What Is Descartes's Matrix And The Matrix

Just as Plato and, later, Descartes pondered the idea of existence and reality, Putnam in the early 80’s questioned the argument made by global skeptics that the beliefs- no matter how well justified they are- held by an individual might well be false if the world in which he lives is a simulated world. Hilary Putnam argued that it is not possible for that individual to be a brain in a vat using a series of premises – causal constraints - that led to the conclusion previously stated. In Putnam’s thought experiment, and The Matrix (1999), there are several similarities, and also differences, with Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” and Descartes’ “MEDITATION I OF THE THINGS OF WHICH WE MAY DOUBT”. Firstly, the argument Putnam makes can be considered a variant of Descartes’ argument on “MEDITATION I OF THE THINGS OF WHICH WE MAY DOUBT” in which Descartes plays with the

In the televised version of Putnam’s experiment, The Matrix, this matrix, which acts as Descartes’ demon, controls the brains of a great majority of the human race and creates a reality in which all of these thought-beings exist. Now, a point of departure from Descartes’ meditation is the belief held by the insurgent group that the world is an illusion created to control the brains producing these thought- beings. Descartes, contrary to the characters portrayed in this movie, does not consider the purpose for the demon’s deceit to be a desire for control; instead, he states that this malignant being deceives him because it desires to do so. Secondly, in Plato’s allegory the prisoners claim to have knowledge of the real world when, indeed, their knowledge of reality is not coherent with reality itself, likewise the characters in The Matrix