Plato’s Cave in Baudrillard’s Desert of the Real

Neo is the One. He becomes his own supreme reality creator. Neo is a computer hacker. He learns how to hack through the firewalls of the matrix system on a grand scale; he discovers the truth of self mediated reality upon which he later constructs his own supreme reality. Neo ascends from being controlled to being the master architect of his own supreme reality.




Thread: Simulacra and Simulation (Baudrillard)

look in the past for all which is good and build upon that your future

look in the past for all which is good and build upon that your future

Plato’s Cave in Baudrillard’s Desert of the Real.


When using our mind’s eye, we find that the allegory of Plato’s cave paints a beautiful illustration of an existence where reality is mediated by external forces and factors. On par with today’s technology, we can imagine that the confused prisoners on the inside of the cave, albeit prisoners of their own minds, are bound by a mechanically and technologically mediated reality presented to them in a fifth wall shadow theater fashion, with mechanically operated puppets behind a dimly lit veil, whereas outside the cave we find a limitless dimension of self mediated reality - an open world mainframe.

The dilemma herein is not that reality is mediated, but the dilemma lies in the questions; Who or what mediates your reality? To what extent and purpose? And for whose benefit? The prisoners in Plato’s cave accept false distorted copies of reality mediated to them as their ultimate truth. But for the one eyed king outside of the cave, there exists no other reality, except the one that he self mediates, the one true reality, which is the supreme simulacrum, for ultimately, knowledge of self is one’s own supreme reality. Know thyself.

Jean Baudrillard argues the following statement in his book Simulacra and Simulation; “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth, it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. Ecclesiastes.”

I would like to present my understanding on how we are able to create our own supreme reality, breaking the walls of the prison that enslaves us, ripping down the veil of the shadow theater, transcending Plato’s cave to inhabit and transform Baudrillard’s desert into a paradise by surrendering the reality we are incepted with since birth, which is a continuum of distorted copies of a reality mediated to us on our behalf, with and without our consent. I give you self control and mediation of your own reality outside of the cave, rather than to be controlled by a dying matrix where the cave eventually collapses on the prisoners.


In the 1999 Watchowski Brothers film The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo that there once was a man born inside the matrix who had the ability to change the matrix as he saw fit. This mysterious man basically wiped the slate clean unto the foundations, as with Neo in the heavenly white empty room, this is the mainframe(the construct, structure) of mediated reality, where he can load simulations, creating his own reality from the foundations upward. A space where Neo can create a Self mediated reality and not reality mediated by the current social structures of inception, indoctrination, psychological operations and mind control, like the one Neo has lived in his whole techno mediated reality. The matrix is about control. Neo must take control of the matrix and in order to do so he must return to his self mediated reality first and start self mediating and self constructing a new matrix as he desires it to be.

Neo is the One. He becomes his own supreme reality creator. Neo is a computer hacker. He learns how to hack through the firewalls of the matrix system on a grand scale; he discovers the truth of self mediated reality upon which he later constructs his own supreme reality. Neo ascends from being controlled to being the master architect of his own supreme reality. In the end we see him flying off like Superman. He transcends the cave and rejects the technologically mediated reality presented to him and substitutes it with his own self mediated reality. He manages to transform the desert of the real into the paradise of the unreal.

In our age it has become apparent that mankind has abandoned self mediated reality in favor of various sorts of techno mediated realities. Self mediated reality has become the ‘desert of the real’ as coined by Jean Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulation. We find Neo in the desert of the real, a neglected and forgotten reality.

Upon visiting The Oracle, she mentions to Neo that he must feel somewhat like Alice in Wonderland tumbling down the rabbit hole. The rabbit hole is a pit of confusion where chaos rules. As with Neo, so with Alice in Wonderland and the rabbit hole where many realities creates chaos and one reality creates order, and ultimately manifesting order out of chaos. The rabbit hole and Plato’s cave are one and the same.

While Neo is with the Oracle she points to the sign above the kitchen door which translates to ‘Know Thyself’. She tells Neo he is not the one, because the Neo in front of her at that moment does not yet know himself and does not believe in destiny. Later when he discovers himself and his destiny, he transforms into the one. Neo enters the mainframe of his own reality. - JCF




Thread: Simulacra and Simulation (Baudrillard)

end of last day u system world have bug able make glitch u system reset u clock 1 january 1900 make cause deja vu glitch

u system reality simulation program

me vu glitch


if bug no patch u reality make reset

reality has the simultude of the mathematical equation of zero divided by zero, yielding undifined and indeterminate results, indefinitely

whatever then one chooses

is not determined

by the order of selection

the opening of the universe

open sesame

Nice topic, Lots of conclusion I already had before I read all this.

Maybe it is a little off topic but since there are so many references to the matrix movie...

When I watched the movies of Matrix, some years back, the Oracle + ending (3rd part) puzzled me, and still is...
What is the Oracle in "real"-world terms, has it to do with software engineering? I think back then when I learned a programming language it made click in my brain, but it is all gone and I am in the dark again.