The Matrix: The Problem of the External World
             The film The Matrix addresses the philosophical problem of the external world in a manner that few have ever even remotely considered. Many people casually question what is real, and what are we actually seeing. However, few develop in depth theories and answers to this question. It takes a very popular film on the subject to stimulate people's thought process to the point of developing their own perspective on what actually is real, and if what we see in our everyday lives can even be considered real. In the film, the problem is resolved by asserting that what we see everyday is not actually real, but that we are simply plugged into machines that stimulate our brains to project a certain "reality." In The Matrix, humankind developed machines that could think for themselves, or artificial intelligence (A.I.). These machines then turned on mankind and a war between humans and machines ensued. At the time, the machines were dependent on the light of the sun to function, so the humans "scorched the sky" to deprive the machines of sunlight. After this, the machines began using actual human embryos and human living human bodies for energy. To prevent human resistance, the machines developed a world, essentially a computer program, and fed it into the human brain electronically. According to the movie, we are deceived into thinking that we are living in a reality, but it is actually a computer program used to enslave humankind so that we can be used for a source of energy.
             The basic philosophical problem addressed by the movie is the fact that if we are not, in fact, dreaming, or being deceived, at any given time, then how can we know that we are actually "awake?" There are several different answers to this problem, none of which seem to prove absolutely that we can be sure that we are not living a dream or a lie. The philosopher Rene Descart...