Matrix Theories

Tomorrow one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, perhaps of any year, comes to theaters.The Matrix Revolutions is the conclusion to one of the most successful film trilogies of recent memory, and certainly one of the most, if you'll pardon the pun, revolutionary. Way back in 1999 The Matrix completely reinvented the action movie, much like Pulp Fiction reinvented the crime drama five years previously.

Fans of the first movie had to wait four years for the sequel, which arrived back in May to much fanfare, more money, and, ultimately, a bit of an underwhelming response. While The Matrix had everyone saying "Whoa," The Matrix Reloaded had people instead saying "Huh." Whereas the first movie made the veiwer think, the second one left a lot of people scratching their heads. I am one of those people, and like many others, my response was to start coming up with theories about the next movie and what was really going on. What follows is a Good/Bad/Ugly rating of several such theories.

Disclaimer time: This article assumes the reader has seen the two previous Matrix movies, and will be utterly laced with spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled, then stop reading right now. The writer has not seen Revolutions yet, so if some speculation proves to be wildly innaccurate, don't send too many angry emails. If, on the other hand, some of the speculation proves to be uncannily accurate, take it easy on the freaked-out/you-spoiled-the movie-for-me/where-did-you-get-that-inside-scoop type emails. Remember, what follows are theories, not facts.

Neo is a program: Okay, stop freaking out about this one. Stop yelling "He can't be a program, he's the one, Morpheus said so, the Oracle said so, he can't be a program!" Now take a breath. Fact is, there's a lot of evidence to give credence to this theory. It goes all the way back to the first half of the first movie. Remember when Neo starts his training on the Nebuchadnezzar and after an unprecedented number of training hours, Tank comments, "He's a machine." An idle comment? Perhaps. But it could also be foreshadowing. Later on, when Neo is fighting with the agents, a comment is made that he moves like they do. Hmm.
Later on, in Reloaded, we are told several times about sentient programs that operate within the matrix, but are not controlled by it, such as the Oracle and the Merovingian, and Agent Smith. And when Neo finally get to the Architect, it is stated that it was because of an anomaly in the matrix code that Neo was destined to arrive there at that time. Of course, if Neo is a program, how can he exist in the real world. Well, that makes a Good segue to the next theory:

The "Real World" is another matrix: This one strikes me as being almost too obvious. It explains so much stuff. It explains why it is relatively simple for people to move from the real world into the matrix. It explains how Agent Smith is able to get out of the matrix. Most of all, it explains how Neo can have super powers in the real world. It's very efficient from the point of view of the machines, since it gives people who reject the matrix somewhere to go where they can still be connected to a power plant, live in a "real world" that's nice and miserable, but be happy because they think they're free. In fact, it's not just efficient, it's downright ingenious. This theory is so Good that I'm going to be annoyed if it isn't right.

We have been grossly misled about the state of the world: If one accepts the previous theory, that means that one has to accept at least the possibility that the actual, honest to goodness, real world, might be nothing like the "real world" where Zion is the last human refuge. It might be a lot nicer. It might be even worse. This theory isn't so much based on evidence as it is on speculation. But think about it, it's already been revealed that the Oracle is a program, and that Neo is a reset switch for the matrix. What if the war happened so long ago that the actual real world has had time to recover from the environmental damage? What if the skies never were scorched at all, and it was just convenient for the machines to hook humans up to generate power, instead of exterminating us all? Would that be so Bad?

Humans are being used for brain power, not electrical power: What if there was some other reason for humans to be hooked up other than providing heat and electricity for the machines? If one accepts the previous theory, there might not be such a pressing need for power. And even if there is, would it not be easier to hook up some other mammals for power? Take cattle for example. I'm willing to bet that cows give off a lot more heat and bio-electricity than humans, and they're a heck of a lot easier to control. We've been doing it since the bronze age. What if the human brain is actually what the machines are harnessing? There's an considerable amount of computing power available in a single human brain, not to mention billions. And we've seen that when a human is hooked up to the matrix, the primary connection point appears to be right into the brain stem. Keeping people alive and conscious with a persuasive virtual reality simulation would maintain plenty of brain activity. Perhaps the machines don't need humans as batteries, but as microprocessors. The more I think about, the more I think this theory is a Good one.

Humans built the matrix: If you accept that we have been decieved already, and likely are to be again, would not this be the ultimate deception? What if there are no intelligent machines, but when you get right down to it, it's all a simulation being run by humans for one reason or another. Or what if humans built the matrix at first, but the machines ended up taking it over, and remade it in their own image? Disturbing thoughts, I agree? What if Weird Al Yankovic shows up in Revolutions singing "Everything You Know Is Wrong." I'll bet the reaction would be really Ugly.