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This question is inspired by Cypher's desire to rejoin the Matrix, and got me thinking. Tank and Dozer have to put up with 'slop' every meal since they were born, maybe they want to try steak or lobster for once. Or have a nice holiday using the construct program. Could humans give them ports, or can only the machines install them?

So simple question, has a free born human (no ports) ever been given ports by humans, and any indication whether humans can or cant install them if not?

I would think at least one free person would want to try 'something' in the construct program, especially given how hard everyday life seems to be.

Since almost all Matrix material is considered canon, even the games. Any canon source is welcome.

Valorum
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Matt
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    I suspect it would be a painful and terrible procedure to go through, in addition to the ports being a mark of human enslavement. On the flip side, I could see those not born in the Maxtrix being envious of those who can enter it or at least go into the construct. – Jack B Nimble Aug 01 '17 at 17:48
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    @JackBNimble - Especially since we know that they use the Matrix Construct for sexytime – Valorum Aug 01 '17 at 18:19
  • @Valorum Or sometimes, lasers that move slower than light and disperse in all directions in a vacuum. For some reason. :P – Luaan Aug 02 '17 at 08:44

2 Answers2

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Matrix Online Canon - Yes.

Within the Matrix Online game we meet the Oligarchs, a group of freeborn humans who pre-date the creation of the Matrix. After the machines took over, they hacked the Machine Mainframe to leave them alone within their conclave. Over time they were able to adapt machine technology to allow them to access the Matrix and to transfer their consciousness into machine bodies.

Movies/Comic/Animatrix Canon - Possibly (but see below)

Although we don't ever meet a Zionese Freeborn who's been retro-fitted with a headjack in any canon property, we do come across 'Baby' in the Animatrix short Matriculated, a monkey fitted with a single headjack port.

enter image description here

It seems unlikely that Baby was born in the Matrix (we have a definitive statement from the film's makers that there are no animals in the Matrix) which strongly suggests that the Zionese research team were the ones that installed the jack. I see no good reason why the same technology couldn't be applied to a human.

Valorum
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  • This is a good point. I forgot about this monkey. I've softened my answer from "very unlikely". – Null Aug 01 '17 at 18:09
  • The Oligarchs are an interesting find but the Matrix Wiki says that their real-world bodies have deteriorated over time and now occupy robotic vessels. It also says that they allied with the machines before the first Machine War -- if that's the case then the machines may have added headjacks to their bodies (before they deteriorated). I'm not very familiar with these characters so it's difficult for me to judge whether or not they count. Can you elaborate? – Null Aug 01 '17 at 18:21
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    An interesting question with this is where Zion would have gotten a monkey. There was no life left on the surface of the Earth outside the coppertop farms, at least in the movies... – Zeiss Ikon Aug 01 '17 at 18:21
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    @ZeissIkon - If you click the link about animals you'll see that the surface isn't actually lifeless – Valorum Aug 01 '17 at 18:24
  • @Null - I'm not especially au fait with the characters either. They certainly seem to fit the bill of non-podborns who can access the Matrix, albeit via unusual means – Valorum Aug 01 '17 at 18:25
  • If the sky is burnt to the point the machines can't get solar energy, how would plants survive on the surface to feed animals? Or maybe I should ask that as a question... – Zeiss Ikon Aug 01 '17 at 18:26
  • @Valorum The question is not about whether freeborn humans can access the Matrix, but whether or not humans can install headjacks in freeborn humans so that they can access the Matrix or construct. Given that the Oligarchs allied with the machines before the first Machine War (and thus before the Matrix or even the first headjacks) and no longer have human bodies, I'm not sure they are proof that humans can install headjacks in other humans. – Null Aug 01 '17 at 18:28
  • @ZeissIkon There is a highly related question about plants and animals on the surface. – Null Aug 01 '17 at 18:29
  • @Null - Well they'd have to have jacks installed in order to transfer their consciousnesses in the first place. At the point that they retreated into their conclave, they didn't have them, strongly implying that they installed them themselves – Valorum Aug 01 '17 at 19:10
  • @ZeissIkon Not everything depends on photosynthesis. Funghi, geothermal vents etc. Presumably, the oxygen-rich atmosphere is maintained by the machines on purpose. Also, it might be that photosynthesis is still possible (after all, there's still light at the surface, though it's certainly very dark), but the power-per-area is too small to be worth collecting by the machines. Heck, it's almost too small to be worth it today, otherwise we'd have solar power plants everywhere without subsidies :) It disabled the machines built during the war - even halving the solar input would do that. – Luaan Aug 02 '17 at 08:51
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I'm not aware of any natural born human acquiring a headjack via other humans in order to jack into the Matrix or construct program.

It is unlikely that humans would acquire the ability to do so since The Second Renaissance (Part II) suggests that even the machines needed to study human bodies extensively in order to successfully add a headjack. Here is a transcript of the narration that occurs at about 5 1/2 minutes into the video1:

The machines, having long studied man's simple protein-based bodies, dispensed great misery upon the human race. Victorious, the machines now turned to the vanquished. Applying what they had learned about their enemy, the machines turned to an alternate and readily available power supply...

During this narration, the first humans are shown receiving their headjacks.

The machines would have no reason to share their knowledge with the Zion rebels, so the rebels would have to figure out how to do it themselves. And the rebels would have little incentive to research a way for natural born humans to have some fun when they are all fighting to avoid extinction. Indeed, for at least some time the rebels refused to expend any effort on growing a more palatable food at the expense of efforts to destroy the Matrix:

enter image description here

Source: The Miller's Tale (archived link here)

That said, it might have been easier for the humans to figure it out by simply reverse engineering the machines' headjacks. As @Valorum's answer points out, there is a possibility that the humans installed a headjack on a monkey. Still, it's one thing to install a headjack in a monkey and quite another to try such an experiment on a human -- it's not clear if the humans were willing to take the risk of applying that to one of the precious few remaining humans.

1Youtube video link

Null
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    As for reverse engineering, it's highly oversimplified in most fiction. It's reasonable when you have all the technology surrounding the particular thing readily available, but it's been suggested that the machines have technology far ahead of the humans. It's possible they manage to capture the ports from sewage when humans die, and they might have captured and reprogrammed a machine to install them; it's a lot less plausible they would be able to manufacture and install them themselves - it seems like a waste of a lot of effort. – Luaan Aug 02 '17 at 08:55
  • @Null While this is a very good answer, I think Valorums monkey example is more convincing on the 2 main points, Its been tough choosing between you but I think his answer is slightly more convincing. I wish I could give to more than one up vote for yours though – Matt Aug 02 '17 at 17:53
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    @Matt No worries. This is a great question and I enjoyed researching/answering it. – Null Aug 02 '17 at 18:01