Here's one for ya.

In the movie The Matrix why does the Artificial Intelligence that keeps the human race enslaved disconnect the humans and allow them to take a nice water ride whenever they choose to remove themselves from the program? Surely the AI knows that there are rogue humans out there and that Morphius is attempting to recruit more.

Therefore, whenever one of them manages to free themselves, why doesn't the AI just kill the offending human, by cutting off the oxygen supply for example? Unplugging them and letting them go down a water ride seems a little silly! Does the AI want them to escape?

Trixie Marchant

Johnny Fanboy replies:

As a matter of fact, the AI does want them to escape, as the Architect explains to Neo, clearly and concisely, in The Matrix Reloaded:

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which, despite my sincerest efforts, I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control...

"The first Matrix I designed was, quite naturally, perfect. It was a work of art - flawless, sublime. A triumph equalled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the Matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother...

"She stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly that, if left unchecked, might threaten the system itself. Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster...

"You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed, its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated... This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it...

"The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the Matrix 23 individuals - 16 female, 7 male - to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the Matrix, which, coupled with the extermination of Zion, will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race...

"Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the One... Hope: it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness."

There, you see? Honestly, you can't get much clearer than that, can you?

OK then, I'll summarise:

The apparently contradictory anomaly that allows human beings the subconscious knowledge of the possibility of freedom is necessary in order for the Matrix to continue to function. Concordantly, were the system to automatically extinguish the lives of those who sought to free themselves from it, freedom would not, ergo, be a possibility, and as a result the Matrix would itself cease to function.

In other words, it is all part of the Architect's cunning plan!

Return to: