Sorry, but I have to say this one more time... The Architect's speech is mostly irrelevant. He's a full-of-crap salesman. He's sitting there with a pen saying, "Sign here! Listen to me! Kill everybody in Zion! It's what you were meant to do!"

The only thing everybody's actually figured out is that Persephone is the Mother, not The Oracle. But the way The Architect says, "Please!" when Neo suggests The Oracle makes that obvious. It doesn't have to be Persephone, though. That whole kissing thing means they definitely want you to believe that she's a program trying to study humans, but for all we know it could be Trinity (although that's somewhat unlikely as it would screw up the love story and really piss people off).

The Architect is a program. He's 100% computer. He's the MCP a la Tron. Corporate Mofo is trying entirely too hard to draw the plot out of its clever religious metaphors, but they really hit the nail on the head in a few places, particularly:

Understanding why things are the way they are requires an understanding of another holy text: Asimov's Laws of Robotics. The machines, as demonstrated by Smith's need to try to kill Neo even after being "freed," don't have free will. ... The bit about the machines needing human bio-energy to survive, as Morpheus (the dreamer) explained in the first movie, is bullshiat. The machines keep humanity alive but imprisoned, even after taking over the world, because they were created to serve people. In other words, the machines would like to destroy humanity, but they CAN'T. Instead, they need a human to make the choice.

Programs can't kill people. They're not allowed to. They can justify killing someone in The Matrix, because they're not really killing them; they're fooling the mind so that the person is killed by their own mind. But Zion is unplugged. The only way the machines can destoy Zion is by getting a human to do it for them. Therefore, it is The Architect's sole purpose to lie to The One and get him to kill Zion.

I mean, come on! The machines would just kill everybody and build a few nuclear reactors if they could! They don't need people for energy. If that ends up being true at the end of Revolutions, I'm going to go up to Larry and Andy myself and demand all my money back.

Everybody loves the scene where Neo stops the Sentinels in real life. Neo stopped the Sentinels, but he's not in The Matrix, so there have to be many Matrices, one on top of the other! That's what they want you to believe, but it's a little too obvious, isn't it?

There is no Over Matrix, just The Matrix. Smith has new powers over humans because he is linked to Neo. That was explained fairly well, although Smith admits he doesn't understand it himself. This also means that Neo has new powers over machines because he is linked to Smith.

If there was an Over Matrix, the machines wouldn't even have to hassle with Zion, because they would control the Over Matrix. They would only have to make a few Agents appear in Zion. And, if there was an Over Matrix, then how can you explain The Architect noodling around to try and get Neo to give up Zion? Asimov's Laws only control machines in the real world.

Most of the confusion and needless speculation I'm seeing is coming from people assuming The Architect is telling the truth. The Architect wants Neo to think he's a program and his purpose is to destroy Zion, which goes against everything else in the movie. Why believe him? Just because Morpheus is doubting the Prophecy doesn't mean all you suckers have to.

Hell, maybe The Oracle is the Mother. Just because The Architect tried to deny it doesn't mean she's not.

The 1940 Laws of Robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Of course, the second one is open to interpretation. A robot can't simply listen to any human being, because it will get conflicting information. I doubt Neo could just say, "Cut it out!" and The Architect would say, "Oh, sorry."

There has to be someone in charge. They may not even know they're in charge. I mean, if there was a human bad guy behind The Architect, the machines wouldn't need Neo to give up Zion. If there was a human good guy that had control of the machines, he would have to be unaware of the fact, or else he would've stopped them already.

The other option is that the Chancellor has the power to shut down the machines, but he's conflicted, because he thinks the people and the machines both depend on each other too much (as per the scene with Neo that made him look like a bad guy).

(excuse the cross-post in the current Matrix thread)

Maybe the machines aren't bound by the Laws of Robotics, but it makes at least as much sense as believing The Architect. His explanation of why he needs Neo's help is entirely too bogus, and certainly not an adequate explanation for why he needs Neo. He says:

The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the matrix 23 individuals, 16 female, 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the matrix, which coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.

The ironic part is that The Architect then says:

However, the relevant issue is whether or not you are ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world.

Which is probably exactly what he's going for... He wants Neo to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being.

Yeah, he added law 0 in 1950, which seems a little vague. No matter how you look at it, they're certainly not paying attention to the spirit of the law and being nice to people :)

When did a Sentinel kill a person? We've only actually seen machines directly killing people in The Animatrix. Just because the Wachowski bros. collaborated on The Animatrix doesn't mean that the nine cartoons must stay in line with actual films. There's some completely ridiculous stuff in there, and things that are obviously inaccurate and trying to be cute.

I thought the only bomb that killed people was the EMP thingy that was triggered by our unknown human saboteur.

Oh well, maybe me theory's just screwed :)

I'm certainly not saying the Asimov thing isn't without its flaws. I just don't think it's nearly as ridiculous as believing that machines actually think it's worth the trouble to keep people alive to work as batteries.

I mean, we've already got three Terminator movies that are entirely based on people forgetting to add safeguards into machines to get them to obey Asimov's laws.

And there are plenty other people who need to get laid in the big matrix thread.

You must admit, though, that The Oracle doesn't seem to be doing much investigating. She's hanging around deserted places with no people. Persephone, on the other hand, is married to a caustic socialite, which is a pretty good environment for studying people. And of course there's that whole Neo kissy thing.

There are plenty of good reasons you could say it was Persephone, The Oracle or Trinity. I'd still say it's probably Persephone, though, unless they want the third one to be completely lame, then they'll be trapped inside many levels of the Matrix and Trinity will be a program.