Made in 1999, the film The Matrix gives insight into the ethical and existential concerns about the uses of artificial intelligence (AI) as we continue to move toward a society filled with it. Written and directed by sisters Lana and Lily Wachowski, the film dives into an entirely new way of thinking about the world that we live in. Our protagonist and screen surrogate, Neo, learns about the Matrix with us, as we both attempt to comprehend and unpack what the Matrix even is. Neo learns from Morpheus, the “God-like” character in the film, that the Matrix is the computer-generated reality created by AI that blinds humanity from the truth. The truth is, we humans are basically an energy source for AI. By taking the red pill that Morpheus gives him, Neo is able to dive down the rabbit hole and free his mind to awaken into actual reality. Once Neo awakens from his prior life that was never real, we meet the other members of Morpheus’s team aboard his ship that is flying through the universe in the future because humankind scorched the sun in their war with AI to eliminate their energy source, thus making Earth uninhabitable.
This film really makes you think about our existence as a species and what our purpose on this Earth really is. This film gives one possibility, or conspiracy, as to why we are here, being that we are merely being used as batteries for artificial intelligence in the future, and our reality is a computer-generated simulation. Similar simulation conspiracy theories have been explored recently, with Elon Musk saying that we are most likely living in a simulation because, in the future, virtual reality will be so vivid that is indistinguishable from reality, and that there is a very small chance that we are living in base reality. Imagine if life is one big game of The Sims. The Matrix explains that reality can be programmed, therefore what if this is all just a programed simulation? If you want to fall down the rabbit hole with Neo and wake up to reality, I highly recommend watching this film. But what is reality anyway?