In a popular scene in The Matrix, Laurence Fishburne’s character, Morpheus, offers Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, a choice between a taking a red pill and a blue pill. If he takes the red pill, he will learn the truth about reality and understand the answers to life’s big questions. If he takes the blue pill, he will go on living with his current understanding without being enlightened with the truth about the universe. Which pill would you have picked? That question was posed as an ice breaker during UTD Philosophy Club’s first meeting of the semester. Each member’s answer revealed not only their views about the importance of understanding what is true, but also illustrated how they much they value their own happiness.

A Case for the Red Pill

Those who said they would have taken the red pill primarily cited their curiosity and their dedication to understanding truth as the main reasons for their choice. It is, they claim, the philosopher’s mission to ascertain what is true — or truest — best he or she can with the currently available information. The Reds argue that it does not matter how you feel about any particular piece of information; what matters is if it is true. Just like your not liking rain doesn’t in any way detract from the fact that it is indeed raining, they say, your not liking the answers to the big questions doesn’t have any bearing on their validity.

Implicit in their case for the red pill is a belief about the importance of understanding truth. Reds see pursuing truth as the most honorable and intellectually respectable commitment you can have. In their view, truth is more valuable than comfort. In fact, they might go as far to say that Blues are choosing ignorance and are therefore intellectually lazy. Ultimately, choosing the red pill is about acquiring knowledge about reality that you can currently only guess at, knowledge that would probably change the way you see literally everything in the world, knowledge that would put to rest all those big questions, knowledge that, according to many Reds, is most definitely worth knowing.

A Case for the Blue Pill

People who choose the blue pill typically cite the importance of happiness or question whether there even is such a thing as objective truth at all . Blues often inquire whether you really would want to bear the weight of knowing the truth about reality since it could be horrendously depressing. If the truth renders existence entirely meaningless, or worse, if it reveals the purpose of our existence is just to be exploited by evil robots (like in The Matrix), Blues think they would be better off not knowing. They respond to the idea that they are simply choosing what would make them happiest by pointing out that Reds also choose the pill that makes them happiest. Reds find their happiness in knowledge and increasing their understanding about the way the universe works, so wouldn’t their choosing the red pill ultimately also be because it’s what makes them happy?

Some Blues also argue that, even if you took the red pill and acquired whatever knowledge it provided, your reality would not be defined since you define your own reality. In their minds, “objective reality” is an oxymoron. Blues make the case that reality is something that is experienced through our own subjective perception and claim it is entirely possible that what is “real” according to the red pill or according to anyone else is not necessarily “real” to you. So, the Blues say, they would take the blue pill because whatever truths that would be learned through the red could potentially serve to either render existence entirely meaningless (or worse) or not be of any real use at all.

Which pill would you pick?

So what about you? Would you pick the red pill or the blue pill? The answer says quite a bit about your personal philosophy and what you value, so consider all the different factors and choose carefully.