Did Cypher Make the Right Choice in The Matrix?

The Wachowski brothers' science fiction film, The Matrix, challenged the viewer's perception of reality. The story centered on Neo, the protagonist, and his quest to learn the answer to the question: "What is the Matrix?" Eventually, Morpheus, the leader of a group trying to destroy the Matrix, invited Neo to take a pill and find out the truth. Neo instantly leaped two hundred years into the future where humanity is fighting a war against intelligent machines. Morpheus revealed that the Matrix, where Neo came from, is actually a simulated reality program based on the year 1999. Morpheus's group unplugged docile humans from the Matrix and recruited them to help resist the threat of the machines (The Matrix). Cypher, a member of Morpheus's group, preferred his old life of ignorance in the Matrix to his new life of hardships in the real world. Although initially idealistic, Cypher's morale and desire to follow Morpheus's blind faith in the prophecy greatly diminished. Cypher decided to cooperate with the Agents, intelligent programs that act to protect the Matrix, and conspires with them to kill his former comrades. Cypher essentially believed that the truth is an unnecessary nightmare. Is this the right mindset and did Cypher make the right decision? Although he was killed and never returned to the Matrix, Cypher justified his decision claiming, "Ignorance is bliss" (The Matrix). Although Cypher's statement does have some validity, he ignored all of his duties to society, his comrades, and most importantly, himself. Cypher clearly made the wrong choice in deciding to abandon "the desert of the real" in favor of an easier lift in the Matrix. His needs to fulfill his duties as a citizen and a revolutionary were not only shown throughout the movie, but also specifically in other works written by great thinkers, such as Plato, about the complexity of reality.