Re: [wta-talk] Matrix Reloaded [SPOILERS!]

From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Fri May 16 2003 - 10:05:31 MDT

  • Next message: Michael Wiik: "RE: [META]: Yet another idea for discussions"

    JAY DUGGER wrote:
    > Thursday, 15 May 2003
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > Still here?
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > MINOR SPOILERS:
    > The character "Agent Smith" has changed into "Smith."
    > Neo has super-powers: flight, speed, clairvoyance,
    > desolidification, and raising of the dead.
    > Smith has super-powers: duplication, uploading into human
    > minds
    > Partial nudity

    Hehe.. yes, everyone who hasn't seen it now thinks Smith has the amazing
    superpower of "Partial nudity" :-)

    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > MAIN SPOILERS: (This will ruin the movie.)
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > The machines have seen messiahs and refuges (Zion) come
    > and go five times before.
    > The Matrix probably exists as a set of nested
    > simulations.

    I'd like to see that.. it would explain away technical gibberish like
    getting power from humans, but I don't expect it... see below.

    >
    > SPECULATION:
    >
    > The easy one: all the characters exist as programs. Ever
    > notice how Neo hasn't looked at another fighter with his
    > "code vision"? Do they save this un-surprise for Matrix 3?

    It's made pretty clear that he probably ONLY sees now using code vision.
    For instance, in the elevator on the way to see the Merovingian, he
    tells them the building looks odd and is wired with explosives. We just
    don't see whole scenes this way because it would be annoying.

    There are other explanations for the what happens in the movie. One is
    that, like one of the characters in the book Mona Lisa Overdrive (which
    BTW is the title of one of the audio tracks in Reloaded), Neo has the
    hardware in his head to allow contact with the Matrix (or at least
    nearby machines) wirelessly. This explains his ability at the end, and
    maybe his dream at the beginning...

    Why would he suddenly get access to this ability right when he needed
    it? I favor the conspiracy theory that someone is helping him... just
    like how knowledge can be downloaded by training programs, and like how
    Smith's data was downloaded into Bane, I think someone is feeding new
    software into Neo at certain points... once when he died in the first
    movie, and here again at some point after he left the architect, or
    perhaps earlier in the movie- perhaps when he almost got taken over by
    Smith. There already is prior evidence that when they trade code they
    get new abilities.

    There is more evidence to support that the real world is really real.
    For one, I think Keanu Reeves said so in an interview. Two, I doubt the
    writers went to all this trouble to set all this up and then make it
    mostly worthless. But aside from that, from the trailers I've seen for
    Revolutions it appears that all of the action is focused on the
    continuing sentinel war combined with some action still going on in the
    now-crashing (apparently a software crash of this magnitude takes
    something like 24 hrs of virtual time :-) Matrix. 

    -- 
Brian Atkins
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri May 16 2003 - 10:18:56 MDT