The interesting thing was that he suggested it did not matter if life was some how holographic or artificial because it would experienced and feel the same. He's a virtual reality theorist I think.
Well, essentially our brain is in a black box.
In terms of our perception of the world, our brain doesn't experience things directly but through sensors. It doesn't matter where the information is coming from in terms of our experience -- whether it is emulated or authentic. It still is the "same nervous impulse" that triggers a particular perception.
So in terms of our inner experience, no, it doesn't matter.
I think it does matter in the sense of body survival. If there is a "higher reality" and we are unable to respond to various inputs in a way that protects/nourishes our existence in that higher reality, then we will die regardless of what our brain is perceiving.
Although the thing about the Matrix and the deals that the informants or traitors struck was that anything they where given in exchange for co-operation could be taken away because it was granted by a higher power, that perhaps attributes a capricious too human character to the machines but the agents at least did behave like this.
A few thoughts, at the least:
- Agents had to interface with humans and thus had to operate more similarly to them in order to facilitate the exchange.
- Agents who acted completely inhuman could have shattered the illusion of the Matrix; the whole point was to create a believable human reality that people would be happy within, rather than jarred out of.
- It made the story more interesting to us humans watching the movie to have the machine software act in a way that was more understandable to us.
This would be a big issue for me and I suspect other NTs - my greatest fear in life is a combination of monotony and boredom! Link that with any dogmatic, parochial type of conditioning and I would consider myself in hell! I would rather NOT be around than endure that for very long. If I wasn't insane to start with It wouldn't be long before I was.
People look at INTP types and talk about their lack of need for others and their enjoyment of isolation. This is largely true but I think if you dig a little deeper, the thought of there being no-one else with whom to sharpen wits, or to challenge thought and/or share ideas, that would be complete anathema!
I totally agree. INTP learns by pinging off things with Ne and bringing the results back inside for Ti to process. I think a common pattern for anxious INTPs is to drop back into a safe protective mode (Si) and then feel completely bored, empty, and unstimulated... and thus that life has no meaning. That is because INTP is not being challenged or given new data with which to work and develop ideas.
The answer is to brave anxiety and face new situations = new data = new ideas.
But sorry, this isn't about INTP per se, it's just my personal experience, and it'll be interesting to see what other people have to say about the preference of a paradise state vs hardship.