Thursday, February 14, 2008

The cave & The matrix


In The Allegory of the cave, the famous Greek philosopher, Plato, describes the world people live in as a cave with a long entrance to the light. He says that people are born with necks and legs fettered, so that they can only see and walk in one direction which is opposite of the light shining into the cave. So basically they are unable to reach the light that tempts them at the entrance of the cave. I believe Plato is saying that people are born into a society that has set boundaries and limits that hinder people from reaching outside of the box. All people have the light within their sights but cannot break the barriers that limit them from reaching a new sense of enlightenment. In the matrix, there lies the same problem that Plato describes but in a more modern and technological sense. Society in the matrix is shown as a computer program that peoples minds are trapped in whereas in Plato's essay he describes society as a cave that people are also trapped in. Both The Matrix and The Cave are very similar to each other but differ in a sense of technological and modern advancement of society. The picture of the cave with light streaming in at the entrance very clearly shows Plato's idea of society as the cave that people are trapped in. My next picture is a scene from the Matrix that shows Humans being used as a battery source to power the machine world they live in. Both pictures are symbolic in showing how people are trapped in the limitations of society,.

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