(Orig posted 2003)

Greg posted the following comment/question, which I quite like and want to address.

2) The Oracle is outside of time. She tells Neo that he is seeing things outside of time. The point is, like the famous question, if God is omniscient and knows what we will do before we do it, how can we have free choice, Neo struggles to understand how anything he does is his own choice. The Oracle is pointing out to him that in the view where there is no time, we have already made the choice (in Neo’s future). The important part is to understand why we made that choice, so that our lives are directed and we aren’t simply reacting to things around us.

Regarding omniscience and free will, some friends and I have debated this back and forth for some time.

My view is that God may be omniscient, but at any one point in time what God sees is not the one path that our lives will take, but the many paths that we could take from each point. At some points in our lives we have many choices, and other points we have only a limited number of options that we can take, but we do still have choice. I picture it somewhat like a maple where the moment after a choice we are standing at the base of the tree, but beyond that the choices being to branch out, and each choice in the future leads to a myriad of other choices.

This is, in fact, how I view the scene in the Architect’s room. The screens are showing not all the previous ones, but the multitude of branching paths that Neo could take in that instant. He can react with anger, horror, distain, or, as the movie seems to show, he can remain stoic, keeping his emotions inside instead of expressing them. As we move from the shot of Neo into the monitor, we are simply following the path that was taken, leaving behind the divergent paths. Once we enter that path, all the monitors are the same, because a choice has just been made, but as Neo receives more information, the monitors are reflecting any one of the paths that he could choose, and again we focus on a single choice.

Which rather broadly expands my view, for as I take the scene, even Neo’s emotions and reactions are choices, are paths that could be taken, which means that our path is more like a bush or shrub than a tree.

To put this back in the context of a higher deity, God knows all the paths that we could take, just as God knows what paths we are more likely to take. As I type this I have the option of continuing to type and eventually posting this message. I also have the option of getting frustrated with being unable to express myself clearly, and putting my fist through the screen. These are all possible realities, but the continuing to type possibility is much greater than the fist through the monitor possibility. (Though if I work on my Injury Prevention project this afternoon, the likelihood of the fist through the monitor becomes much greater.)

This is how I think the Oracle, the Architect, and eventually Neo, envision the future. For some people, the choices they will make out of available options are so apparent that they can be easily seen, and that is how Neo keeps seeing Trinity’s future. What fascinates me is that Neo’s attempt to change Trinity’s future is the very thing that causes what he sees to come true. This is something that I think the Oracle was trying to prove to him with the vase, and is something that has been covered extensively in mythology. Think of Oedipus, and similar characters in mythology and folklore. If his father had not sent him away, would he have later murdered his father and married his mother?

In some ways it seems to be that trying to avoid our “fate” is the very thing that causes our downfall.