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Originally Posted by Michael Chui  You might be surprised by exactly how deep [The Matrix's] philosophy goes. For instance, Cypher presents the point of view of why you might not want to awaken someone. Neo's reaction to "the truth" is the precise reason they do not attempt it on someone who's too old. And this is just the immediately applicable philosophy. |
And Neo is a great counter-example to that exact philosophy ; he was exposed to the truth at a later age and did just fine (it may even have contributed to his success). Ultimately
any human being is going to be taken aback by a major paradigm shift ; that doesn't mean that the opportunity to experience that should be withheld from them. (Nor does it mean they should have one forced upon them then be abandoned to go through it with no support).
Again, The Matrix is a very good film, but some of its philosophical (and especially moral) positions are of questionable applicability to reality.
One thing The Matrix
did do a superb job at, is getting the man on the street thinking about subjective reality. (Which in fact, supports my case that the 'average joe'
can handle these concepts if fed them in the right way).
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Originally Posted by Michael Chui Quote: |
Originally Posted by Keith I think the key word is 'directly'. When it comes to personal development, no-one can be directly helped ; it's personal. All you can do is provide the support and environment that people need to grow. | Excellent point. So perhaps that's what we should be doing. |
Very much agreed ; the point of this thread is to brainstorm a better world, and IMO this issue is one the key vectors to achieve that.
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Originally Posted by Michael Chui Quote: |
Originally Posted by Keith a key difference between a genius and an ordinary person is having one good mentor. [...] | The word "genius" has never sat comfortably with me... but neither has "intelligent".  |
For these purposes, genius = "someone who is recognisably very successful in their field".