In the book The Art of the Start, author Guy Kawasaki uses the red pill as an analogue to leaders of new organizations, in that they face the same choice to either live in reality or fantasy. While Blackford argues that while The Matrix trilogy sets things up so that even if Neo failed, the taking of the red pill was worthwhile due to him living and dying authentically, he and science-fiction writer James Patrick Kelly feel that The Matrix stacks the deck against machines and their simulated world.

Neo chooses the red pill and is illuminated as to the true nature of the Matrix a detailed simulation of Earth circa 1999, which keeps the inhabitants, whose physical bodies are stored in massive power plants, complacent in a mental prison, in order to convert their heat and bioelectrical energy into power for machine consumption.Īn essay written by Russell Blackford discusses the red and blue pills, questioning whether if a person were fully informed they would take the red pill, opting for the real world, believing that choosing physical reality over a digital simulation is not clear-cut.īoth Neo and another character, Cypher, take the red pill over the blue pill, with the latter showing regret for having made such a choice, having stated that if Morpheus fully informed them of the situation, Cypher would have told Morpheus to 'shove the red pill up his ass.' The blue pill will cause him to 'wake up in his bed and believe whatever to believe.' He is told that if he takes the red pill, however, he will 'stay in Wonderland' and Morpheus will 'show how deep the rabbit hole goes'. He is asked to make a choice between two pills, red and blue. Morpheus alludes to the fact that the reality that Neo is accustomed to is a lie and that Morpheus can show him the truth. Eventually he is introduced to Morpheus by another hacker called 'Trinity'. Anderson, a hacker of the alias 'Neo', has heard rumors of 'The Matrix' and a mysterious man named 'Morpheus', and spends his nights at the computer trying to discover the secret of The Matrix.

Matrix red pill and blue pill