I believe I have a solid theory on what the matrix actually is. Unfortunately, it's not a simulation.

The Matrix is real. The Matrix is sci-fi. The Matrix is conspiracy theories mixed with philosophies old and new.<br><br>However, what I think it really is, is Space. Or at least, the way we think of space, or how we can perceive it.<br><br>In the book **Simulacra and Simulation**, Jean Baudrillard uses the term **simulacrum**, which is an image without resemblance. Moreover, the simulacrum is **infinite** in its depth; there is no bottom. In the context of this simulation, the simulacrum is a copy without an original; self-referential and abstract.<br><br>Then we have Plato's **Allegory of the Cave**, in which humans are trapped in a cave, only seeing silhouettes of the real world (the outside) on the walls of the cave. The silhouettes are the only reality the prisoners know of.<br><br>This is how we see space, the deep infinite blackness, with tiny silhouettes (stars and planets) without any real depth or resemblance to reality. The way light from the stars can take thousands of years to reach us, and even then it's just a silhouette without any real resemblance to the way the stars actually look. Space is a massive black expanse, with tiny lights dotting the horizon, much like the silhouettes in the cave, or the simulacrum.<br><br>To relate this concept to conspiracy theories, the government controls our perception of space, and they are lying about what's actually out there, or how we got there, even if we did get there. Moreover, the actual truth about space - what we can see of it, is actually irrelevant, as it doesn't matter if we went to the moon or not. What matters is how **we** perceive space.<br><br>Furthermore, we cannot escape the influence of Space. In the book, Neo can't wake up on his own, he needs to be shown the way out. He needs to die to be reborn. But we cannot die, and our perception of space is forever cemented in our collective psyche as **the** reality, with silence and mysteriousness surrounding the subject of extraterrestrial life.<br><br>tl;dr Space is a massive, black expanse. Silence and mysteriousness surround the subject of extraterrestrial life, and our collective psyche of **the** reality is forever cemented in our perception of space. The government controls our perception of silence and mysteriousness, and even if we reached outer space, the truth about what's actually out there is irrelevant, and we cannot escape the influence of space.