AKMA’s Random Thoughts

re: "Plus, it would make for some jim-dandy special effects."

I don't know, AKMA...with the Matrix, it makes sense that "seeing through reality" would mean being able to decode the Matrix source code—which the Wachowski brothers have used to make some pretty jazzy visual effects.

But, reality itself? What in the world would that look like?

Reality? A bunch of guys standing around holding cameras, microphones and cables etc.?

I have no idea what's going to happen in the last movie, other than Neo gets the girl, just like in the first two.

It seems clear that Neo is going to have to find a solution to the bug in the AI's program. It's the bug that keeps repeating the sequential destruction of Zion, and we know the Oracle has expressed some hope that this incarnation of Neo is going to break the wheel of life by resolving some karmic burden. "You've made a believer out of me."

I think it's interesting to note that as the trilogy has progressed, Agent Smith has become more like a human (at least he seems to possess a sense of humor and expresses various emotions) while Neo has become more like a machine.

As for Neo being able to see through reality itself, that doesn't seem to be a high-probability outcome, unless, as others have speculated, the "reality" of Zion is yet another simulation within a larger Matrix-like reality. I suspect there may be some twist along those lines waiting for us, but I don't believe it's going to be the ultimate resolution of the conflict.

In the end, I think the whole trilogy will be a meditation on the search for identity. The current "reality" of one of the Wachowski brothers' personal lives seems to suggest there is some effort underway to work that out.

That's what I'd like to see, Gary--the Director's New Clothes, so to speak.

In Matrix, Neo can affect the Matrix from within the Matrix (e.g., when he stops the bullets, invades Agent Smith.)

In Reloaded, Neo can affect the Zion level from within the Zion level (e.g., when he controls the sentinels.)

It seems there must be another level within which Zion "exists". Remember that the Architect appears within the Matrix, and is therefore a construct, and probably not the real Architect.

I suspect that in Revolutions, Neo is going to uncover another level of reality - seeing through reality, as it were.

Matyroshka dolls. Levels within levels. User mode/kernel mode code. Existential recursion.

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Or, both Neo and Smith are both part human, part code, and are both outside and inside the Matrix simultaneously. I'm waiting for Smith to appear in Zion, or for Neo to enter the Matrix without the plug. If this is the way it goes, I can't wait to see the showdown (it has to be better than the playground fight scene with the 100 Smiths. Ugh.)

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Or, the Matrix is fundamentally flawed, as the Architect says, and the destruction of Zion is just a garbage collection routine in the code. Not unlike memory leaks in today's apps, with the need to restart/reboot periodically in order to clean up.

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And I get done with this, and discover Dave has mentioned most of the same theories, only more eloquently. So it goes.

do you think neo has become more like a machine? or is it just keanu

Trevor, it's kind of hard to tell, isn't it? But compare Neo's behavior both before he was awakened (is that a word?) and immediately after. He gave Agent Smith the finger during his interrogation, he was more demonstrative in his expressions of doubt and fear.

About the only expression of humor in Reloaded was after he confronted Seraph about why they had to fight. Seraph told him he had to be certain he was the One and Neo says, "You could have just asked." Well, that and "Hmmm...upgrades," in the first encounter with the agents.

Smith, on the other hand, is another story. He's definitely expanded his repertoire of behaviors.

It may simply be an unintended artifact of the script and Reeves' somewhat limited range as an actor, but it's intriguing.

I'm looking forward to the DVD so I can pay more attention (than it probably deserves) to it.

I don’t want to use up scarce blog-energy on this, but I suppose what I meant when I said, “he sees through reality itself” was the [mystical] sense that even realio, trulio reality (the reality of real life, not simulated, not projected) itself masks The True Nature of Things: God, or Atman, or Bob, or whatever. Whereas so far Neo has just learned to be a superpower, on this account, at the climax of Revolutions he indeed becomes The One. . . .

I'm probably way off track here but I think that the third film must end with the reconciliation of man and machine. I'm not too clued-up on the technical aspects of theology but mankind's refusal to allow machines equal status (as shown in the Animatrix episodes, which are apparently canon) seems like a direct analogy with the rejection of god by man to me. There needs to be some kind of realisation on the part of humans that they can work with machines (god) in the final part of the trilogy, and equally the machines need to become more human (in the sense that they are revealed to have been human (or related to by humans) all along). Agent Smith to me is "The One" from the point of view of the machines. Both Smith and Neo are driving their respective factions towards some kind of unity, despite being protagonists. Having said all this, there's still the possibility of some crazy plot twists from the Wachowskis: in the video game (also canon) we learnt that The Oracle was nearly killed (explaining the new actress in the 3rd film) because two programs were trying to protect their "child"...

It seems the old oracle actress is dead. They've changed her for this reason, but I'm not sure at all.

IMPORTANT
Many people think Zion is the second level of Matrix. "Matyroshka dolls" says Steve. And I ask: are we sure the life on Earth is really ended for a cataclysm? Are we sure that the images we've seen about our planet in the Matrix Trilogy are true? Can they be a false memory introduced in the mind of human by machines? Imagine: no cataclysm, no end of the world, life on the Earth is still present and in Matrix no-one konws that...

I believe that NEO AND SMITH are programs. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but in part 1 AND two, everytime Neo and the Oracle talk. She always give him something to eat(HINT HINT HINT)?? think of it this way( what the architecture said) the oracle job is to guide Neo. but to do wat??? too keep him in control? when a program is not working or stuck...what do we do? we shut it down and restart it. So when Neo is going off track the Oracle give him food as somekind of code to alter his program.

Me personally. I think it's one big love story at the end of the first two neo gets the girl we see that. In three we know he will have her. but lets be real here its just a movie so I think the whole seeing through the matrix and the real world is cool I think it will be nice to see neo killing up stuff cuz all the computer wants to do is learn about humans and neo has to be the first to say no I pick the girl first. I think neo can save the city cuz look if u do something on the computer and its illegal i don't know about yalls but mine will shut down so me personally i think the matrix will shut down and have lots of problems cuz that means lots of people will not be saved. and neo will kill agent smith (the one that's outside the matrix)