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The question is formulated in a negative form: “How do I know that I'm not in the Matrix?” Therefore, from the point of view of scientific methodology, we are talking about refuting (falsifying) the theory of “I am in the Matrix”, which in itself is not an obvious statement. Further, what is the meaning of the word “Matrix”? I will assume that it is not literally the one in the movie of the same name (“a brain-in-a-flask simulation created by intelligent machines to subdue and subdue the human population, while the heat and electrical activity of their bodies are used by machines as a source of energy”). It is much more interesting to explore the broader meaning, namely epistemological: how to understand that there is an “objective reality” beyond our subjective sensations, which can also be called a ” Matrix “and whether it is possible, like Neo, to” get out ” of such a Matrix. There are two opposite (in fact complementary) answers to this question:
You can get out, which is proved by the huge expansion of the range of human perception thanks to the scientific method: people can now see the world in the X-ray and radio range, hear ultra-and infrasound, and observe the streams of almost “disembodied” neutrinos that permeate our bodies by the billions.
It is impossible to get out, because we are not able to overcome the limitations of our bodily functioning and perception (the paradigm of experimental realism). Because of this, any devices and devices that expand our basic experience are adapted to the body (night vision devices, microscopes, telescopes, etc.). By the way, in this sense, Neo in the film did not “come out of the Matrix” at all, but only expanded the range of perception.
From point 2 follows the option of body modification, which can help to get a fundamentally different basic experience: for example, if a person has 10 hands and / or becomes a cyborg who sees gamma rays, hears hypersound, and has completely new sensory organs. In addition to cyborgization, the same possibility is potentially realized by genetic engineering methods. However, so far this is mostly fiction.
No way. Our consciousness is a signal processing algorithm. Only signals (data) “work” in the brain. The senses “digitize” the external world and “we” see only this digitized copy. Therefore, our Self is always in the matrix created by electro-chemical signals.