The Matrix - Renegade Cut 

"Sometimes a piece of art intended to be positive, or even innocuous, can sometimes accidentally embolden toxic worldviews" as you show Morpheous offering the "red pill". Very nice editing there, dude. Good video!

So, you're telling me I'm most likely not a brain in a vat... Which is exactly why THEY would say.....

Quality channel, this makes me want to go re-watch The Matrix. It's been over a decade plus some. Many things I've forgotten. Great video!

I've been reading some Sartre and specially some Camus lately, and it got me in a downward spiral of depressed skepticism. Your videos (this one and the one on No Country for Old Men) helped me start to find a way out of it. Thank you

Thank you for clarifying that I'm almost certainly not a brain in a vat, was getting a little worried for a moment there.

I wasn't sure if this was going to be a positive spin on the film since I've seen more of its negative sides lately. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at the angle you took on the film. It gives me more of an appreciation of its positive aspects

Proposition: The Matrix recognizes the impossibility of finally refuting radical skepticism as an epistemological/metaphysical thesis, in that space it remains problematic in the traditional philosophical sense, a thesis that can neither be proved or disproved. The religious/mythological motifs you note associated with the human protagonists and their pursuit of freedom suggests the solution actually available to us which is to come at the problem sideways through moral and political commitments; what we can't disprove in theory we can disconfirm in practice by commitment to the effort (especially a cooperative one) to articulate and realize values like justice, compassion and beauty. Dostoevsky expresses a specifically theist version of this idea in the Brothers K. when a woman asks father Zossima if he can prove God's existence and he replies that proof is impossible but one can become "convinced" of God's existence through the discipline of "active love," that is behaving with charity and compassion towards other people.

In light of recent of events, I’d watch the hell out of a video reading of the Matrix as a Trans Allegory.

Your format is so wonderful and refreshing. Thank you for the videos, they feel like gifts.

Good video! This is the first Renegade Cut I've watched. It gave me a lot to think about. I'll have to check out your back-issues for more.

When you touched the theory of the "real world" in The Matrix being a simulation as well, I remember laughing when I first heard it too. But now that we have a Matrix 4 confirmed, I wonder if that's what's going gonna happen...

7:05 The sequels deal precisely this argument, revealing that the resistance group - "those who deliver the revelation to Neo" - also exists INSIDE the simulation.

So glad you covered this. I was wondering if you ever would. Thank you. I love your videos.

As someone who`s experienced the philosophical pitfalls of radical skepticism firsthand,I thank you for this video.

Another interesting watch mr. Thomas ... thank you .

I love your videos!!! 'Tis a rare person indeed who's insight into storytelling is as deep as yours. The world needs deep thinkers. Especially these days. Love and blessings!

Dude, you deserve way more subscribers than you actually have!

Great video dude. Keep it up!

radical skepticism is why i dropped my philosophy major, and also the culprit of my worst shroom trip by far

Simulacra and Simulation is a fairly slim book, coming in at fewer than 200 pages. I like to think that the copy Neo has is a deliberate statement by the Wachowski sisters that Nihilism is an empty framework that you only get out of said framework is what you put into it.

- Philosophical explorations and The Matrix are always welcome and this video is quite good. - As for me, The Matrix is one of the most unusual films in terms of my overall rating of it. When The Matrix was first released, I severely criticized it and rated it 6/10 due to the irrationality of its story based on how the underlying concepts of its world didn't make sense. - But The Matrix has been improved in terms of the logic of its world from ideas in the rest of the movies in the franchise. Imo of course. - Essentially with The Matrix as a stand alone film, considering the power/control of the machines, there should be no human survivors in the pods when they 'wake up' from the virtual reality and the rebels should be destroyed by the computer programming of the virtual world. Secondly, considering the overwhelming military power of the machines (who defeated all human armies), Zion should have been crushed. * What answers these dilemmas is mostly Matrix Reloaded even though Reloaded is an inferior film. The answers mostly are from the Architect; A. The machines want the humans who wake up in the pods to survive when they are flushed. B. The machines want the rebels to survive in the matrix so they can find a rebel who will become the One. C. The machines want Zion to exist because it gives a motivation for the One to cooperate with the machines / the Architect in their efforts to improve the matrix programming through the Source. D. Finally, the machines don't really need the humans for power and could survive without them. But the machines were programmed to serve. The machines want to keep humans alive. It is just that they wish to keep the irrational humans, under control. * The result of all that (and contributions from The Animatrix and Revolutions) = The Matrix becoming a 10/10 film. Imo at least. ;-)

Leon, have you heard of the Invisibles? Its a comic book series by Grant Morrison that explores ideas similar to the Matrix, there is even secondary evidence saying the creators of the Matrix used the Invisibles as a source, among others. However, Morrison says both sides: good guys and bad guys, are extremists who are not good for humanity. He also corrects a problems who said about Neo. The Neo character in the series, Jack, rebels against the group that saved him as he was taught to rebel against everyone and everything.

Nice renegade cut :)

Beautiful

Huh i never noticed Night of the Lepus was on the television in the oracle scene.

5:02 That is even creepier than The Matrix , it is actually scary .

Well Done!

"But that's the danger with radical skepticism isn't it? ... Never being satisfied with an answer that has a reasonable amount of evidence to back it up, so long as there is a preposterous alternative with virtually no evidence." Typically skepticism (give or take the radical bit) is associated more with athiesm than with religiosity. But strangely I had to overcome a mental hurdle very similar to this one in order to leave behind the religion that I was raised in. It's like the radical skepticism was actually trying to hold me IN and I had to find a way to let go of that "preposterous alternative with virtually no evidence" in order to exit that particular "matrix". So I guess it can run both ways. I wish things were neater and tidier than that.

Hooray!

Wait. So. Some people ACTUALLY believe that we live in a simulation? Woh.

What I find to be one of the funniest arguments that we might be in a Matrix-style simulation is that when applying math to the natural world, the equations workout TOO well. And yeah, it is weird that physics can be boiled down into mathematical equations, but I don't think that's a good reason to believe the world is a computer.

best matrix interpretation! thank you.

With regards to the complaints you raise about the Bostrom-esque simulation argument, I'm going to offer some counter arguments - though this isn't to say that I necessarily believe the hypothesis. 9:24 (The simulation has to be precise so that it is indistinguishable from reality.) This argument comes from the position that the simulation IS in fact simulating the 'real' reality in a 1:1 state, and that there would be a way from inside the simulation to tell something was not being simulated. How do you prove that something is missing from the universe that should be there? How do you even suspect something like that? 9:30 (Human kind has to eventually get to the point in which this simulation can be made, which is improbable.) This argument assumes that humans will be the only species in the entire universe which can develop advanced computers which can simulate reality. The only requirement is that a simulation of our experienced reality can, at some point in all of time, be run. 9:40 (A complex simulation would likely run into glitches.) Extremely debatable. With enough development, programs can be made to run in states and run on hardware so that they are in flawless states and never encounter errors. When was the last time you had a calculator give a fatal error? 9:45 (The simulation could never have an error.) The simulation can have an error, and can end. This is simply the end of existence for the simulated. You can never be cognizant of your own inexistence, so all we can assume is that at this particular moment, the simulation is not in an off state. 9:53 (Creators would have to never make contact with their simulated universe.) This is likely true. It is also an extremely unlikely scenario, unless the purpose of the simulation is to simulate a scenario in which a simulation is contacted by it's creator. Given all the simulations humans alone run, and the amount of times humans attempt to make contact with the simulated, the chance of this happening rounds to zero. The argument assumes there is also a way for the simulated to be contacted by the creators in a way that is understandable to the simulated.

8:20 You raise a really good point here! I was a big fan of the multi-layered matrix theory, the idea of making a secondary scenario that casts any capable mind into an environment that effectively turns them into a white-hat hacker/playtester (meant to expose weak points in the system) BUT Wouldn't it make sense to create a boogie man in the form of 'rogue a.i.' Complete with a hero's journey linear storyline and major set pieces such as fields of 'human pods,' the 'last city,' and flying robot octopuses as your main antagonists, instead of the smiths who needed to stay within the bounds of what was possible in the first layer's setting. What other reasons are there to not accept the layered matrix theory?

there’s also the fact that the Wachowkis have since gone on record to state that the film is essentially a massive trans allegory: Neo has the name ‘Mr Anderson’ continuously forced onto him by the agents, themselves symbols of cisheteronormative patriarchy as stereotypical ‘men in black’, and the Matrix itself is essentially forcing the humans within it to fit within a society at the height of cisheteronormativity, suppressing all knowledge of being trans. By taking the red pill, itself alluding to the bright red estrogen tablets of the 90s, Neo is freed from this society, but is constantly hounded upon wherever he goes, with the agents’ capability to ‘take over’ any body representing how transphobia can come from anyone, and how participating in transphobia unwittingly makes people agents of patriarchal values. By rejecting Smith’s deadnaming ‘Mr Anderson’ at the end, Neo finally embraces his identity and fights back at his oppression. There are more pieces that can be added to this (I believe one of the side characters actually does change genders in the matrix), for instance Cipher can be seen as an example of how constant transphobic pressure can force some trans people to detransition out of a desire to ‘be normal’ again, but that’s the basics of the reading, and given both the directors have since wholeheartedly embraced it as built in to the intent of the film, and have both since come out as trans, I think it does interface with the films philosophical concepts as a core component of its themes.

I never thought of The Matrix in Gnostic terms; I really like the interpretation.

12:26 So subtle, yet so awesome, Leon!

Before this long rambling comment I just wanted to say I love your videos and they are some of my favourite film analyses on youtube. So, yeah I would like to point out that the Idea of a second Matrix isn't technically wrong and could be argued is the entire central concept of the three movies, as explained by The Architect in the second movie. Yes it was a long, long, boring, waffly speech that thought a little too highly of it's philosophical underpinnings but it is the central axis the three movies turn around, Even if still a bit muddling. So first things first. The Architect created the Matrix. The First was a Utopia, a paradise for Humankind. Except Humanity was exceedingly sceptical of the idea of a Utopia and rebelled. So The Architect built a second matrix filled with war and death and all the things that make Humanity go "This must be real because it's kind of Crap.". This Matrix failed as well. A second machine program designed to investigate the human psyche realised that it was down to a lack of choice . If Humans were offered a choice, even on an unconscious level, an illusionary level even then 99% of them would choose to stay within the Matrix. The remaining 1% would then be allowed the 'choice' to leave the Matrix and find Zion. This is where the idea of a secondary matrix comes into play. Regardless of whether it's reality or another computer simulation, it is still an illusion created by the Machines to keep up the deception. A Secondary Matrix for malcontents to believe they are resistance fighters not true freedom. The Major piece of evidence to support a second computer program would be Agents Smith appearance within Zion in the third movie, however an argument could be made that he merely hijacked a biological body within Bane. so it''s a toss up. Already this speech in the movie is definitely trying to be really smart and edgy but bear with me here. At this point we learn that it is in fact the sixth Matrix. The previous cycles have begun with the building up of Zion by 'Free' humans, the location of the one (There is an argument to be made that Agent Smith is in fact The One, but I won't go into it here) ,his training and then his eventual meeting of the source. At which point the Machines destroy Zion and the one is instructed to pick 23 new humans to start the process of forming Zion all over again and then absorbed back into a new Matrix to do it all over again. This is seen as a necessary evil until the Architect can achieve 100% acceptance of The Matrix. But why not keep fighting I hear you all ask! Simple. The architect presents Neo with Two doors. One leads to the saving of the Matrix and the Majority of Humanity at the expense of the Resistance. The Other door leads to the Continued resistance efforts and the entire destabilisation of the Matrix itself, which kills Everyone in it. Since Zion is doomed either way it is a Spock's choice dilemma. Neo is the First one to ever choose this second door and this then changes everything. There are no rules anymore, no precedents the machines have for this scenario, at this point Neo can do anything. So yes ,to sum up, Zion is still technically a secondary matrix of reality even if it is in the real world, because it's a reality still controlled by the Machines. I personally don't believe it's a secondary computer program matrix, as the end of Revolutions shows peaceful co-existence between Humans and machines, with Zion established as a permanent free settlement and the Oracle and Architect muttering about gambles and strategies. But, meh, Radical scepticism. It could all still be an illusion. Even the Architect and Oracle.

was looking up kenji’s recipes for dressings and somehow ended up here

I remember seeing The Dom's Lost in Adaptation video on Alice in Wonderland, and brings to light original book's Alice's seeming ambivalence towards the madness around her and how it relates to the fact in the end that it was all a dream. He said that the human brain can instinctually differentiate reality from non-reality, and that no matter how vivid the dream or hallucination is, the brain can still subconsciously know that it is not real.

Hey great analysis as always!! One explanation I heard for the "a matrix within the matrix" was to give the rebellious people somthing to do. That people like Neo and Morphius (sorry if I misspell) wouldn't be content with the simulation and would try to break out... some people need an enemy to be happy.

"Luminous beings" -- Nice Empire reference :)

I think the conundrum of extreme skepticism is often defused by rationalism, something Descartes laid the later foundation for I suppose. The same people who deny there is a knowable objective reality, will also often be the ones to say that they have to take a pragmatic approach and live the life they do have, as if it is representational and objective. This same sort of thing is a defense of atheism in the face of there being no god or objective morality. It is simply rational to behave in ways that are subjectively moral, and beneficial for the self and the community, in the face of a lack of divine or objective standards.

I would like to posit that the matrix (the movie) also gives an important principle against the radical skepticism. Reality is not always shown to be the most important aspect of a situation. Instead it is the consequences that are the important aspect, "if you die in the Matrix you die in real life" (unless you are neo). It does not matter, whether the bullet is code or lead, dead is dead.

Sure, its possible that nothing is real. Its all reasonable. I consider myself a somewhat radical skeptic, meaning I freely accept the possibility that nothing is real, BUT like you said, we have a consensus reality. So, whether this reality is real or not, its the one we're in, so it doesn't matter. I'm not the special, I'm going to live in this reality for the rest of my life, and the rest of us will too. So if that's the case, its the only reality that matters to us, so it only makes sense to live, learn, and explore it the best we can. I don't know that my life isn't an illusion, I've considered it frequently and always come to the same conclusion. It doesn't matter, and my only real option is to treat it likes it real whether it is or isn't. My brain can only respond to input and stimuli, that's all the world really is to the mind, in a way that makes a real world no more real than input fed to a brain in a vat, and any world of input and stimuli equally valid. So, ya, it doesn't matter, the matrix is no more or less real than any other form of input, and I'm happy to live in this reality wherever it comes from.

In defense of the Matrix within a Matrix idea... assuming the machines were right that some people could "sense" the imperfection of the Matrix, faking their escape and simulating Zion, a rebellion etc would be a nice way to keep the renegade humans busy and isolated while accomplishing nothing. It even makes them a good trap to get all the other potentially problematic people in the Matrix to basically volunteer to live separated from everyone else.

Wasn't there a mention of a previous version of humanity rejecting the previous version of the matrix being too perfect? I vaguely remember smith saying this?

To be fair, nihilism and radical skepticism aren't impossible or even impractical views to hold as long as you know where to keep them. That can essentially be a variant on Pascal's bet on believing in Christianity or not: deep down you can apprehend existence as non existent, and all its components as worthless because you cannot prove their existence outside of a subjective perception that can't be trusted, but at the same time act if. Just like Pascal, you bet on a worldview you don't hold that much but that benefits you more than the alternative.

It would be interesting to see an analysis of the sequels. I don't think they are very good movies, but i think your analysis would be more interesting than the films themselves. Also i think Attack the Block would be a pretty damn fun one.

I'm surprise you haven't done this earlier.

I once had an argument with a guy who thought I WAS a radical skeptic simply because I used radical skepticism to prove we can never know anything with 100 percent certainty (even tho I made clear RS is impracticable in practice and that I was a pragmatist). Funniest part is he got scared of me and thinks I'm literally worst than a murder for "denying reality" 😂 Needless to say he blocked me. Fun guy tho, I like him~

I still like Revolutions better, but yeah the first one had a lot worth paying attention to.

On the simulation theory: There's a bigger problem. Even assuming our descendants could build a simulation and it could be set to hide any errors, it doesn't follow that they would. You have to assume they would be willing to devote tremendous resources to it or that the resources would be trivial. The issue is that information has to come from somewhere. The computer has to be at least as complicated as the simulation itself, meaning there can't be an infinite regress. A simulation would necessarily have compromises compared to the world it's meant to simulate in which the reality of the simulation exists and the fewer resources it takes, the more compromised it is and the simulation inside that simulation could only run on a tiny subset of that.

Have you seen Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 film "World on a Wire" (Welt am Draht)? It's like The Matrix in the 70s and asks similar questions. And it's way better. I think you'd like it.

what happened to that cool intro from your earlier work?

I love you.

have u seen the film theories about the story? Like the one saying mr smith is the chosen one or the one saying zion is part of the matrix?

If there is no Matrix-within-a-Matrix, then movies 2 and 3 unequivocally suck, and therefore the whole thing is a waste of time. Also, Morpheus never says Neo is the saviour. He says the coming of the ONE would HERALD the coming of the saviour. If Neo isn't in the Matrix at the end of the 3rd movie, why do his digital code hacking powers work in the real world? If Neo is the 5th or 6th pre-programmed Neo by the Architect, why don't they track him to Zion - Like the first time they programmed him?!!! Zion is the program that let's the rebelling humans brains think they are doing something effectual, therefore remain co-operative. Throughout the trilogy, we never see the real world, and no one is ever really unplugged. And the ONE, as heralded by Neo, is yet to come.

"This is going to feel... a little weird."😏

12:25 I like that the mention of "toxic world views" coincides with the red pill reveal.

Favourited. It's weirdly refreshing to see an internet critic reivindicate the Matrix these days. Too many seem to have gone cynical on it.p.s. I don't know if you endorse that anthropomorphic animal rpg because you like its content, but if you like noir plus furries not played creepy but adult, give the comic Blacksad a read if you haven't.

Love how the right wing extremists took up a metaphor from a movie made by trans women about the trans experience xD

Am I weird for thinking finding out I was in a simulation wouldn't bother me all that much? Don't get me wrong, my mind would be blown. Absolutely blown. And my curiosity would be out of control. But it wouldn't exactly affect me negatively. I don't think things are real just because they're made of matter. A digital table is still a table; I don't think a physical table's essential quality is that it's made of molecules. If I'm in the world with the digital table and it's indistinguishable from a physical one, then it's a table. Just a different kind of table. My life would still be just as valid. My memories still accurate. I'd still love all the things and people I love. I honestly don't understand why most people think otherwise, but I'm willing to listen to any of you that do. I'm curious. (To clarify, finding out I was in the Matrix would freak me out...that kind of simulation is a parasitic relationship where they're feeding me liquified dead people. I just mean simulations in general.)

Yes Yes Yes thanks :D

Has anyone ever thought of The Matrix as a Lovecraftian action movie?

on the second level of the matrix idea one of the prototypes was aimed at pleasure and failed. Agent smith says it was because humans "define their reality through misery and suffering". So saying the matrix was pleasurable while on some level true doesn't fit enough to invalidate the theory (Especially since not all of late 20th century that was replicated can be called pleasurable and in the non-matrix world well just look at the crowd scenes). If we allow the sequels into this discussion the architect says it was really the issue of choosing and not having some apparent impact on their reality. Since the machines have to already deal with people finding out it anyways it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to assume that they would just be make a new level for the discontent as along as they stay there. It is just fanon trying to fix the sequels though don't get me wrong just that the exact holes you pointed out are easy to fill from that perspective.

Can they develop artificial intelligence self aware and sentient

Matrix story actually inspired from Hindu Vedas.

Wow, great analisis, that is a though beast to tame, When I was young I used to told all that to my Father (a psychiatrist) just for joking with him and then He threat me to inch with a nail or burn with matchsticks forcing a reaction in me. philosophy never was more funnier!

One thing is for sure: The Matrix doesn't run in Windows XP...

I was honestly expecting you to hate The Matrix. this was very surprising.

Leon's taking on Elon Musk!

Sounds alot like foucault

Based and redpi- *vomits* I can't, not even sarcastically

Things the alt right ruined

+Renegade Cut so leon, you don't think humanity is worth saving?

I do like that the premise of this film can s also be a critical examination of capitalism. I do find it very unfortunate that QAnon and far right fascists have taken the pill scene as their proof of “waking up” . Anyway thanks for the analysis

I thought The Matrix was just a thinly-veiled allegory for picking up chicks?

second

Really? Not even a mention of the obvious trans metaphors?