> Also, apparently the Real World is also The Matrix? Is that what the ending is about? That's kind of lame, but we'll get to see how it pans out in the next movie.


The Zion != Real World thing.

Assume the Architect was not lying. Specifically, that there were x number of Zions before and the machines had destroyed them all previously.

If Zion is, in fact, a Matrix-like construct for the 1% who escape the Australia-Matrix, there is a reason for constant machine attacks. The attacks would reinforce the belief that the escapees have actually escaped, that their lives are in danger, that they are fighting a war that they may eventually win. In order to keep this belief going, the Zionists must stay alive. There would be no reason for the machines to ever launch a full-scale assault on Zion with an intent to kill all human life or return them all to the warmth suckers.

The One had finally returned to the Architect and was supposed to step through the other door -- this door would have had the machines analyze him, determine what went wrong in this version of the Matrix. With this knowledge, they would create a newer version of the Matrix, rebooting the entire system including the Zion-construct. If they were going to reboot the Zion construct, why waste time with a full-scale assault?

Therefore, Zion actually exists and is the real world.

What happens must be this: A version of the Matrix is released. Various people escape. The escapees congregate in an enclave. The machines realize that a "The One" exists, with all the data needed to tell them what went wrong. The One visits the Architect, gets analyzed, and a new Matrix is coded. Meanwhile, there are the free humans that must be eradicated. An assault on the enclave occurs. The new version of the Matrix is released and the cycle continues.

By claiming several Zions have been destroyed before, the Architect is saying several human establishments have been destroyed before.

-FP