I’m sure many of you have seen and been confused by the plot of The Matrix Reloaded. The movie features a series of events based on beliefs such as the purpose of an individual. It seems kind of dumb to answer all questions with “because it’s my/its purpose.” But logically it makes sense to think about events and static objects in terms of their purposes. Here is part 1 of the philosphical explanations The Matrix didn’t offer.

“Purpose,” for lack of a better word, is the natural tendency for an individual to perform in a certain way. The word seems to imply that something’s “purpose” is given and will never be changed — it’s not. The true purpose of something is the sum of its actions that point in a certain direction. It does not explain why something happens; it describes them.

So then how is this relevant to anything? Yes, the movie used the idea of purpose to cover its fallacies. The purpose of something or someone is like the determinant of that individual. Mathematically speaking, that is exactly what it sounds like. In real life, it’s the overlooking sum of one’s actions and behaviours. When you describe someone, you say s/he is “funny, charming, and ugly” because the sum of that person’s actions and behaviours contribute to those properties. Yes, being ugly is a behaviour, one that is hard to change, if not impossible.

One’s tendency to do something is not the cause of actions but a description. This description is actually very special and relevant to future actions. It may sound like the purpose is actually the cause of other things, but you see purpose itself is nothing but a container of previous relevant actions that will affect future ones.

This abstraction might sound a bit empty and lame, but it will come in handy when explaning history and the future.