Star Trek had several episodes which touched on the idea, even if you build a perfect fake utopia, it’s still fake. And reality is ultimately better than a false life (for most people).
I think human beings have evolved to see a fake reality, because true reality is too complex for our minds to process and simplifying it saves on resources.
I think the desire for reality is a trap that will make you vulnerable to all sorts of cognitive biases. I think the rich have learned to use the desire for reality against us. I think the only way to be free is to choose to create our own unreality. I think through mental techniques to reshape our beliefs, we can achieve the power to break out of the capitalist mind prison.
But that would drastically change the message, no? People should choose to leave the Matrix because the reward is living in reality, even if it’s harder and there’s no other reward.
Persona 5 has it’s issues, but it never once occurred to me that it had any similarities to The Matrix.
I mean, I guess thinking about it now I can see some parallels, but to call it a “cheap imitation” seems a little absurd. They’re two entirely different stories
It’s mostly the third semester plotline which imo is poorly written because, unlike the matrix, the villain has the power to actually rewrite reality. And yet, when the protagonists turn him good, he doesn’t start using his powers for good, fixing injustice, giving everyone (not just the protagonists) the power to shape their own fate… no, he just stops using those powers. The altered world is presented as a ‘false reality’, like in matrix, even though it’s clearly stated that it would eventually become real. It’s as if they took the core idea of matrix but forgot the parts that made it work in the original story
The Matrix would have been better if there had been a stronger incentive to leaving the Matrix. It’s still a great film though.
Unlike its cheap imitations that miss the mark entirely (cough cough Persona 5 Royal)
Star Trek had several episodes which touched on the idea, even if you build a perfect fake utopia, it’s still fake. And reality is ultimately better than a false life (for most people).
Red Dwarf did it better though.
I think human beings have evolved to see a fake reality, because true reality is too complex for our minds to process and simplifying it saves on resources.
I think the desire for reality is a trap that will make you vulnerable to all sorts of cognitive biases. I think the rich have learned to use the desire for reality against us. I think the only way to be free is to choose to create our own unreality. I think through mental techniques to reshape our beliefs, we can achieve the power to break out of the capitalist mind prison.
But that would drastically change the message, no? People should choose to leave the Matrix because the reward is living in reality, even if it’s harder and there’s no other reward.
Persona 5 has it’s issues, but it never once occurred to me that it had any similarities to The Matrix.
I mean, I guess thinking about it now I can see some parallels, but to call it a “cheap imitation” seems a little absurd. They’re two entirely different stories
It’s mostly the third semester plotline which imo is poorly written because, unlike the matrix, the villain has the power to actually rewrite reality. And yet, when the protagonists turn him good, he doesn’t start using his powers for good, fixing injustice, giving everyone (not just the protagonists) the power to shape their own fate… no, he just stops using those powers. The altered world is presented as a ‘false reality’, like in matrix, even though it’s clearly stated that it would eventually become real. It’s as if they took the core idea of matrix but forgot the parts that made it work in the original story
Wasn’t the third semester added on for P5Royal and not part of the main story?
Either way I don’t really care that much
yeah that’s why I said royal specifically