Is The Matrix Real?

If it is, How Do You Manipulate It? Are We Supposed To?

This image is inspired by The Electric Ant, a short story by Philip K. Dick.

Image generated by the author with MidJourney

In The Electric Ant, a man involved in a car crash loses an arm, and in the hospital it's revealed to him that he is an android, an Electric Ant.

The man experiments with the magnetic tape running across his torso, seeing his his perception of reality change as he punches holes in the tape.

The Electric Ant was published in 1969.

Yet the underlying idea of the story is very current.

We see all forms of media telling us about living in the matrix, that our reality is a simulation. (Some people, let’s call them alpha male coaches, tell us how to escape it if we’ll just buy their online course.)

In The Electric Ant, the protagonist cuts the tape that controls his reality, wishing to see what's beyond his perception.

The ending implies a threat, but I won’t spoil it here. Do yourself a favor, leave this platform for a bit, read it and see what I mean. It’s not very long but the entertainment value the short story offers is deep.

But what if seeing what's beyond the matrix is not the point?

If the matrix is a game, what if the point is to create the life you want to within the matrix?

What if you could go past the edge of reality, to the very end of the matrix, and what you find is a pimply 14 year old controlling you as their avatar in a dark arcade, in an obscure game that not people at the arcade are aware is even there?

This kid is the architect of your life.

He’ll be at the arcade for a couple of hours, then go and ride his skateboard, hang out with friends, and then go home.

He might completely forget about the game that we’ll call YOUR LIFE.

How do you explain to him that he needs to play your avatar like you are the star of your own life?

What would you tell him to do so you could have your best life in the matrix the next time he goes to the arcade?

Remember when?