Re: The Matrix

From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Wed May 31 2000 - 08:13:23 MDT


Martin Ling wrote:

> On Wed, May 31, 2000 at 05:21:36AM -0700, Zero Powers wrote:
> > >From: Martin Ling <martin@nodezero.org.uk>
> >
> > >I've got quite a lot more ideas on this going round - but I'd quite like
> > >to hear everyone's opinions on what I've said so far.
> >
> > I'm impressed.
>
> Thanks.
>
> There's a *lot* more to come. I'm trying to get this together into a
> workable RPG, so I'm going to have to cover every inch of the
> background. In about a month, when I'm less busy, I'll be able to get
> down to working on it a little more and probably put out a first
> version sometime in the summer. Still trying to work out a good set of
> rules. I think this is going to be the game where I finally implement
> 'Jammy Action Tokens', which I once introduced to Vampire. The fortune
> points in the B5 RPG came close, but I think this is what's needed :-)
>
> > If I had read your post before seeing the movie it would have made suspension
> > of disbelief much easier and I'd have enjoyed the movie that much more. I
> > particularly like your take that the AI's are following Asimov's laws and
> > doing what they think we want them to. I just could not buy into the
> > human-Duracel bit. I can't see how we'd make more efficient batteries than,
> > say, solar energy or even an army of cloned electric eels.
>
> No way at all.
>
> Personally, I think there were two major ickynesses to the film -
> Morpheus' explanation of the AIs, and the existence of the Oracle.

Morpheus' explaination might be looked at as a reflection of how well any opponent
truly knows their enemy. Most conflict comes from misunderstanding, so it only
follows that the resistance would have an imperfect understanding of their enemy,
especially one so vast as the AI.

The existence of the Oracle could simply be a user interface for a freindly AI that
has hacked the system to genetically engineer Neo. Remeber the warning about
'indistinguisable from magic'.

The Oracle predicted Morpheus' death, which was predictable given his lack of
understanding of the enemy. As Sun Tsu said, the path to victory is by knowing your
enemy and knowing yourself. Neo attained a good degree of that understanding in the
end, which is why he was able to win in the end.



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