Would You Choose the Red or the Blue Pill?
SteveMR200
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882_
_Lectures and Biographical Sketches_ [1883], "Character"
Rob the average man of his life-illusion and you rob
him of his happiness as well.
--Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
_The Wild Duck_ [1884], Chapter 5
--
Steve
SteveMR200
The masses have never thirsted after truth. They
turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste,
preferring to deify error, if error seduces them.
Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily
their master; whoever attempts to destroy their
illusions is always their victim.
--Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
_The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind_ [1895]
They pray not only for their daily bread, but also
for their daily illusion.
--Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
(As quoted in J. A. Brown's _Techniques of
Persuasion: From Propaganda to Brainwashing_ [1963])
--
Steve
Grace McGarvie
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SteveMR200
Which is preferable, the real world or the enhanced
virtual world? Which pill would you take--the blue
one or the red? As we have just seen, given the
appropriate technological advances as well as a
competent and benevolent programmer, the virtual
world will typically seem more attractive than the
real one. Much more so.
This is nicely illustrated in the scene in which
Cypher defects and goes to work for the inimitable
Agent Smith. Cypher enjoying a succulent cut of
beef and a fine glass of red wine says: "I know this
steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in
my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is
juicy and delicious. After nine years, do you know
what I realize? Ignorance is bliss."
The Matrix has juicy steaks; the real human world
has bland gruel. The Matrix has great nightclubs;
the real world has none. The Matrix has the woman
in the red dress; the real world has . . . Trinity
(oh well, there's always an exception).
But the point is that the Matrix is a paradise of
sensual pleasures compared to the real world. And
Cypher is a hedonist through and through--a
pleasure-seeker unwilling to put up with
forever-deferred dreams and other idealist crap.
He wants to return to cyber-reality and is willing
to do what it takes to get out of another nine years
of gruel. Not so the other Nebuchadnezzar
team-mates. There's something more important to
them than pleasure, namely, truth and freedom.
Especially to Neo who reveals early on his distaste
for and disbelief in fate because "I don't like the
idea that I'm not in control of my life."
--David Weberman
(In an essay included in William Irwin's
_The Matrix and Philosophy_ [2002], "The Matrix
Simulation and the Post Modern Age")
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<b9recvggf00va7ti1...@4ax.com>:
>The masses have never thirsted after truth. They
>turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste,
>preferring to deify error, if error seduces them.
>Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily
>their master; whoever attempts to destroy their
>illusions is always their victim.
> --Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
> _The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind_ [1895]
I can't help feeling wary when I hear anything said
about the masses. First you take their faces from
'em by calling 'em the masses and then you
accuse 'em of not having any faces.
--J. B. Priestly (1894-1984)
_Saturn Over The Water_ [1961], Chapter 2
--
Steve
Steven K. Robison
particular are ill natured. --Lord Halifax
When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets
another one. --Friedrich Nietzsche
There is not a more mean, stupid, dastardly, pitiful, selfish, spiteful,
envious, ungrateful animal than the public. It is the greatest of cowards,
for it is afraid of itself. --William Hazlitt
The public! The public! How many fools does it take to make up a
public? --Nicholas Chamfort
If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one,
but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie. --W. Somerset Maugham
To succeed in charming the crowd you must seem to wear the same
fetters. --Francois M. A. Voltaire
***
Steven K. Robison
*****
"SteveMR200" <Steve...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:sndoc4p67h9i46m3g...@4ax.com...
SteveMR200
message:
<VLydnabB0YRi2lHV...@posted.choiceonecommunications>:
>When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets
>another one. --Friedrich Nietzsche
Madness is something rare in individuals--but in
groups, parties, peoples, ages--it is the rule.
--Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
_Beyond Good and Evil_ [1886],
"Maxims and Interludes," No. 156
--
Steve
Penelope A. Sykes
>> When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets
>> another one. --Friedrich Nietzsche
>
> Madness is something rare in individuals--but in
> groups, parties, peoples, ages--it is the rule.
> --Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
> _Beyond Good and Evil_ [1886],
> "Maxims and Interludes," No. 156
If you are in this or that type of situation, you will find yourself, if
you are not careful, behaving like a brute and a savage if you are
ordered to do it. Watch out for these situations. You must be on your
guard against your own most primitive reactions and instincts.
~Doris Lessing, 'Group Minds', Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. (1987)
--
//Penelope A. Sykes
AQ website: Photos, FAQ, AQers websites
http://www.altquotations.com/
_____________________________________
SteveMR200
<PT6Bk.38027$IK1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au>:
>If you are in this or that type of situation, you will find yourself, if
>you are not careful, behaving like a brute and a savage if you are
>ordered to do it. Watch out for these situations. You must be on your
>guard against your own most primitive reactions and instincts.
>~Doris Lessing, 'Group Minds', Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. (1987)
Alypius, a fourth-century music theorist, was often
urged by his neighbors to watch the gladiators in
combat. He refused because he abhorred the
brutality of those barbaric contests.
One day, however, he was coerced to attend.
Determined not to witness the gory spectacle,
Alypius kept his eyes tightly closed. But a
piercing cry prompted him to peek just as one
of the fighters received a fatal wound.
Author J. N. Norton comments, "Alypius' finer
sensibilities were blunted, and he joined in the
shouts and exclamations of the noisy mob about him.
From that moment he was a changed man--changed for
the worse; not only attending such sports himself,
but urging others to do likewise."
Even though Alypius had entered the arena against
his will, his exposure to evil shows what can happen
to the best of people when they get one small taste
of destructive pleasure. Before they realize it,
they become enslaved.
--Richard W. De Haan
_Our Daily Bread_ [December 12, 1997],
"The Fatal First Step"
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<kqgdd419tdpgsioob...@4ax.com>:
Pleasure pursues beautiful objects--what is
agreeable to look at, to hear, to smell, to taste,
to touch. But curiosity pursues the contraries of
these delights with the motive of seeing what the
experiences are like, not with a wish to undergo
discomfort, but out of a lust for experimenting
and knowing.
What pleasure is to be found in looking at a mangled
corpse, an experience which evokes revulsion? Yet
wherever one is lying, people crowd around to be
made sad and to turn pale.
--Saint Augustine (354-430)
_Confessions_ [397-401]; Book X, Number 35
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<b9recvggf00va7ti1...@4ax.com>:
>On Sat, 17 May 2003 06:30:09 -0700, SteveMR200 wrote in message:
><evdccv4a54gucatl9...@4ax.com>:
you got a bargain.
--Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916)
_Aphorisms_ [1880-1905]
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<7uj0i9hhlc3gh1uks...@4ax.com>:
>On Sun, 18 May 2003 04:30:03 -0700, SteveMR200 wrote in message:
><b9recvggf00va7ti1...@4ax.com>:
>
>>turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste,
>>preferring to deify error, if error seduces them.
>>Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily
>>their master; whoever attempts to destroy their
>>illusions is always their victim.
>> --Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
>> _The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind_ [1895]
>>
>>They pray not only for their daily bread, but also
>>for their daily illusion.
>> --Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
>> (As quoted in J. A. Brown's _Techniques of
>> Persuasion: From Propaganda to Brainwashing_ [1963])
>
>However much you paid for a beautiful illusion,
>you got a bargain.
> --Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916)
> _Aphorisms_ [1880-1905]
The great task in life is to find reality.
--Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)
_The Times_ [April 15, 1983], "Profile"
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<evdccv4a54gucatl9...@4ax.com>:
at the state mental institution. He was convinced
he was on a tropical island with no cares and
no worries.
It took me a long time to convince him that no, he
was in a room with bare walls and a bare bed and
he was wearing a strait-jacket.
--Jack Handey (1949- )
_Fuzzy Memories_ [1996]
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<n1utcbhlvakht2hdc...@4ax.com>:
the stranger shall not meddle with his joy.
--The Bible, Proverbs 14:10 GNV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+14%3A10&version=GNV
--
Steve