Truman

I believe that in life we need to go about our daily routines not knowing what is to come in the future. In fact, I think the future shall be and stay unpredictable. That idea also includes no one else knowing what is to come in your future; except of course for God being that I am religious. I believe that God knows the main points that are in your life’s plan however he gives you the gift of free will and allows you to make it to each point on your own. I think Christof slightly portrays similarities to God however they differ in other ways as well.
In the Truman Show, Christof, the director of a television network is using Truman’s life to put out a show for the sake of his career. I must admit I sympathize for Truman because I feel he was being exposed and watched as if he were a museum exhibit. I found it amusing that in the movie they make it seem possible for this to even be done. It was also shocking to me that not only does every single person in Seahaven watch the Truman show but they also act in it when Truman comes around. Christof, coincidently having “Christ” in his name, watches Truman’s every move in a white house high up somewhere. At the end when Truman gets the idea that he is being exhibited on a show, he finds Christof. Just before Truman enters his home, Christof speaks to him through what appears to be the sky. Christof watches Truman just like God watches us however he cannot tell what is in Truman’s future.
If I was in Truman’s position, I would rather go live in a place where I am promised I would have nothing to fear. Personally, being watched by everyone on television from birth freaks me out. Wouldn’t that freak you out too? To me leaving Seahaven to live in a place where I have nothing to fear means living in a place where no one is watching me, nonetheless on a television program to benefit someone else’s pocket.
The Truman Show reminds me of The Matrix because Truman and the people of the Matrix world both live in worlds that they most likely don’t want to be a part of. In other words, they are living immorally under someone else’s examination.

Fate Freedom and Foreknowledge

I believe that my life is determined by a special individual fate! I feel that in the end, things will end up the way they were supposed to end up all along. In certain situation, things may just work out in your favor. I think it is all predestined. I call that fate.
I am a firm believer of the “everything happens for a reason” idea. I think that sometimes things happen in life that was just meant to happen. Even if it wasn’t the best experience, fate put it in your path for the learning experience. There have been times where I have been caught in situations where I would not want to be in, but in the end I come out a better person. To me I feel it was in my fate all along to help make me who I am.
In the Matrix movie, the oracle knows everything that will happen. The oracle tells Neo that she would offer him a seat but she already knows that he will not take it. This shows that the people of the Matrix world do not have free will. Everything people do or say in the Matrix world is already predestined. This is all due to their determined individual fate.
Schick explains that, “Fatalists, as they are called, believe that certain things are bound to happen no matter what anyone does. Take the case of Oedipus, for example. An oracle prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. To avoid such horrible fate, Oedipus left the city where he grew up, but ended up doing exactly what the oracle had predicted.” This shows that no matter how you go about your life situations, in the end, they will always turn out the way it was planned in your fate.

Source and Ontology

To me the term ontology means the study of the way things are supposed to be and how they are. I never really knew what this word meant until I read a line in the Matrix and philosophy that said, “The second way to distinguish between the categories of real and unreal has to do with their respective ontological status- put plainly, the way things exist.” (Irwin, 61). In other words, Sanford and Gracia use the term ontology to express how things just are. Dictionary.com states that ontology means: “the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such.” All together, my understanding of this word is the science behind every living source.
Source on the other hand to me does not mean HOW things are but WHERE they came from. For example when writing a research paper you would need to gather information first in order to write your paper. Then you would list the sources in which you got your facts from and that means where they came from. Dictionary.com says, “Source: any thing or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained.” In the Matrix and philosophy, Gracia and Sanford state, “The two ways of distinguishing between the real and unreal world- the sources for each and their ontological status- clarify the distinction between the two categories of the Matrix.” I agree with Gracia and Sanford’s idea of the source because I believe everything has a source. However I do not agree on the fact that you can distinguish between real and unreal using ontological status because if it’s unreal then it wouldn’t have ontological staus.