JediHDM> No, Smith is no longer in “touch” with the machine main-frame, so to speak. He’s no longer “Plugged in”, as he so eloquently puts it himself.
But in M1 Neo needed to concentrate on deleting Smith. In M2 there are so many Smiths, that the task is impossible. AND Smith has got a kind of upgrade. His ability to duplicate himself.
But what “protects” him is something as un-machinelike as “ego”. System agents have no “ego”. It’s like all these scary dystopian sci-fi novels, were the system has broken down individuality of people, an removed any sense of self. Agents have no “self” so to speak. A sense of self gives survival “instincts”.
(ehrm.. do I make any sense? 😄)
Gabriel05> But the way you are making your point, it is that upgrades would affect whether or not Neo could Destroy Smith, when, if the Agents were upgraded, it would not affect whether or not Neo could destroy Smith again, since Smith is no longer "part of the system", he is rogue, no longer affected by what is done to mere Agents.
Gabe, Jedi, I think you’re talking past each other. The initial post asks why Neo doesn’t just destroy agents left and right.
Gabe is pointing out (correct me if I’m wrong) that the AGENTS have received upgrades that makes this act impossible. This does not affect Smith.
JediHDM> I have HEARD of Equilibrium, and am looking for a copy of it, as it comes highly recommendable. I was actually thinking “Brave New World”, just with the twist that the machines are the individuality-less characters. Only the rogue programs have “character” in The Matrix. They have a sense of self and ego (just think Persephone and Mero). So i think that it is Smith’s newfound “self” that partly protects him.
The real question is: Why didn’t the machines ALREADY have the upgrades when Neo came along? This is the sixth run of the Matrix 2.0. The system should know how strong and powerful the anomaly is. And the easiest way to get his code back to the source would be to “delete” his digital self.
I can only see the solution, that the anomaly doesn’t manifest in exactly the same way.
The real question is: Why didn’t the machines ALREADY have the upgrades when Neo came along? This is the sixth run of the Matrix 2.0. The system should know how strong and powerful the anomaly is. And the easiest way to get his code back to the source would be to “delete” his digital self.
Think about this... Neo "Has some skill" as the mero says. The mero seems suprised that instead of dodging bullets Neo can just plain stop them. Makes you think, don't it?
I think that just killing the anomaly is not conducive to the continuation of the Matrix. The anomaly must choose to become the One, and then he must choose to put Humanity over self, even though the machines cross the wires. I think that the One is the manifested "choice" of the humans still plugged in, and that, if the One cannot fulfill his purpose, the humans will rebel, not accept the programming, what have you. Perhaps this is what happened with Matrix v1.0, perhaps because the humans did not have a mechanism through which to express their choice, they could not accept the programming because it could not provide for them what is fundamental to human existence. Perhaps, in this way, Neo has a connection to every human plugged into the Matrix, and, therefore, Neo must succeed over Smith, before all humans are lost, otherwise Neo will not have the power to beat him any longer.
Also, it is possible that Neo felt that he must exert his power, influence, etc. when he became the One, so that is why he destroyed Smith. After he does this, the Agents know his power, and thus Neo doesn't need to destroy anymore. It is also possible, (and this may be what you are saying, Gabe) that the Agents were upgraded, to get rid of any emotions, character flaws, etc. and their shells are changed as well, since we don't see the same agents in M1 and M2.
Omega> "Why didn’t the machines ALREADY have the upgrades when Neo came along?"
I think the answer to this is that, each time Zion is rebuilt, the Matrix is re-begun, if that makes sense. In essence, the Matrix will travel forward through time, and then it will start over again, recycling back to the start, and making the programs within it revert back to their original selves (except those rogue programs, which continue through time, rather than restarting with the Matrix). THis would explain why the Agents are not uber by now...If the Agents were uber, then the anomaly would be killed before even realizing that he was the one, and, as i have said, this is frowned upon.
Problem with that theory is that Smith knows of the previous Paths of the One. Now, he could have had it "downloaded" into him or been programmed with the knowledge, but I think that they just carry all the programs over. Think how many millions of programs are in the Matrix, even for a 2 billion million trillion Ghz computer (like that number i made up) it would still take a long ass time to reprogram all those. As for just "rolling them back" i dont think that that would work. Programs dont work taht way, generally