The Matrix and Genetics

Cafe Society
1

Something I’ve wondered about the Matrix, I haven’t seen the fourth one yet though I intend to so unless it’s directly related to my question I’d really appreciate it if people didn’t spoil it, thanks.

Anyway how is the issue of family genetic identity and inheritance dealt with in the Matrix, I don’t believe we actually see any of the characters interacting with their parents or wider family but surely it’s part of growing up even in the simulation.

Though given that their real bodies and their simulated bodies are different things there’s no reason why they would should have any similarity, and they have no actual parents though in the simulation they presumably do.

So if Trinity and Neo for example had never taken the red pill but met in the Matrix and had a child, would the machines select an embryo to fulfill that function? Though said child would have no genetic connection at all to its parents, so why would it look like them?

Yes I’m overthinking a 20 year old sci-fi franchise but there you go.

Oh and I did once read a piece of fan-fiction where the main character called Tony, a man, takes the red-pill and he and the crew who rescued* him are shocked to discover his real body is actually physically female, it didn’t really explore much further than this revelation other than to end with him asking the crew to call him Toni, suggesting he, or rather she, has accepted what happened. Of course s/he would still have a male avatar when plugged into the Matrix itself.

Thanks for any answers in advance!

*for various definitions of that term.

2

There is only one Matrix film…

Maybe? The Matrix is designed to simulate “the peak of our civilization” (after the “perfect human world” did not work out); family life could be part of that. Note that the tech does exist to hack into people’s minds and/or upload memories, so if the machines need drones with only a vaguely remembered back story they could arrange for that as well, however a certain amount of suffering and misery and other genuine experiences are necessary for human minds to survive in the Matrix, or at least that’s the line the Agents are feeding us.

None of it is real, so the simulated bodies can look like anything, taking into account simulated genetics or not, as necessary.

I suppose one could control one’s avatar when jacked into the Matrix to the extent one had the mental discipline to bend or break the rules of the simulation. Even when not connected to the Matrix, people’s online appearance was determined by “residual self image”.

3

None of the 4 main films or Animatrix really gives a whole lot of insight into the actual lifecycle of a human born into the Matrix. (Fan fiction isn’t canon).

I seem to recall a scene somewhere showing newborn Matrix babies gestating in artificial wombs. Presumably the Matrix just creates them as needed according to whatever algorithms it’s trying to optimize. I’m guessing it doesn’t create a new human based on the DNA of people who actually meet in the Matrix. Then again it might. Which also begs the question on whether that couple meets BECAUSE the Matrix determines they would make a good match and sets it up.

I assume the Matrix will set up family relationships as it sees fit.

The question is really is to what extent is the Matrix a big open world MMORPG vs a sort of “reverse Westworld”? That is to say, does the Matrix just set up the environment and the people inside just live their lives in it? Or is the Matrix constantly reassessing people’s roles and creating backstories for them as needed. Sort of like how Trinity became suburbanite “Tifanny” with a douchey husband and kids.

I think it also depends on what the Architect meant by the previous versions of the Matrix “didn’t work”. Like they didn’t work because the inhabitants had psychotic breaks or because it couldn’t exist as a stable simulation of human civilization and the humans would ruin it?

4

Keeping in mind the religious symbolism of the whole thing, it depends on your view of free will.

However (to the extent we can take Smith’s word for it) people are just “living out their lives” (what “lives” they can have as prisoners of the Matrix):

5

The character “Switch” in The Matrix was originally going to be a women in The Matrix and a man in real life.

6

Still leaves a lot of room for ambiguity as to how much direct control or direction the Matrix has over their lives.

From the movies, the “freedom” to eke out a living in the cold dark bowels of Zion doesn’t sound like much of a picnic either.

I feel like some of these themes could have been better explored in the various sequels instead of having them be 2 hour setups for running gun and sword fights in bullet time.

7

Eh, Neo in the “Real” World and Neo in the Matrix both looked like Keanu Reeves. I assume that most or all avatars mimicked their biological forms (except possibly for some of the liberated folks who hacked back in-- They might be able to change their appearance, though I don’t think we saw any examples of that).

And why not use the parents’ bodies to make the body of their child? One assumes, for reasons of latency if nothing else, that people living in the same Matrix-city would probably have their bodies relatively close to each other, and you’ve got plenty of time to transport the genetic material.

8

I recall reading that somewhere, but it was nixed as the producers thought it would only confuse audiences. A pity as it was an interesting idea but they were probably right.

I wonder is that an early example of the Wachowski’s interest in gender, well switching, it was a feature in Cloud Atlas as well. As an aside that’s probably the only example I’ve come across of in-story characters waxing lyrical over a piece of music that really is rather awesome.

Thanks for the answers everyone, very interesting!

9

If you are born in the Matrix shouldn’t your appearance be based totally on mental self-image, since you have no idea what you physically look like?

10

That’s assuming that you’re creating your own image. Why would you assume that? Why not assume that you’re assigned an image that you have no control over (or rather, only the same level of control that people in the real world have)?

11

I understand what Galactus is saying but I’m having trouble parsing this. Someone born and raised in the Matrix has no knowledge of what their actual physical form is like, so why would their mental image of themselves in the Matrix has any connection to their actual form? Of course in the movie we see it does, Trinity, Neo and Morpheus etc all appear the same in the Matrix and in real life.

12

To be honest the Matrix makes no sense at all, but the first one is a fun film anyway.

13

My mental image of myself is based on what I see when I look down at myself, or in a mirror. They have mirrors in the Matrix, too, and the Matrix-denizens can look in them. And what they see when they do is determined by the Matrix. Presumably, their self-image will most likely develop into what the Matrix shows them in a mirror, but even if it doesn’t, why would it even matter?

14

Or does he?

I’ll spoiler this as requested by the OP

In The Matrix: Resurrections, Neo looks like Keanu Reeves when he sees himself in a mirror, but that’s not how he appears to others. The film gives a brief glimpse of Neo’s ‘real’ appearance, portrayed the actor Steven Roy, who happens to be the husband of Carrie Moss (Trinity) in real life.

What does it mean? Who knows? Who cares? Resurrections was pretty good in the first half. It held my interest, and then it just sort of fizzled out. I wouldn’t mind if they continued the franchise, perhaps with the adventures of Bugs and young Morpheus.

15

The Matrix can show them any image they choose. There are overweight people in the Matrix. Does the A.I. over-feed them in the pods? The homeless guy in the subway fight scene is dirty, disheveled, and drunk. Is he this way in the pod? I assume there are bodybuilders in The Matrix, but Neo’s muscles had to be rebuilt because as Morpheus says, “he’s never used them.”

The Matrix can show them anything it chooses in mirrors. Why would it necessarily show them what they actually look like? Wouldn’t it make more logical sense to show them what they want to see?

Once you are aware of the Matrix shouldn’t it be possible to “re-imagine” yourself?

16

In the first movie, they establish that your form when you jack in to the Matrix is based on your residual self-image. And, for Neo at least, it does seem that his form when jacking into the Matrix matches his form when he was originally integrated within it.

I’m not sure if we see anyone else’s original digital forms, though. What we do notice is that everyone’s form matches their real life form, except for superficial differences like hair and clothing and such.

I guess it would be possible that “the One” is special and has a better idea of his real form, while everyone else’s form changed over time to match their real life form. But it seems simpler narratively to think they’ve always matched.

And I do have a theory why that might be. If no one ever left the Matrix, then it wouldn’t really matter. Have their forms inside the Matrix be whatever, and keep their pod forms in the most efficient shape possible. But it’s established in the sequels that some people are intentionally let out.

And, in that case, it’s probably beneficial if their brain-body map matches up. And an easy way to do that would be if their physiology matches.

However, there’d be the issue of environmental changes in form. Sure, with something like how much food people eat, you could just give them more. And you could probably gloss over the differences in the composition of that food. But things like solar radiation damage and broken bones and stuff?

So another theory is just that it’s leftover from the original Matrix where they were trying to make everything perfect, and that included matching up physically. They have a lot of inefficiencies.

Now how do they do it? Do they collect the gametes from the appropriate people, and use them to create a real zygote to match the simulated one? Do they have gene editing tech and just modify the zygote? Do they make humans randomly and then assign them to parents who look similar enough?

All of those seem possible to me, since the whole thing is just so inefficient. Assuming the Architect isn’t lying, they have ways to maintain power even if the humans die, so it seems the idea that they’re using them for power is wrong–they just may not be able to kill them.

17

It would make most sense to show them what they “actually” look like, in the sense of what they “actually” look like inside the Matrix. If people see themselves in the mirror differently than everyone else sees them, inconsistencies are going to crop up.

And one presumes that what we, the audience, sees inside the Matrix is what someone inside the Matrix would also see. And what we see is that Neo’s appearance inside the Matrix looks like what we see of him outside of the Matrix, and he couldn’t have based that on knowledge of his “real” appearance, because we first see him inside before he’s seen “reality”.

I’m not sure how to make sense of @BlankSlate 's spoiler.

18

How about this part of my post? Are we to assume bodybuilders don’t exist in the Matrix?