More posts than teeth
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Here's my take on the history/creation of the Matrix. Let me know what you think...if you want.
MATRIX 1.0
As the Architect explains to Neo, the first version of the Matrix was designed as a “work of art, flawless, sublime” and a “harmony of mathematical precision”. However, it failed to function properly because the human captives kept waking up from this virtual paradise and “entire crops were lost”. Without the freedom to make their own choices, humans did not feel they were in control of their own lives and came to reject the programming of the Matrix.
MATRIX 2.0
The second version of the Matrix was designed based on human history instead which, according to the Architect, “more accurately reflected the varying grotesqueries of human nature”. Imperfection and inconsistency within this new version soon frustrated the Architect because the equation governing it turned out to be unbalanced. Equipped with the freedom to make their own choices, humans often took decisions that were based on emotional reasoning rather than on rational thinking and this created “fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations”. In the eyes of the machines, the choices that humans made were perceived to be irrational, illogical and inconsistent.
THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN CHOICE AND FREE WILL
Since the machines are deterministic in their programming and in their nature, they do not understand irrational, emotional reasoning and generally deny free will. The programming of machine avatars in the Matrix follows a pre-programmed protocol which follows a predictable and programmed learning structure. Each program running in the Matrix is bound to its individual purpose and therefore cannot exercise free will, and since each program is pre-programmed, it is unable to make free choices. Even the more enlightened programs in the Matrix acknowledge that they are deterministic. The Merovingian, for example, insists that “choice is an illusion” because he is not familiar with the concept of free choice. Agent Smith, on the other hand, states that he is “not free” because he is forever bound to his individual purpose. Because free will can change the outcome of physically nondeterministic events, there will always be an imbalance to any equation that attempts to describe the statistical properties governing human volition and free choice within the Matrix.
A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM
The answer to the problem eluded the Architect because it “required a lesser mind or perhaps, a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection”. That lesser mind was that of the Oracle who used an intuitive approach to the Matrix’s design. She stumbled upon a solution whereby 99% of the captives accepted the program as long as they were given a choice of accepting the programming of the Matrix or not, even though they were only “aware of the choice at a near unconscious level”.
While 99% of the captives would unconsciously come to accept the programming of the Matrix, the 1% of captives with a heightened consciousness of the world around them would remain highly skeptic and eventually also come to reject the programming of the Matrix. These skeptics would feel there was something wrong with the world around them and, as Morpheus describes it, feel a splinter in their minds. They would be offered a choice to discover the truth about the false reality of the Matrix or to remain oblivious.
The organized transfer of human captives from one world to another was designed as just another form of control and "while this answer functioned, it was fundamentally flawed" because, if the number of free minds were left unchecked, it would constitute an escalating probability of disaster which could lead to in a cataclysmic system crash. But, as the Architect explains, “this was not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control”.
THE FUNCTION OF THE ONE
As a measure of control, it was decided by the Architect and the Oracle that a special human would be designed to carry an anomalous code. This human would be designed physically and mentally to interface with the Matrix differently than the average human would. It would enable him to have special powers within the Matrix, gain the support of the Human Resistance, and to develop “a contingent affirmation meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of the human species, facilitating the function of the One”. The plan was for the Oracle to guide those that rejected the program to the One and accept him as their savior. Through her ability to predict the future (which is really her analyzing of equations to an outcome), the Oracle would be able to guide the One to the Source.
THE MATRIX 'RELOAD' DESIGN
Upon reaching the Source, the One would be asked to make a choice between “saving Zion from its eventual destruction” and “risking the extinction of the entire human race”. If the One would choose correctly, his code would be disseminated, the prime program would be re-inserted, the Matrix would get reloaded, and a new version would start. At the same time, the machines would gain better insight into the nature of humans through the experiences of the One and eventually be able to build a better functioning Matrix.
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