Are they breathing air in Matrix?
After Neo learned kung fu, Neo and Morpheus connected to Matrix for a sparring program similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix. After the training, there was a conversation between them;
- Morpheus: How did I beat you?
- Neo: You... you're too fast.
- Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now?
Are they really breathing air when they in the Matrix? Or it was also just an another control system? Is there any information about that?
Best Answer
When they're having that conversation, they're still in the Simulation Program. I think Morpheus meant (more bluntly):
Look, I didn't beat you because I have more muscles. This is simulation, you can hack it and break its laws unlike reality where you must submit to them.
He says "Do you think that's air you're breathing now?" meaning "There is no air." That is a simulation, they're in a virtual world which obviously implies they don't need to obey reality laws.
Think about videogames, you do things you won't ever do in real life.
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How is there oxygen in the Matrix?
(It is part of The Matrix Comics released by the Wachowskis' company Burlyman Entertainment and was posted on the official website, so it is canon.) Since there is significant plant life left on the Earth, there is enough oxygen for humans on the surface of the Earth.What is really real in the Matrix?
There is no true reality per se as Morpheus mention on the movie reality is nothing but electrical signals interpreted by the mind. The Thomas living in the matrix was as real as Thomas living outside the matrix. The differences is that he conformed to the reality of the matrix since he was in ignorance.Do you think it's air you breathing now? (farting Morpheus)
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Answer 2
The Sparring Program that Morpheus and Neo fight in is a simulated reality along the same lines as the Matrix, but much smaller and presumably hosted by the Nebuchadnezzar computers.
When they are 'plugged into' these simulated realities, clearly their physical bodies are breathing air, but the reality they are experiencing is simulated. Hence there is no air that they are breathing in that simulated reality. Morpheus is trying to make Neo realize he is not bound by the same physical realities as the real world, that it is his mind that is fighting him, not any physical body.
Answer 3
The point of the sparring program is to help Neo "free his mind". Breathing is an involuntary function of our bodies that helps us keep alive. The human mind associates "breathing air" directly to "being alive". We know if anything stops our breathing of air for even a few minutes, we will die. (example struggling to surface for air in a swimming pool, this is scary for everyone)
In the simulation program, or the matrix, the human mind continues with to perform involuntary actions like breathing, but this is in the mind. For example, in our dreams we continue to breathe, it is but natural and the only thing we are used to doing. But is it required to stay alive in the dream? No.
Morpheus particularly asks this question to Neo to shake the very foundation of this existence, to get him "to believe" that he is in a simulation. Neo technically doesn't need to breath in a simulation. That need is only in his mind. Morpheus is getting Neo to let go of the real world "rules" to help him realize that nothing from the real world holds good in the simulation.
Once that happens, Neo is able to move faster and defeat Morpheus. But that is just one small step, he still fails the jump test right after :)
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