# Morpheus's interrogation in The Matrix **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2002, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755 "2002-08-27T10:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/1 "2002-08-27T10:44:41Z")
When Smith is interrogating Morpheus, and he says he despises humans, and that the Matrix v.1 was a paradise, but humans didn’t go for it, and so forth, do you think it was true, or part of the mind-probing process, or both? I think the tip off for me is when Smith begs ‘Help me get into Zion,’ which seems designed to hit the bit in Morpheus’s brian that says ‘help desperate people get into Zion.’ Of course, I might be getting too deep and the probing is simply with those wires, but the film has some lovely through away deep bits elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/2 "2002-08-27T12:06:19Z")
Zion was the last human settlement, they never inferred that it was paradise. I’m not quite sure what you’re asking though. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/3 "2002-08-27T12:40:57Z")
Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear enough. Thanks. Agent Smith says that the first version of the matrix was a paradise, but humans didn’t believe it, that he despises humans, etc. Is this just supposed to depress Morpheus, make him think humanity is less worth saving, and completely despair _to help break his mind to find the Zion mainframe codes_? When he says ‘Help me get into Zion’ it occured to me there might be a psychological component to probing a mind, and not, as I had previously assumed, just a matter of putting some wires in his brain and waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Mythos45](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Mythos45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mythos45)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/4 "2002-08-29T00:17:26Z")
I don’t think so, based on the other two agent’s reaction (“What were you doing?” “Nevermind.”) when they return to see him with Morpehus. They seemed startled and suspicious. Were it a standard interrogation technique, they would’ve been nonplussed, I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/5 "2002-08-29T09:40:18Z")
That could be part of the act? Or Smith could have got carried away? Hey, someone replied to one of my threads. Next time maybe someone’ll agree with me… ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/6 "2002-08-29T10:36:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Or Smith could have got carried away? Bingo. The simple fact that the other two agents were surprised at his behavior is simply proof positive that Smith wasn’t lying when he said he had become “infected” by his exposure to humans… he was starting to become as emotion-driven as they (we) are. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morpheuss-interrogation-in-the-matrix/125755/7 "2002-08-29T14:54:00Z")
Yeah Smith definitily got carried away on his little anti-human diatribe.