CMC and “The Matrix”

One of my favorite moments at CMC came as a result of my philosophy class’s discussion about The Matrix last semester. After an hour and a half of incessant arguing about how one might prove the existence of an alternate reality, a few students approached our professor after class to ask his opinion on the topic. Before we knew it, we were in a full-blown debate about the validity of philosophers’ arguments for and against the matrix, free will, and causality. Over time, most students trickled out to go to other classes and sports practices, leaving me with my professor and one other peer. When we came to the agreement that there was one major flaw in our readings’ interpretation of the matrix and began futzing over the premises of our counter-argument, the remarkable nature of the situation hit me. I was sitting in the most futuristic classroom I’d ever seen, one of the Kravis Center’s fully window-enclosed rooms, engaging in a debate about truths in the world with my professor and another aspiring philosopher. After we crafted our own argument on the white board, the discussion came to a end. I left the classroom with a good review of the class readings and an understanding of the true value of CMC’s adherence to professor accessibility. Just one professor’s willingness to banter with his students on a random afternoon managed to alter my outlook on academia and helped me to discover my love for philosophy.