THE MATRIX is where average people who do not believe in themselves live and that's where they do not amount to anything great. That's the general belief, as in to believe in the lie. Mediocrity is also generally accepted then. One clever plot point is that there are occasional small glitches in the Matrix, usually when those who control the Matrix are introducing new code. This is experience by humans trapped in the Matrix as experiences of deja vu, or errors in perception.