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Articles

Neo’s Choice: Truth versus Happiness in Fear and Trembling

by Joel McCrum

In the recent film The Matrix Neo, the protagonist, is offered a choice between what is revealed to be everyday life’s placating illusions, or the austere truth of an otherworldly ‘reality’. In the movie this choice provokes relatively little thought on his part, doubtless due to confidence in his ability to save the world and thereby rid the truth of its unpleasantness. It seems, however, that this approach merely skirts an issue that deserves more serious attention. I have found it necessary to examine how I would react if given such a choice, while noting that I certainly do not qualify as an action hero, and thus my chances of saving the world must be viewed as negligible.

At first blush, this situation suggests itself as a version of the Platonic cave allegory.

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