The Matrix - Why Wake Up?

If an enormous alien lifted the sky and peeked down at us with one giant, glowing eye, wouldn’t you prefer that he just put the lid back on and we could forget all about it? Isn’t it better to be under the delusion that we matter than to discover how very small and insignificant we actually are? Would you rather live in Zion or your hometown?
I’m with Cypher on this one. Not in the sense that he betrayed his fellow beings or his wanting a better life at all costs, but I’m with him on his basic idea. Why wake up to a desolate, horrible wasteland, when you can stay in the dream, without knowing you’re dreaming? The damage has already been done, so isn’t it win/win for machine and man? They get energy and we get to live like we used to, at least for all we know. Didn’t Neo screw us on this one?

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The Freedom Roads

I have thought about this since the first movie came out, my first choice was that I would go into the Zion but the more I think about it I like the luxuries of modern life to much to go

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~In the event of a Zombie Uprising, remember to sever the head or destroy the brain!~

It depends on whether or not you believe truth has inherent value above and beyond the tangible. I think it does.

That said, it's not really about the choice. Once the choice is presented to you, it's pretty much already made. Cypher's plan was only feasible because it involved him forgetting everything ("Nothing," he insisted quite strongly). But Neo's choice was different: red pill or blue pill. He had to choose whether or not to know, meaning he knew there were things he didn't know. Totally different. I think plenty of people would go Cypher's route in choosing to be ignorant if they were unaware of it, but choosing when we're aware of our own ignorance? I think most of us would take the red pill.

Personally I wouldn't take a pill from a guy I didn't know in a run down warehouse in the middle of nowhere, but that's just me.

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What if he wore sunglasses indoors and they floated on his face without having to rest on his ears?

Well maybe I'd trust him. But then I'd see him on CSI later on and figure him out.

But didn't the other pill make you forget about the choice you had to make, so you could go back to your normal life in the matrix?

I'd want to know, because I agreed with Morpheus. I think there's something wrong with the world. Hence the reason I still try to "wake myself up" from this bad dream I feel I live in from day to day. Gloomy, I know, but you asked.

And I'm not positive that the blue pill would perform like, a total mind wipe. What he tells Neo is that he'll wake up, and then he can believe whatever he wants to believe. So, that's open for some interpretation.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Wouldn't give up my Prime Rib for anything, ignorance is bliss!

Re watched the scene and those where indeed the words. But I don't understand why Neo had to take a pill then. We know the red pill did something, but what is the blue pills function, if Neo just walks home afterwards? I'm speculating of course.

You see the thing is, you can't make the decision you're talking about without seeing the other side first - and as we already have all our answers are null and void. The reason why he took the blue pill (if it was the red one forgive my mistake) was because he needed answers which were promised to him through its ingestion. He wanted to know what was out there that couldn't be seen by the rest of civilisation. It's all well and good asking the question once you know what's on the other side when there's no way of ever getting back the ignorance you once had. But at the time he didn't know what he was going to be faced with once he "woke up".

We're all looking for "meaning" it's part of the human condition and it's what that scene represents. If you had the chance to know more than what you know now about what reality truly is and become enlightened so to speak, you would surely take it. I'm sure most of us would.

If it turns out to be a bad decision, well that's just life and you have to deal with it because it cannot be changed. To put it plainly; you can't ask this question already knowing what the answer is because you aren't in the situation that he was in at the time and nor will you ever be.

My take on it is that if he decided to stay inside the Matrix or stay ignorant or whatever then he takes the pill in order for them to disorient you enough so that the Agents couldn't find them. Because remember, an agent could be anyone, yeah? So I figured that the blue pill most likely just knocked the guy out long enough for them to get the person home or wherever in order to avoid being detected. I mean, if you decide to take the blue pill, you're essentially saying that I don't believe I'm inside a computer program, so it really doesn't matter what happens after that. But, an Agent could possibly start picking up on the signals that the prospective 'sleeper' is putting out if they just walk him to the door and then let him walk off into the night thinking about what might have been. You with me?

One look at my avatar is all you need, to know what my decision would look like.
The whole thing itself is very complicated, but on a very personal and simple level, it`s about

Permanent Blue Sky VS Life in Hell.

My english is hardly good enough, to express my full thoughts appropriate, but basically it goes like this: Sometimes you have to face the truth. And sometimes you should better live in denial. In this fantastic case:

If I were aware that I´m only a tiny battery in a gigantic system or that "my creator" is an insectoid alien creature - I would try to forget about that, chew my bloody steaks and live the good life.

Hmm, difficult one. I too can certainly understand Cypher's point and his 'ignorance is bliss' mentality, but at the end of the day, the world, the REAL world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it? I think we all have a responsibility to at least attempt to comprehend our existence, so I personally would have taken the red pill.

And Powder, that's an interesting take and makes a lot of sense in regards to the physics of the film. Though I can't help but think that Morpheus and co would have forced Neo to take that red pill regardless of whether or not he wanted to know the truth. I mean, Morpheus had been looking for him for a long time and he is their messiah, their jesus christ, right? So it's hard to believe that Morpheus would have allowed such an important person to remain ignorant.

Yeah, I can't see them forcing them him to take the pill. As we hear all throughout all three of the films, it's all about choice, yeah? If Neo didn't chose to find out; "Just how deep the Rabbit hole goes." then the outcome would be completely different and Neo could never live up to his potential. The question drove him to Morpheus. The answer led him to several choices that in turn led him to trying to understand those choices and accept who he was and what he could do.

I can remember my first philosophy teacher drove a deep gaping hole through the phrase "ignorance is bliss." I don't remember exactly how he put it, but I will try to capture the general concept. Basically, ignorance cannot be bliss. In order for it to be bliss you would have to know what you're ignorant of and why not knowing is better...but then you would know and you would no longer be ignorant. Therefor, ignorance cannot be bliss.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

The Matrix movie also showed us that once in the awakened state they found themselves in a place where the technological advancements made it possible to re-insert the mind into a new reality of one's chosing not the one imposed against free will by the machines at the service of the machines. While in the simulation imposed by the machines are those living it really exercising free will? Is a prisoner in a penitentiary really exercising free will as he goes about his day to day activities? I think the awakening from the matrix as depicted in that movie is a release from an imposed illusion to one that where free will can truly be exercised. For better or for worst.

The character Cypher could just as well have enjoyed the perks of the good life in a simulation of his own creation using the technology available in the awakened world. In other words he could have "had it all" without resorting to a betrayal of his affiliates.

I think you have to put this question into contexted. If I was Neo working at an office or myself. I maybe more willing to except an alternative truth to reality. Something I can grasp or understand more once the question is raised. What i'm saying is that you'd only question this if you were doing some mundae job or had no job or was a bum. If everything is going good (which isn't for neo) why would you change, question except that on the say of someone you've never meet in person.

I think most would agree that reality, be it one layer down or twenty layers above has to have controversy to be enjoyable. Utopia is not defined as a place without conflict. When people observe those they believe are living the idylic lifestyle they are often stunned and surprised to discover that this seemingly perfect lifestyle has a lot of hardship and controversy at one level or the other. I did not find Neos life to be exceptionally devoid of value and with his talent and a will to adapt he could have just as easily remained at that layer in what many others would have considered the perfect life. I think Neo would have taken the awakening pill regardless the conditions of life he was experiencing in his simulation because, as he said in the movie, something appeared not right like he was not really experiencing the true essence of his awareness.