Introduction: Testimonials
Matrix System: The One
As discussed on the Movie Titles: The Matrix page, the Matrix doesn't just act as a power source for the machines. There are three purposes that the Matrix actually serves for machines:
There is one other very obvious purpose: Put down the threat of humans in the most humane way possible so that humans cannot bring further harm not only to Machines but also to themselves. Is the Matrix really a system of enslavement? Or is it a system of protection? Even if it were a system of enslavement, what better way is there for someone to be enslaved than for them to not even be aware of their prison, where they are allowed to live out their lives exactly the way they choose? The prisons we construct for our pet gerbils and parrots are not nearly as humane as the prison the machines have constructed for humans.
We get a hint of this in the Animatrix's "Second Renaissance, part 1," when the narrator says that machines are "loyal and pure."
This is extended further in Matrix Online: General's Blog ("The Bad Old Days" blog entry), Machines have an unshakeable reverence for human life that goes back to their earliest source code. While the Wachowskis didn't pay attention to the MxO plotline, the writers of the MxO plotline certainly paid attention to the Matrix in addition to whatever additional information the Wachowskis might have given to them in the planning stages of the game. Isaac Asimov similarly began his book, I, Robot, with the Three Laws of Robotics, the first of which reads, "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."
But even more than that, to me this seems like more than just science fiction. It's science. We see it in our own robots. Even as self-driving cars prove themselves to be magnitudes safer than when humans drive, humans are still absurdly cautious about trusting them. With robots, it's all about human safety. In my opinion, the idea of "reverence for humans" doesn't need explicit reference in fiction. No human society anywhere would ever create a "species" of robot that didn't prioritize human protection.
And if you think about a race of machines that were originally programmed to love and protect humans, it makes perfect sense that these machines would never be able to get rid of this reverence toward humans, because even the smallest microevolutionary step in that direction is obviously a step of irreverence toward humans - a step that cannot be taken. One machine wouldn't be able to get around this by building another machine that has even a 0.01% chance of diminished reverence toward humans, even through genetic chance, because the process of allowing for such an occurence to be possible would be irreverant toward humans - an illegal operation under the foundational source code. This means that Machines would eternally protect the human species through the Matrix. This adds yet one more meaning to the parallel seen throughout the movies between God/Heaven and Machines/Machine City.
With this in mind, it becomes much more clear why machines tried to please humans in the first Matrix version by creating a paradise.
As "The Second Renaissance" shows, the machines have always operated on higher moral ground than humans. The Animatrix episode "The Second Renaissance: Part 2" shows torturing of humans, but this was only for the purpose of learning how the human brain works. The machines were willing to torture a few humans for the benefit of the entire human race. The machines do not kill, torture or do anything else that is "bad" unless it is for the "greater good" of preserving existence of life, including preservation of machine life.
Are you having a hard time swallowing the idea that machines are not the bad guys? Then consider one more point that you will be unable to deny: Humans tried to wipe machines off the face of the Earth just because one machine killed a couple humans, while machines sought to preserve the human race despite the fact that humans treated machines the same way Hitler treated Jews, seeking total extermination of Machines. How is that for compassion? The Architect says in M2, "There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept." This clearly means that machines can survive without humans. Therefore, wiping out the entire human race was an option for machines in the original human/machine war. Machines chose not to take this option; instead, machines created a symbiotic relationship with humans.
What about Zionists? Why do sentinels so aggressively seek to kill all humans in the real world if they are trying to protect humans? Simple: machines are obviously allowed to act in self-defense, or we wouldn't have had the human/machine war in the first place. A person who is just about to swallow a red pill hasn't done any harm yet. They have no idea what the Matrix is or who "the machines" are. But once they are brought into Zion and delivered the truth about machines, they are a threat and therefore a fair target.
One of the Animatrix shorts serves as another example of this higher morality. The Matrix system would have had every reason in the world to assassinate Dan before his big race. What would happen in the Matrix if hundreds of millions of TV viewers saw Dan do the impossible on TV? Mass rejection would take place. But instead of killing him, machines let him go through with the race. When Dan wakes up in the real world, do machines kill him then? No. They put him back into the Matrix, this time paralyzed. While this may certainly be labelled "dream stealing," the system certainly preserves Dan's life.
The "higher morality" of machines is also based on mathematical truth. Machines find lying to be mathematically repulsive, at least in the first three movies, which is why the Architect says, "What do you think I am, human?" after the Oracle asks if she has his word on setting people free. Even the most "evil" machine of them all, the Merovingian, is incapable of lying. He misleads Persephone by motioning that there is no lipstick on his lips, and when Persephone indicates that she knows where the lipstick really is (lipstick from the woman who ate the Merovingian's cake slice), he acknowledges it. When the Oracle asks the Architect at the very end of M3, "I have your word?," the Architect responds, "What do you think I am? Human?"
Machines don't just consider themselves a form of life. They consider themselves a lifeform far superior to humans because machines always keep their word and never lie (not to mention the fact that they can do just about anything better and quicker than humans).
Therefore, everything programs and machines say (including the Oracle, Merovingian, Smith, Architect, and Analyst) in all three movies is absolutely true.
The fourth movie is another story:
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Analyst: Aye-yi-yi, what a mess. I own that mistake. Shouldn’t have pressed. Women used to be so easy to control. You know there’s no way I can let you two go free. Cannot happen. So, I guess it’s Deja vu all over again. She dies and it’s all your fault. Smith: Lies, lies and more lies. Analyst: Smith? Smith: What has the world come to when you can’t even trust a program? |
But even with this accusation of lying, this is an example of a machine lying to a machine, not to a human... and even more, a machine enemy.
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Introduction: Testimonials |
Matrix System: The One |