USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006 FOURTH ASSIGNMENT (PHILOSOPHY)- 'The Door'

"Yeah so then what is the biggest crime of the Matrix?"

"Well, maybe there are some other ideas..."

"Despite the fact that we have free reign in the Matrix, we're still in the position of the inferiors on Earth. It's like slavery; you could give the slave a fortune, a family, a life, but in the end, he's still a slave. He has no choice in the title.

"For us, it's the story of the Bondsman and the Lord, but without the eventual overthrow of the Lord. We remain the Bondsmen, without the opportunity to change it."

"Yes, note that human society in Matrix is constrained, it will be never allowed to advance much past its current state. Human`s ability to understand and learn is greatly limited because we live in artificial environment. Perhaps all reality is illusion, but we can try to discover it. Humans living in Matrix are limited from pursuing such truth. Perhaps many would prefer Matrix to Zion, but the lack of choice is the problem."

"The ability to choose is obviously present in the Matrix, but it is constrained by lack of knowledge. People can't be truly free without knowing all the options."

"You have no guarantee you know all the options now either; the Matrix does not change that. In affording you the freedom of a a free man, the Matrix is not constraining you in that way, and nor do Hephaestus' objections fit very well, because if you are free, are you really a slave?

"Not that I am instructing you on what opinions you should hold. But perhaps I wanted to look at this issue in light of what I have been saying, and that being the case Melkor's commentary is far more in keeping. The crime is not against any individual Human, who lives a free and happy life. The crime is one against society- society is forever stuck at that period in time. To deny a society the opportunity to advance is a mass crime, and one of true slavery."

" I agree with this logic. So this is why you are against Matrix existing. Tell me, were you rejected from Machine society when you came to those conclusions?"

"Do not jump to conclusions, Melkor. I merely offer this as an observation."

"Now... describe to me the process that Human society is meant to advance. As it may affect an individual, perhaps."

"In all large human societies I can think of capitalism was the driving force behind advancement. First it seems to be achieving a longer lifespan, then a measure of comfort or happiness through reproduction and accumulation of material possessions. Also, and some would say unfortunately, the ability to relax."

(Bit fluffed, that. Sorry.)

"I am unsure if you can ascribe the entirity of progress in, say, antiquity, to the mechancism of capitalism.

"Let us make this more individual, though. Let us think about, say, the mill worker. The person who works on the loom, or in manual labour."

"Well, he can work more efficiently and have better work conditions thanks to the progress of technology. Individuals need less effort to fullfill their needs as well, so they can have more time to devote to more sophisticated activities."

"Is that the experience for all such manual workers?"

"In order to advance society, mankind needs 'free time' in which they can perform more sophisticated activities, as Melkor stated. When they were cavemen, their focus was survival, always on the move. But once they settled and began using technology and had a surplus of resources, they had time enough to pause and think.

"In the case of the mill worker, as Melkor said, as technology advances, he is able to perform his duties more quickly, which affords him his free time, his time to think. In that time, he could further advance technology or society, which then causes him to finish his duties even more quickly, and so on..."

"I am not sure if you are really representing the experience. What happens when the loom that needed three people to operate is replaced by one that needs only one? What happens when a tool is replaced by one that needs an entirely different skill set to use?"

"Skills of those people may become useless. But this is why modern societies have diffrent educational systems, so people don`t have to do a single thing for their entire life. I assume it is more difficult when Machine`s purpose is no longer needed by their society?"- Melkor pauses at his last statement, thinking.

"Yes it is, isn't it? But even before the advent of concepts like 're-training', why did it not matter to society that certain people, many people, would become obsolete?"

Lo Qi draws a stick figure, and then draws out a much smaller one next to it.

"Well, even modern societies throw some of its members outside of it. Homeless people, for example."

"That is not quite the focus of the problem. Simply thowing people out of society doesn't ensure that needs will be met. We need a simple and direct response to the issue."

"Wouldn't be because they would basically die off anyways so if they became obsolete it really didn't matter?"