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

"So the machines decided not to win the war even though they knew they could loose later?"

"And personally even though the guy was a bit egotistical I liked him, good fellow."

Berserker then looks to Melkore "Then again wars never ended for humankind did they."

"Yes, but there were people who wanted the ultimate war to end all wars." -Melkor responds to Berserker.

"And they simply decided that the price for victory as they saw it was too great. They had right to."

"This war is the greatest of all wars. It could only end that way, and that was the objective of both sides. LOOK at the situation today, Melkor. And the lesson of the Assyrian King. Of you lose your chance to destroy your enemy, it may thrive at your expense. Sennacherib remembers the war starting. He remembers the inevitability. He knew that once the first AI was created, the slide was invitable. neither culture could ever exist with the other. So so, if it comes to war, one culture must utterly destroy the other, or become subject to that fate itself. A fate that Jericho, aided by yourselve,s is now in a position to inflict."

"Say what you like about Sennacherib- and the imagery of the Cyclops is appropriate- but he is intelligent, cunning and thoughtful. Easy to like. When he's not your direct enemy.

"And so yes. The Machines knew that they were discarding victory, that they might become the victim. As is now happening. But they chose to do this anyway. Why? Well. What was one other thing they had to do, when Sennacherib was exiled?"

"They had to biuld out prison the Matrix?"

"In fact that was already being built at that time. No, one immediate and obvious consequence of his exile."

"That they had to replace him or that some people followed him?"

"A replacement, yes. Sennacehrib's role was important and could not be left unfilled.

"What do you know of his replacement?"

"Are you sure that trully either Machines or humans have to be eradicated at the end? What if I reject this logic? I don`t see the extinction of all Machines as my goal. I see it as the easy way. But perhaps there is trully no other option...."- He seems a bit resigned.

"That he was made to be imperfect compared to the perfection that was the King. He was made to be beatable."

"Melkor, this is a clash of societies, not individuals. One will not tolerate the other. it has been seen already. That individuals may differ will not change it. Sennacherib saw the big picture.

"Now. Berserker. What an odd thing you just said. Do you not think? Consider that statement."

And indeed, here is another chance to pause, let others catch up, and think about all this, and especially where Berserker has just gone.

(Good to know I was almost on about what the Oracle said...)

"We don't know much about him, I suppose. What we do know is that he was meant to be...well, he wasn't meant to be another Sennacherib. He's not meant to be beatable, because that would be pointless..."

Sirin thinks for a moment.

"But he was intended to be inferior to Sennacherib. Not deliberately beatable, but not perfect."

"Perhaps someone designed not to win the war, but merely to maintain the status quo?"

You were very close, Sirin- she didn't say the System would help him, exactly...

Lo Qi turns to Sirin, who has not said mmuch but seems to have picked up lately.

"Very much yes, that would be pointless. Why build an intentionally beatable General? And what you describe, Azrael, is not really the purpose of a General either.

"Who told you he as meant to be inferior?"

Agents! Agents would side with him because their job is to annihilate humans. They would disobey the System if they were ordered to take in Sennacherib.

I assumed you meant the System as well, by association...

"Sennacherib, of course."

Ah yes, well, I think that was probably the trick, that you would take it to mean 'The System', whereas actually the reference was literal. There is a lot of what you might call 'political' support for Sennacherib amongst the Agents. They rather see his point; get rid of all the little bastards.

"Well, I think that should inform your analysis of the matter, as to what he would consider inferior. After all, what do you think they did? Built another just like him, but then, perhaps, took out parts of the programme so it did not work as well?"

"Well I was just going by what the King said about him. That if they built someone just like him they would have reached the exact same conclusion therefore he had to be imperfect."

"As for what they did with the new General. Would they have not just programmed him to reach a different conclusion?"

"I really don't know what you mean by that. This is a living beingm, after all."

"The new General isn`t the one to seek the victory at all costs?"

"Perhaps he is meant to wage this war, as opposed to winning it," Klez says. "By blocking out the sun, we ensured that the war would be continued, as you said. This new General could have been given the goal of combating our form of warfare, rather than bringing the war to us."

"That would be too specific a purpose. What you forget is that Sennacherib showed that the purpose he had been built for was the wrong one. The System needed a General who would never do that or anything similar, but still have the exact same basic purpose.

"In which respect, therefore, you are right, Melkor, but at the same time your answer is of no use because it does not explain the why or how. But there were many Machines who could not see past that either so you are in company."