A
Barnabas said:
After watching the movie a few times and banging my head on the wall for some time i came up with some odd thoughts:
Why can Neo see the future? Especially in the detail shown in reloaded? This is only possible if the whole course of events is already set. However, this requires that even those in the real world follow this set course. Neo knows the script of events and the Oracle does. Could it be the Oracle is the conscious part of the operating system of the matrix? The Merowingian tells Neo that her time is almost up. It would be if the Matrix would be upgraded based on the 6th Ones code and restarted.
In order to be The One, I imagine a being has to possess the highest psychological abilities of all human beings. Those abilities would certainly include ESP and precognition.
B
Barnabas said:
Why do the machines need humans? Or better: why do they desire humans? The architects says the machines would be able to survive without humans but he didn't seem to like the idea much.
As explained in the first movie, "it was believed the machines could not survive without a source of energy as abundant as the sun", but the machines discovered human beings made an optimal substitute power source. Survival without humans as a power source would severely degrade their abilities, and they would almost certainly be forced to shut off non-vital systems in order to survive. No intelligent being wants to sacrifice parts of themselves for survival if alternate means are available. Also note that there is an indictation that humans could not be replaced with other animal life. It seems to me that in the process of creating the nuclear winter (or whatever it was that smote the sky), the majority of plant and animal life on the planet was destroyed. Morpheus's "desert of the real" program showed no signs of life apart from Morpheus and Neo, and I haven't any other form of life in the "real world" in either movie, just humans and machines. There almost certainly has to be some, to provide nutrition for the people of Zion, but perhaps it hasn't occured naturally since the war.
C
Barnabas said:
Why would the choice for Trinity result in the end of the human species? Those plugged into the matrix would die and those in Zion would die. However, in time new crops could be grown. It's likely that new crops would be ready to be harvested all the time so if the machines would be compelled to serve and protect humanity they wouldn't be able to get rid of humans by crashing the matrix.
Cloning humans and creating humans are two very different things. Extinction is forever, and if every last person were killed, they couldn't simply grow new crops. Even if they had human sperm and eggs in storage, the cultivation and harvesting probably requires more energy than the machines would have available to them when all of the humans supplying their current power are dead.
D
Barnabas said:
Why does the architect seem to be rather pleased when he realizes that the 6th One seems to be more human than his predecessors? It seems that it would be desirable to have Neo go through the door leading to the source but instead he is more or less prodded through the door leading back to the Matrix. Somehow the whole Matrix seems to revolve around the One.
To me it didn't appear to be pleasure, but rather intrigue. As far as Neo's choice, the Architect's comments simply demonstrate that he knows what choice Neo is going to make, regardless of the impending doom that awaits. And obviously the Matrix revolves around the One, since the One represents its greatest weakness.
E
Barnabas said:
Why are all the programs so emotional? How can a program have emotions?
It's called Artificial Intelligence, and it's the whole basis for the story. Also note that some programs have more emotion than others, but none have demonstrated the emotion of love.
F
Barnabas said:
How can Neo destroy the sentinels in the real world?
a) He has developed supernatural powers in the real world: unlikely, would fit in the story
b) he has a blutooth-like neuro-interface which allows him to disable the machines via radio-transmission (the sentinels have to have receivers for command from the AIs, else they couldn't be deployed): possible, but why does Neo drop unconscious? And why is Bane/Smith in the same state?
c) The real world isn't real. Neo is still connected to a computer and shuts down the sentinels using this connection. In doing so, his mind manifests itself in the Matrix instead of the Zion simulation and so he shows the symptoms of being plugged into the matrix in the "real world": possible, but cheap.
d) The approaching Hammer EMP'd the sentinels. The timing was just a lucky coincidence: unlikely, EMP doesn't damage humans, even those with implants as seen in Matrix 1.
e) The real world is indeed real. There is no radio connection through the neuro interface. The sentinels are shut down by Neo from within the Matrix which he can do because he exists in both realities simultaneously: Hm...
Refer to
A above, about The One possessing phemonenal psychological powers, another of which would be telekenesis, and yet another would be the ability to alter magnetic waves in the person's immediate environment. There are documented cases of people whose bodies carry electric and/or magnetic charges which can affect electronic devices, this would merely be an extension of that trait.
I don't believe it was the other ship, simply due to the fact that the ship would have had to first get within EMP range of the sentinels, then power down completely either without being detected by the sentinels, or before they could attack the ship, ignite the EMP, power the ship back up again, and fly to the Nebuchadnezzer crew's position. Given the time between the fall of the sentinels and the arrival of the ship, I think a smaller, localized EMP event stemming from Neo, or some other form of psychokenetic manipulation by him, seems more plausable.
The other speculation is that the "real world" is simply another layer to the Matrix. I personally don't believe this to be the case, but it can't be ruled out as a possibility.
G
Barnabas said:
Why is the Merovingian afraid of the One? It seems that the One could do something that won't allow him to escape to the next iteration of the Matrix. How can a program hide in the Matrix? Do what Smith does to Bane, imprint itself on a plugged in human brain?
The Merovingian doesn't fear Neo until after he watches Neo dispose of his agent protectors. Even then, he doesn't show fear per se, merely distinguished frustration at having lost the match. Indeed, with the ability to slip through back door at will in order to escape, one has to wonder what he would have to fear. As for his longevity, it's anyones guess.
H
Barnabas said:
When Smith meets Neo in the hallway the following dialog takes place:
Neo: What do you want?
Smith: The same thing you want, i want it all!
In what way does Neo want it all? Smith copies himself over everyone he meets but Neo... Is this somehow connected to what Morpheus tells Neo after he frees him: "At the beginning of the 21st century we gave birth to AI, a singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines"
Neo wants it all in that he wants supreme control over the Matrix in order to give every human freedom. Smith wants supreme control over the Matrix in order to eliminate the world he despises and give himself freedom.
I
Barnabas said:
Why does Neo ask the Seraph if he is a programmer? The war against the machines is more than 100 years old (he believes) so there can't be any programmers left. This question doesn't make sense.
There are programmers all over the place. You think the ship operators who look at the Matrix encoded and understand everything they see know nothing about programming? How do you think Trinity "hacked the IRS d-base"?
J
Barnabas said:
Where did Morpheus get his knowledge about the path of the One?
From the Oracle.
I only have one main question after watching Reloaded and putting some thought into it. In the original movie, Morpheus tells Neo that there was a man born inside the matrix who had the power to change it as he saw fit, and it was he who freed the first of them. This would seem consistent with the second option the Architect offered to Neo, as far as having Neo pick 23 men and women from the matrix to rebuild Zion. However, it does not account for the natural-born humans (Dozer, Tank, etc.) who were in Zion. If each of the six times Zion was built, it was built from people the One had chosen from the Matrix, there would be no natural born humans there. Part of the problem in answering this riddle is that it was never revealed how the people who were freed from the Matrix along with Morpheus discovered Zion to begin with. One possible reason is the aforementioned possibility that the "real world" is simply another layer to the Matrix, built as a redundant catch-all for the 0.1% who rejected the program. But Neo leaves another possibility... that he (and the rest of the people who have been "unplugged") simply weren't told about it, but supposedly the natural-born humans (or at least part of them) know the truth.
Other lesser questions I have are, if the Architect knows about Zion, and is confident in his ability to eradicate it, and indeed is supposedly responsible for its creation and re-creation anyway, why have agents running around trying to find Morpheus and gain access to Zion? Do they exist simply as a psychological motivating factor to encourage the people who have rejected the program to search out the latest incarnation of the One? It seems as if this is the entire purpose of Zion to begin with... as though the Matrix is incapable of finding the One without the help of others who have similarly rejected the program. The Oracle seems to have this ability, but the Architect is too "perfect" to recognize the differences between the illogical few who have rejected his system.
