USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006 FOURTH ASSIGNMENT (PHILOSOPHY)- 'The Door'

"Hmm," says Lo Qi. "You didn't go there just to find out what Sennacherib was, though. You went there to learn more generally than that. He chose his name because he feels his historical antecedant is a lesson. But what is the lesson of the new Sennacherib?"

"That Machine can never trully escape its purpose? Though Sennacherib was one to define it at the end- for him winning the war meant something else than for the System. As his perceived purpose clashed with the goals of the System, he had no choice but to leave. Though he could have chosen return to the Source- was he too proud for that?"

"Too proud?" says Lo Qi. "If Zion disagreed with the way you wanted to do things, might you take exception if they told you to shoot yourself for it?"

"Yeah I probably wouldn't do that if anybody told me to."

"But yeah his goals and that of the system were different. Then he chose self Exile as kind of a symbol. I mean everything about him seems to be a symbol of what teh Machines should have done and should be doing."

"Well, I thought that perhaps most Machines consider the return to Source a natural end after their purpose has been fullfilled. Especially those focused on military tasks may consider it their "duty" just like many human soldiers and leaders could have. Perhaps Sennacherib would have no problem with it if he thought that his purpose has ended and he is trully not needed any more- but he felt that Machines lost their chance to win the war by not finishing remaining humans."

"No. There are some Machines that have what you might call a 'Samurai' approach to duty, but they are not the norm. You Humans... you tend to have very strange ideas about purpose. You see it as a finite thing, to be exhausted. Almost none of us are designed with an ending in sight."

As for Berskerker-

"Ah, I am glad you are considering wider implications. Still, let's not focus too much on how he sees it, but look at it objectively. What is the lesson you can learn from the story of Sennacherib?"

And indeed, he sweeps his stick around, and the writing now reads:

THE LESSON OF SENNACHERIB

"First, we know that Machine can see its purpose diffrently than the System and the rest of their society, as it was the case of Sennacherib and his radical view on how the war should have ended."

"Well, in fact, that's not quite true. That's not the lesson.

"Sennecherib is a very intelligent Machine; he had to be by design. He considers many matters and hence he is one of those that considers the Philosophical. Of the two main options I outlined for you earlier about Machines, which did he take?"

"He chose Exile."

"He chose to fulfill his purpose, I think," Azrael says, "But was he then denied?"

"He most certainly did not!"

"Sorry, I misunderstood your question. Two options we were talking about was either to break free by coming here, or fullfilling its purpose. King chose the second."

"Absolutely. I do not think it is possible to embrace your purpose any more strongly than he did. Even now, denied it, it obsesses him. You know that; you saw it. The last thing he would have ever chosen was exile. He's incapable of abandoning his purpose, even on the most surface of levels."

"Wait, but this confused me a bit- at the end he chose Exile- he is an Exile after all, isn`t? He is no longer a part of mainstream Machine society?"

"He didn't 'choose' Exile."

"Indeed not! He was forcibly Exiled."

"Oracle mentioned the choice all Exiles had between Exile and return to the Source, so he had to make at least that choice, though. But I understand how you emphasize those issues from diffent perspective.""

"Not really a choice at all. Every second of your life you have the option to end it if you wish. Also, hardly in comparable circumstance to any comparable reason. Sennacherib became an Exile because it was the oinly efffective choice left to him.

"The Oracle may have mentioned to you, incidentally, that most Machines would choose Exile over deletion. What does that tell you about Machines?"

"Like all sentient beings, they posess a survival instinct. It is easy to understand for a human."

"Why any harder for a Machine?"