their baby was born with disabilities it would mean that the women was exposed to loud music or something disturbing but during the early 20^th century, people stopped believing in this and women didn’t know what to believe. They were extremely confused and didn’t want accept something that they believed in for so long.

    Growing up I believed my father was the strongest most intelligent dad that lived the planet. He never failed me and knew how to answer every single question I asked him. He would never say “I have NO idea”. About when I was 10 I attended school a block away from my house and my dad decided to pick me up. I was listening in on my dad’s conversation on the phone and he was completely wrong with what he was saying. That ay I realized even though he is way more astute then many fathers out there is wasn’t the brightest. For days I thought about the same exact thing. It really bothered me as it crossed my mind. I couldn’t accept the fact my dad wasn’t the best.

     Out of the two processes of giving up illusion and embracing the truth I believe that the Plato’s dialogue is way more accurate than the movie “The Matrix”. I believe this is so because In Plato’s Dialogue it shows the pain that the prisoners went through and it presents to its readers way more conflict. You can also compare to others experiences rather than the Matrix where people can hardly relate to at all. “The Allegory of the Cave” explains how much struggles the prisoners went through to just get to the same pain at the end where it’s hard to adjust to their new reality. When people read “The Allegory of the Cave” they will surely state their own opinion and relate to it fully. This is why I think Plato’s dialogue is even more accurate than “The Matrix”.