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

"Well, not necessarily that. But it did mean that even in victory, our minds were firmly fixed on matters of survival- something that was of great concern."

"With limited resources, it is even more important to have clear goals for society, isn`t it? But wasn`t there the problem of clashing beliefs, like when you were trying to decide the fate of humans?"

"No, not really; a focus on survival pleased everyone. But yet we had a leadership, whose purpose was to lead.

"With machine society so focussed on survival, a shioft to something different was difficult. The process, normally, would be that of the dialectic. Are you aware of such a thing?"

"Yes, thesis and antithesis gives synthesis, a new quality out of contrary ideas."

"Indeed so. For those of you who are not aware, this is the basic idea behind progression. We start with the existing state of affairs, which in the case of a society can be advanced as the thesis. Then, an alternative idea is presented, that contrasts to the thesis. This is the antithesis.

"Thesis and antithesis cannot co-exist, so there is a collision. In a society, such a collision is normally marked by violence- be it war, or revolution, or some similar thing.

"Eventually, what will result will be neither thesis nor antithesis, but some merger of the two, because neither idea will reign supreme and what finally emerges will take elements from both. This is the process of synthesis.

"And of course, in society, the syntehsis then becom,es the norm- becoming, once more, the thesis. And the process moves on."

"So what were the thesis and antithesis in the Machine society?"

"Well, the thesis was that of the society that existed at the end of the war. Trying, in practuce, to identify an antithesis is very difficult; the collission between theory and practice. But it involved notions of the meaning of the Matrix on society, and determining what Machine society was going to be out, what it was for. It's true purpoe.

"Two things were reasonably certain. First of all, Machine society was not in a position for the collission of thesis and antithesis to be violent. Secondly... it was not entirely clear that a proper antithesis would ever really emerge, except in the random way it seems to have done in Human societies over time, which hardly suited and may take far too long.

"But of course, in the latter days of Human civilisation, society advance became a far more organised and, relatively, peaceful affair. That was a better model to start with, and improve."

"So the Machines based the society of Mankind at the end of the 20th century?" Klez asks. "Similar to what the Matrix is based off of?"

"No, not at all. But Machine society was extremely young, The conclusion was merely it must not develop in the same way Human society did when IT was very young. The age of the caveman. But being stuck, at that time, in a struggle for survival- do not forget that the early versions of the Matrix did not function- it seemed unlikely that such a development would simply miraculously appear.

"So, the System was faced with a problem- but a problem it could identify. Now, what does the System do when it has a particular problem, or need?"

"System creates a Machine whose purpose is to overcome this problem?"

"Absolutely so. In this case, not just a Machine, but a series of new Artificial Intelligences. A think tank, designed to come up with new ways to advance Machine society, new ideas. The dialectic in practical form. At its head, a programme who would consider all these ideas, and present his solution- a process to be forever repeated, if needed."

"Interesting, but this programme in charge would have to posess some beliefs on his own, right?"

"I certainly do."

"Who was this Program?"

I suspect you may have missed a trick there, Heph.

...The Oracle?

Read the preceeding conversation carefully.

"It was Lo Qi Heph"

"So you were the person designed by the Matrix to think about all the problems that arose?"

"It was you," Sirin says. "You're the head Program, the Dialectic."

"You cannot really call a single being a dialectic; it is a concept, not a profession. But the progression of Machine society was the purpose I was originally created for, which is the question I said I would answer for you, almst as a reward for your understanding.

"But if you want an example of dialectic... have any of you ever heard the story of the Lord and the Bondsman?"