# Matrix I Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922 "2003-06-01T07:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/1 "2003-06-01T07:38:15Z")
When the Agents capture Morpheus, why does Smith address him as “Morpheus”? He always calls Neo “Mr. Anderson” and calls Cypher “Mr. Reagan”. Why doesn’t Smith call Morpheus by the name he had while in the Matrix? ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/2 "2003-06-01T08:21:33Z")
Umm… Well… OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT BEHIND YOU!?!?!?!?!:eek: _runs away_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/3 "2003-06-01T08:29:57Z")
A wizard did it. ---
**Author:** ![entity119](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f08c70/32.png) [@entity119](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/entity119)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/4 "2003-06-01T09:44:00Z")
My guess is because they tracked Neo/Anderson as Thomas Anderson, and Morpheous only drew their attention after plugging himself in. The Reagan thing was a reference to Ronalds “I don’t recall policies”. More likely than anyhting, it was just an in joke by the brothers. ---
**Author:** ![entity119](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f08c70/32.png) [@entity119](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/entity119)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/5 "2003-06-01T09:46:03Z")
Anything, too. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/6 "2003-06-01T13:41:47Z")
It made the movie easier to write. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/7 "2003-06-01T15:10:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by entity119 \* > **My guess is because they tracked Neo/Anderson as Thomas Anderson, and Morpheous only drew their attention after plugging himself in.** Bingo. That’s it, and Smith confirms it by saying “The great Morpheus. We meet at last.” Smith had never seen Morpheus before that point. Therefore, he simply didn’t know Morpheus’ real name, but knew him by reputation as a leader of the Resistance. Smith had arrested Neo, on the other hand, before Neo even knew the Matrix existed. This explanation doesn’t work as neatly for Cypher, but it’s still not impossible. I think **entity119** ’s explanation is just as correct here, too. It was an in-joke at Ronald Reagan’s expense. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/8 "2003-06-01T15:17:05Z")
It’s possible Cypher gave them a pseudonym to make it that much harder for them to track him. I think it would have worked either way, though. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/9 "2003-06-01T18:38:03Z")
They couldn’t think up a name sufficiently cool for Morpheus “unplugged.” “Thomas Anderson” is fittingly white-bread to describe Neo, but what do you call Morpheus? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/10 "2003-06-01T18:46:59Z")
What I want to know is, why do they have all these robots and humans used as batteries while their minds are in a virtual world? This is clearly not true. (Didn’t that cat already walk past?) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/11 "2003-06-01T19:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > They couldn’t think up a name sufficiently cool for Morpheus “unplugged.” “Thomas Anderson” is fittingly white-bread to describe Neo, but what do you call Morpheus? I think that’s the real answer - they didn’t want to take away any of Morpheus’s mystique by giving him a normal “real” name. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/12 "2003-06-02T04:54:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by av8rmike \* > \*\*They couldn’t think up a name sufficiently cool for Morpheus “unplugged.” “Thomas Anderson” is fittingly white-bread to describe Neo, but what do you call Morpheus? \*\* How about John Shaft? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/13 "2003-06-02T07:18:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > \*\*What I want to know is, why do they have all these robots and humans used as batteries while their minds are in a virtual world? This is clearly not true. > (Didn’t that cat already walk past?) \*\* What I want to know is, if they’re using the dead to feed the living, wouldn’t CJD be spreading rampantly through their supplies? ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/14 "2003-06-02T11:50:41Z")
Body heat is an extraordinarily bad source of energy. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/15 "2003-06-02T12:10:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > \*\*Body heat is an extraordinarily bad source of energy. \*\* They were not just using body heat. They were using the electro-magnetic field as well as harnesing the bio-electirc charges the body fired when it “thought” it was walking/talking/moving in real world. This was coupled with a new typr of fusion. From the Animatrix short, “The Second Renaissance: Part 2”. Another question I have from M1…when Morpheus makes 1st contact with Neo while Neo is at work, and is giving him instructions to avoid the agents, why couldn’t the Matrix see Neo and tell the agents, “Hey, turn around, ge’s crouching in that cube next to you”? I mean if the entire Matrix is a program, it seems they would have an easy enough time telling where Neo was within that program. ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/16 "2003-06-02T12:28:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ricksummon \* > \*\*When the Agents capture Morpheus, why does Smith address him as “Morpheus”? He always calls Neo “Mr. Anderson” and calls Cypher “Mr. Reagan”. Why doesn’t Smith call Morpheus by the name he had while in the Matrix? \*\* In the first movie, there’s a throw-away line that they “never” unplug somebody from the Matrix after a certain age, and that Neo was the exception to this rule. Presumably, then, Morpheus was unplugged at an early age – before he became an adult and would have become “Mr.” anyone. He then reentered the Matrix anonymously after being trained in Zion and began his new life as a hacker in an attempt to locate “The One.” Just a thought, although to be honest I really don’t know how set in stone that bit about not unplugging people after a certain age is. Barry ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/17 "2003-06-02T12:43:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by godzillatemple \* > **In the first movie, there’s a throw-away line that they “never” unplug somebody from the Matrix after a certain age, and that Neo was the exception to this rule. Presumably, then, Morpheus was unplugged at an early age – before he became an adult and would have become “Mr.” anyone.** Presumably, he did have a name, though. > [@](#): > > **Just a thought, although to be honest I really don’t know how set in stone that bit about not unplugging people after a certain age is.** It figured much more heavily in at least one early version of the screenplay. The Oracle’s priestess told Morpheus he was bringing geriatrics (and note that the other “potentials” are children), and several characters mentioned Neo’s age. It’s still pretty clear in the movie, too. Cypher keeps saying Neo’s going to die, going to pop, they’re going to kill him, and so on. Presumably, this is because Neo’s old. ---
**Author:** ![gallop1123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea5d25/32.png) [@gallop1123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallop1123)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/18 "2003-06-02T13:40:10Z")
“Presumably, he did have a name, though.” I agree with it ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matrix-i-question/178922/19 "2003-06-02T13:42:48Z")
Maybe he had it legally changed to “Morpheus” when he reentered the Matrix…