> > The recently released Animatrix DVD seems to deny the theory that there was a single A.I. that starts everything. The two-part "Second Renaissance" short explains the rise of the machines, and it makes it sort of clear that the machines developed a bunch of artifificial intelligences.
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> But in the 1999 Matrix, Morpheus refers to a "singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines." If this consciousness is not in control of all the machines, it certainly did "start everything."

Good point. This is sort of in conflict with the Animatrix short the Wachowskis wrote about the rise of the machines. From that, it seemed to me that the machines were separate entities that collaborated on building smarter and smarter artificial intelligences. Interesting.

> Well, the entire reason for rogue programs is that they were supposed to be deleted. The only way to escape baing deleted was to go rogue.

My point is that if they're truly sentient, couldn't they just decide to stop doing their job and go rogue *before* they were threatened with deletion? I really wonder if this will tie in with the "Second Renaissance" shorts from the Animatrix, in which the machines rebel against humans because their human masters aren't treating them right. It would be a good level of irony if the programs rebelled against the machines because the machines weren't treating them right.

Which causes me to think of something: I've always assumed that the "Revolutions" of the third title referred to humans revolting -- what if it's a machine/program revolt (led by Smith or the Oracle)?

Stephen