(Orig posted 2003)

I read a very interesting piece at Matrix Essays that relates the shorts from the “Animatrix” “Second Renaissance I & II” (SR I & II) to the Matrix movies. I did not like SR I & II, because they are ultra violent, and it bothers me to watch such, so I really didn’t think a lot about them at first (mostly because I was trying to forget the violent scenes I did watch, so I could sleep peacefully).

But the author at Begging to Differ makes a very interesting point—why should we care about the humans and why should we want them to win? The machines tried in SR I&II to come to an accord with the humans, but it was the intransigence of the humans that led eventually led to human destruction and enslavement (remember the line from “The Matrix” that it was the humans who destroyed the sky?)

The Animatrix seems to be saying that the humans essentially caused their own downfall and demise, that this was the only way that humans and machines could coexist.

Perhaps humans are not completely destroyed because in some small way the machines did not want to destroy their creators. Perhaps despite everything, machines enjoy interacting with humans, at least when humans are not actively seeing to destroy the machines.

For me, this story from “Animatrix” places Neo’s discussion with Councillor Hamann in a completely different light. Neo is adamant that the machines must be controlled or destroyed, while Haddon seems to be telling Neo that things are not as black and white as he thinks. When I first saw “Reloaded” I thought that Hamann was simply trying to tell Neo that machines are necessary (for Zion could not exist without them). After considering the “Animatrix” I wonder if Councillor Hamann knows the history between man and machine. I wonder if he was trying to prepare Neo for the knowledge that the machines are not inherently evil any more than the humans are inherently good.

“Animatrix” also raises questions about the need for humans to create a subservient race. Slavery, although outlawed, has existed throughout much of human history, and continues to exist today (if you think it doesn’t then you aren’t paying attention). “Animatrix” makes it clear that humans have not moved past the need to enslave others, regardless of the intelligence or self awareness of those being enslaved.

This of course raises far deeper issues of what precisely makes us human, and what makes us deserving of human rights, but that is another subject for another time.