Blog #231--Escaping the Matrix

My son encouraged me to watch the movie “The Matrix” and its two sequels. He said they shared a similar philosophy to the conclusions shared in my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life.” While the movies appeal more to younger audiences, I did find aspects that fit well the notion that we do not have free will.

In the movies, a group of technology geniuses believe they are living within a computer program and wish to escape it. They find many obstacles in their path, including all sorts of people wishing to prevent, at all costs, their escape from “the Matrix.” Of course, they do break free at the end of the third movie, satisfying the ego need for a happy ending.

It now appears some technology billionaires such as Elon Musk and Bank of America (see the Andrew Griffin article in the 10/7/16 edition of “The Independent”) agree that we are stuck within a computer program. According to Griffin, the growth of computers and other forms of artificial intelligence have allowed us to create worlds that are basically indistinguishable from what we consider the “real” world:

“That has led some tech billionaires to speculate that the chances we are not living in such a simulation is “billions to one.” Even Bank of America analysts wrote last month that the chance we are living in a Matrix-style fictional world is as high as 50 per cent.”

Musk said earlier in 2016 that he believes the odds we are not within a computer simulation is “one in a billion.” Tad Friend of the magazine “New Yorker” shared the following information:

“Many people in Silicon Valley have become obsessed with the simulation hypothesis, the argument that what we experience as reality is in fact fabricated in a computer. Two tech billionaires have gone so far as to secretly engage scientists to work on breaking us out of the simulation.”

Musk and Sam Altman, who develops tech companies through Y Combinator, are among those who believe that, if we cannot break free from this matrix, we will see the end of the world. They believe that is where we are headed without immediate intervention. Their fears about the future of Earth may be justified, but in my opinion their methods of finding an escape route may prove fruitless and perhaps counterproductive.

They face an obstacle they probably can’t overcome. I doubt they have considered this, but they are programmed as completely as the world they study. Most of us assume we have conscious control over our lives despite living in a finite matrix that keeps us limited, but that is illogical wishful thinking. If they are programmed to escape the Matrix, then they are also programmed for what lies beyond. So if they somehow escape completely and are free to do as they wish, then they were programmed to do so.

The third movie in the trilogy, “The Matrix Revolutions,” eventually shows the heroes breaking free of their chains. But it ends there without discussing where they go after their success. It is highly likely their new existence is also programmed completely. Are other humans there? Are they any different than the humans living within the Matrix? Are they no longer subject to wars, disease, greed and catastrophes of all kinds?

For that matter, what happens in this new existence when two people with opposite goals use their free will to obtain them? Will there be conflicts that lead to battles and eventually wars? What difference would that be from what we have now? Would those who escaped the Matrix take good care of the land, air, sea and wildlife found in their new world? Or would they try to force submission on the rest of the world, like many billionaires tend to do now? Musk, Altman and the others involved in this research may be honorable men, but people motivated by a toxic combination of fear and profit often struggle to find success.

Humans have always copied themselves and Nature when creating new inventions. It appears we are trying to do the same thing now. After all, descriptions of an afterlife are quite similar to what those seeking an escape from the Matrix might expect to find. In other words, they are still variations on the same themes we see repeating themselves endlessly within a three-dimensional existence. They may be more peaceful or more destructive than what we have now, but the same relationships continue to exist. The afterlife may seem to offer us freedoms we presently lack, but eventually someone will remind us that we must begin a new life and learn new lessons, whether we wish to or not.

The only way to escape all this is to become one with the entire universe and its creator source. We can’t do that if we see it as an enemy to be avoided. And we can’t do it with our ego, which seeks free will and profit rather than oneness. I wish these people good luck in their search, although my guess is they will end up with less money and more questions than answers.

But I agree with them completely on one point. We are living within a computer simulation in the sense that we all have destinies we can’t change. At least, we may be distorting the truth sufficiently to believe we live in a computer simulation. Their willingness to admit their beliefs provides credibility to my book and blogs.

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