#9. Red Pill or Blue Pill: Is Ignorance Bliss?

Christine Cornell and Patrick Malcomson, the authors of the passage “Red Pill or Blue Pill: Is Ignorance Bliss?” confront the protagonists of two pieces: “The Matrix” - science fiction action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski in 1999, and “Alice in Wonderland” - novel written by Lewis Carroll in 1865. The authors of the passage show that “The Matrix” and “Allice in Wonderland” were inspired by “The Allegory of the Cave” – parable written by Plato about 500 B.C. Despite the fact that these tree works were written in different time of development of human civilization, they unveil confusion and pose an eternal question: whether our life is real or it is just a dream - illusion from reality.  In my opinion the authors of these tree stories used the metaphor as a tool to show us that human life has “second bottom” - the mystery that everyone has to discover during his or her life journey. In “The Matrix” the blue pill represents life of ignorance, and the red pill the life of awareness - full of experiences. If I have a chance to decide about my life I would choose the red pill, because life of ignorance seems to be very sad.

First , I think that the ”red pill” world is very fascinating. In “The Matrix” Morpeus said: “You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes… Remember, all I’m offering is truth, nothing more.” I'm impressed by people who are curious about surrounding world. The philosophers and scientists penetrate the world in order to find the answer that bothers human being since ever. Their outstanding behaviors, creativity and self-determination helped human civilization achieve success in many fields. The innovations, especially science development could not be possible if the scientists didn't have challenges. There are many examples proving, that self-determination and creativity brings many goods for the human civilization. My favorite example is life of Nicolas Copernicus, whose outstanding writings caused strong reactions of his surroundings of that time, and turned science upside down. As a result he revealed the new world order, and began the scientific revolution.

Another interesting issue which can be symbolized by the red pill is education. Thanks to education we can see and understand the issues we didn’t notice before. We start to change and improve the world. I think that the human achievements should be useful for the society we live in. I think that everyone has a social role, which makes us useful for society. As People living in a free, democratic country we are very lucky because we have many opportunities to improve our knowledge and skills. We can go to school and develop our talents that can serve for other people. In my opinion people that join college are more conscious members of our society. It is proved the 2010 census data shows that the crimes in educated group of people are many times lower than uneducated. In addition educated people have better job opportunity. I graduated from architectural school in Poland and without that experience I couldn’t practice an architectural designer profession today.

Finally, I would take a “red pill” because I would like to know that my existence has a positive influence on the community that I live in, and for the future generations. I care about people, animals and natural environment that surrounds me. I am thinking more about reasons and effects of my existence. For example I would love to own a luxurious house furnished of exotic wood. However, to bring tropical timber to our houses the rain forest has to be destroyed. If these actions are massive, it can cause irreversible changes in the ecosystem. In my opinion people should be more responsible, and they should think more about their purchasing, because indirectly they can  irrecoverably damage the natural environment.

As shown, the world symbolized by “red pill” can be very interesting and fascinating. The history brings us many examples of  people who disobeyed society's rules. The people who tried to follow their own instincts has significant influence to human civilization. In addition education and responsible behavior causes, that our live can by joyful, and bring many positive effects to our surroundings.