Skip to main content

the animatrix - Did the Agents know about the history of the Matrix and/or previous Ones?


Did the Agents know about the history of the Matrix (the Paradise and Nightmare Matrix, and the transition to the choice-based Matrix) and/or the existence of previous Ones? Most answers assume that the Agents did not know about previous Ones (see, e.g., the answers to this question).


I've been thinking about the Agents' quotes throughout the Matrix universe and there is some evidence that they might know about the history of the Matrix after all. For example:




  • Agent Smith knows about the Paradise Matrix:



    Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.




    Agent Smith doesn't mention the Nightmare Matrix, and the failure of the Nightmare Matrix would seem to disprove his hypothesis that humans "define their reality through suffering and misery". Maybe he really doesn't know about the Nightmare Matrix, but he's interrogating Morpheus in this scene; we can't trust anything he says because he may be lying to Morpheus. In fact, the only reason we now know that Agent Smith was telling the truth about the Paradise Matrix is because the Architect corroborated his assertion in The Matrix Reloaded.




  • Agent Smith has also been around long enough that he chased Seraph while Seraph was an Exile:



    Agent Smith: I remember chasing you is like chasing a ghost.


    Seraph: I have beaten you before.



    Agent Smith must have chased Seraph after the Merovingian was exiled, and before Seraph began working for the Oracle; this was potentially a long time ago, and Agent Smith (and the other Agents) might have learned about previous Ones due to Seraph's close association with the Oracle.





  • Agents (or Agent-like programs) have been needed in the Matrix for a long time: not only have redpills been hacking into the Matrix in all previous choice-based iterations, but Agents are in charge of chasing down Exiles (many of which have been around since the Nightmare Matrix -- e.g. the Merovingian's henchmen). Thus, it is possible that Agents have existed for all or many of the iterations of The One -- in which case the machines would have to wipe their memories just to keep them in the dark about the Ones. And why would the machines keep the Agents in the dark? The Agents are machines and will fulfill their purpose whether they know about the Ones or not.




All this suggests that the Agents do know about the history of the Matrix. Unfortunately, I have not been able to come up with a quote (or other evidence) that conclusively indicates whether or not the Agents knew about the history of the Matrix and/or the previous Ones. Does such evidence exist anywhere in the Matrix canon (films, Animatrix, comics, etc.)? Have the Wachowskis answered whether or not the Agents knew? Or do we simply not know?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more