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In the Matrix 3 Smith apparently overwrote his program onto every human and program in the Matrix.

If the humans continued to supply energy to the machines in this state, why wouldn't the machines have done something like this since the beginning (but keeping it under their control)?

I understand that the machines needed a Matrix to foster biological and neurological activity, but it seems like the same thing can and was achieved with the administratively assigned personality of Agent Smith overwriting the more problematic independent minds of humans in the Matrix.

Wouldn't that have been far less problematic for them, if they could get the electricity without having to deal with all of the potential escapees, the "balancing of the equation", the building and rebuilding of the Matrix, etc, etc?

Hack-R
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  • @Valorum Not at all, I get why they needed a matrix. There are multiple movies with the same theme of not being able to grow humans without mental activity. This was the case in a movie where rich people cloned themselves and the clones couldn't be in comas and thus lived in a false post-apocolyptic society waiting to go to "the island" which turned out to mean they were being harvested. But what I'm saying is couldn't they (didn't they) get the needed mental activity without the problem of choice, with a program having overwritten their own personalities with a false machine-loyal one? – Hack-R Jul 01 '16 at 12:03
  • As I've said in my answer, it's not simply a question of getting electricity out of them. There also seems to be an element of guardianship following the humans signing the instrument of surrender. – Valorum Jul 01 '16 at 12:13

2 Answers2

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Simple supposition is that doing what Smith does is that it is costly. Every process a CPU does takes energy. Controlling each mind requires an individual process for each. So... Let's say each body produces 1 unit of energy per second, it may be that controling the mind of each body costs 1 or 2 units of energy resulting in no net gain or a net lose. Both are bad for the Machines.

Another answer lies in the idea that both the Matrix and Machine World are simulated fabrications in one way or another which is hinted at with things like Neo having powers outside the Matrix and the idea that Humans make a good battery is a ridiculous notion, whether the sun is blotted out or not. This being the case the point of the matrix is not for farming, but rather something else, perhaps simply a way to live peacefully together which is more in line with all the hints and ancilary material we are given.

Durakken
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Because the very Nature of Smith was that he was a virus and was slowly destroying the system from the inside. He had grown beyond their control. Had he got out, he would have spread to the general population of machines and they all would have been destroyed. So it wasn't really in their best interests in that scenario to allow Smith to take over every mind.

What they would need is a virus that isn't sentient, but still capable of suppressing the mind of each human plugged into the matrix, such that the body lives on and produces energy to harvest. If such a thing is even possible, I'm sure the machines were working diligently to achieve it.

Having said that, those movies most definitely are NOT about scientific logic or accuracy. If the machines did all the things that made sense, there wouldn't be ANY humans left and they'd all just use the fusion reactors for power.

DisturbedNeo
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