“The Matrix also makes references to historical myths and philosophy, including gnosticism, existentialism, and nihilism.[9][10] The central concept of the film has been compared to Plato's Allegory of the Cave,[11][12] Zhuangzi's "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly", René Descartes's skepticism[13][14] and evil demon, Kant's reflections on the Phenomenon versus the Ding an sich, Robert Nozick's "experience machine",[15] the concept of a simulated reality and the brain in a vat thought experiment.[16][17]” R Author:Hazlett, Allan