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the matrix - How could all versions of Neo look identical?


In Matrix: Reloaded, the wall of screens inside the Architect's room shows various versions of Neo screaming and cussing as the Architect reveals that the prophesy is a lie and that there have been in fact five versions of Neo before him.


All the faces on screen look identical. How can this be if a person's residual self image inside the Matrix is a close approximation of that person's real physical appearance? Were all the "One"s clones, or are there people whose RSI is different from their real appearance or did the screens show something other than the previous versions of Neo?



Edit:


Reopening the question after watching the scene again. As Neo says "There were five ones before me?", those on the screens are heard saying "Four?", "Two?" etc. It seems they're the predecessors.



Answer



The machines have no incentive to purposefully create new Ones. If they already knew the genetic material of Neo (resp. the 1st One) would create an anomaly (a One), again and again, they would certainly stop cloning that particular person. Also this is utterly incompatible with what the Oracle says. The anomalies are incarnations of humans rejecting the system, thus they occur naturally (or lets rather say automatically). So your cloning theory is out of the picture.


It has never ever been even hinted that the RSI of humans would be largely different from their physical appearance in the "real world". Since the Ones are not clones (and by induction their parents, grand parents and so on), their physical appearance is certainly different from Neo's. Thus their RSI must necessarily also differ from Neo's.


What we can see on the screens looks exactly like Neo (duh). However, the Architect never explicitly states: "These are recordings of your predecessors". He indicates however, that what is shown on the monitors are the reactions of Neo's predecessors.


What works Out-of-Universe, seems to be a likely explanation In-Universe; Mapping the reactions of the previous anomalies to the appearance of the current one makes it easier for the audience to understand what the Architect is trying to tell telling Neo. He is nothing special, just another iteration (we later learn that this is only partially true, but I digress). The similarity of Neo's reaction to the older Ones' becomes more apparent if you see the same face, expressing this reaction.


If we now return to the Matrix Universe, we see that the statement the Architect is making, is about the reaction of the anomalies, not the sizes of their noses. This is the same statement the director wants to make, and the reason why Neo's own face (well, Keanu's) is so much better suited than the faces of the older Ones.



You can even go further and speculate that these aren't actually recordings of the reactions of the older Ones, but a prediction of Neo's reaction, based on his predecessors. This would mean, the Machines were able to anticipate the most probable reactions Neo could have -- maybe even with help of the Oracle who got to know Neo quite well.



However, it should be noted again that the last paragraph is pure speculation and most likely impossible to either prove or debunk.


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