最近有空看了会儿The Matrix，这曾是我最喜欢的电影系列之一。
电影中有许多充满了哲学思辩对话，都曾引发了我的思考，让我对人生产生了新的理解和认知。据说电影制作之前，导演兼编剧:“龌龊司机兄弟”（现在是姐妹:)曾要求主演必须去读 Simulacra and Simulation, Out of Control，Introducing Evolutionary Psychology 这三本书，以便能更好的理解Matrix要表达的哲学主题。

关于机器与人：

Morpheus: Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

Neo and the Councillor walk out onto the engineering level.

Councillor Hamann: Almost no one comes down here, unless, of course, there’s a problem. That’s how it is with people - nobody cares how it works as long as it works. I like it down here. I like to be reminded this city survives because of these machines. These machines are keeping us alive, while other machines are coming to kill us. Interesting, isn’t it? Power to give life, and the power to end it.

Neo: We have the same power.

Councillor Hamann: I suppose we do, but down here sometimes I think about all those people still plugged into the Matrix and when I look at these machines, I.. I can’t help thinking that in a way, we are plugged into them.

Neo: But we control these machines, they don’t control us.

Councillor Hamann: Of course not, how could they? The idea’s pure nonsense, but… it does make one wonder just… what is control?

Neo: If we wanted, we could shut these machines down.

Councillor Hamann: Of course… that’s it. You hit it! That’s control, isn’t it? If we wanted, we could smash them to bits. Although if we did, we’d have to consider what would happen to our lights, our heat, our air.

现代社会，我们的生活根本无法离开机器，如今关闭电脑，没有电能是几乎不可想象的。回顾一下，不过十多年内的科技发展，现代人已经几乎无法脱离智能手机了:人们开始将越来越多的时间和精力投入到屏幕前，不禁感慨:现代生活究竟是人在使用计算机还是计算机在用人？你可以通过手机应用聊天、购物、玩游戏、读文章、吃喝玩乐…新鲜事物的刺激和多巴胺奖励不断随机地出现在你的手机屏幕前，不停地吸引你的眼球。未来只要往每个人手机里塞满各类应用，人们也许就会像电影中的人类一样：脑子后面插了个管子，乐滋滋地为Matrix发电…

关于真相：

Morpheus: What is real? How do you define ‘real’? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

你能看到的世界就是真实的吗？你目前能够“理解”的就是现实吗？你能接触到的环境，你每天呼吸的空气就代表着这个世界真实的运作方式吗？眼见有时也未必为实，比如魔术师就可以利用种种方法和技巧让你产生认知偏差。而电影中的Matrix正是利用了高科技手段，让陷在其中的人类产生了认知上的错觉：所有的感官和心理体验都是被模拟出来的，Matrix中的大部分人类能看到的“真实”也只是Matrix想让他们看到的。

Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Neo: The Matrix.

Morpheus: Do you want to know…what it is?
[Neo nods]

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work…when you go to church…when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can be…told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. [opens pillbox, empties contents into his palms, outstretches his hands] This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill [opens his right hand revealing blue pill], the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill [opens his left hand revealing red pill], you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. [Neo, after a pause, reaches for the red pill] Remember: all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.

还是在读书的时候就能够感觉的到总有某种Force在阻止我去了解我想要了解的知识与话题，但自己又没办法去清晰和有条理的解释这到底是为什么。身边的大部分的人常常是习惯了种种社会惯常和集体的惯性来欺骗自己，然后便将这种不可避免地推而广之，生活周遭充满了对于生活真相的刻意避讳。也许大多数人宁可相信美丽的谎言，也不愿直面丑陋而残酷的真相。电影中，即使是努力追寻真相的Neo，在离开Matrix后，Morpheus第一次给他讲真相时，他都呕吐了。可见如果没有强大的内心，则很可能会对真相视而不见和回避。有的人知道真相后无法直面残酷的事实，生活的幻觉与假设破灭后则可能会陷入新的迷茫与痛苦。就像电影中叛变了的Cypher，在重返Matrix后与Agent Smith共进高贵晚餐时不由感慨：Ignorance is bliss.

也许追求真相的道路上孤独就是常态，因为即使你能够清醒，毫不犹豫的对自己开刀，却无法随意对拒绝思考、自我欺骗的人去批判。

关于选择

Morpheus: I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.
Morpheus: Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.　　

互联网是一个伟大的发明，知识和信息以前所未有的爆炸速度，以互联网为媒介而传播，这让普通人也有机会接触最先进的教育资源和方法，满足人对于知识的无限好奇心。不管你关注什么样的主题，都能通过互联网找到对应的书，网页，文章和问答。然而是否能真正为自己所用，让自己实现自我成长，摸索出适合自己的路，又取决于个人自身了。

The Oracle: Do you know what that means? It means know thy self.

我们作出的每个选择都会给我们对事物和世界的看法带来影响，与不同的人和事物建立新的关联，而这些影响和关联又会继而影响到我们后续的选择。也许好的选择会让我们更加真实的了解自己，而糟糕的选择则会让我们的轨迹偏离生活的真相和真实的自己。

Neo: But if you already know, how can I make a choice?
The Oracle: Because you didn’t come here to make the choice, you’ve already made it. You’re here to try to understand why you made it. I thought you’d have figured that out by now.

在真正的抉择到来前，很多时候人也许早就在潜意识中作出了自己的选择。生活并不会告诉你选择的对与错，只是会让你理解自己作出选择的理由，调整自己，能让自己在选择的道路上走的更远。

关于体制化

Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

在一个糟糕的体制环境中，绝大部分人会成为体制的顺从者，不合理的制度之所以能够延续就因为大部分人被体制化。他们一方面是体制的受害者，另一方面又很依赖于体制。这类人的比例越高，整个系统就会看上去越稳定。他们在依赖于体制，为体制辩护的同时，他们的自身利益却根本得不到保护。而他们的思考方式、个人价值观都很大程度受限于体制化而不自知。