Did the humans really darken the sky in The Matrix?

[Stevicus]

One aspect of the movie The Matrix which I wondered about was when Morpheus is introducing Neo to the Matrix and says this about their war with the Machines:

“We don't know who struck first, us or them, but we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.”

Of course, we learn in the sequels that all of Morpheus' information was suspect and unreliable, after Neo met with the Architect and found out the real truth about the Matrix.

As far as the Machine war itself, it's covered in the prequel, The Animatrix, in the episode entitled "The Second Renaissance." The story is prefaced as part of the "Zion historical archive," and is told like it's a history lesson for the citizens of Zion. But that being the case, we already know that all of the information Zion had about the world and even their own history was wrong. History is written by the victors, and the Machines were the victors.

It was also an incredibly dumb idea from the humans' point of view, since, if they believed the Machines would be stopped by blocking out the sun, they were obviously wrong. There were clearly other forms of energy available. On the other hand, it screwed humanity and most life on Earth for all time.

 

[Brickjectivity]

One aspect of the movie The Matrix which I wondered about was when Morpheus is introducing Neo to the Matrix and says this about their war with the Machines:

“We don't know who struck first, us or them, but we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.”

Of course, we learn in the sequels that all of Morpheus' information was suspect and unreliable, after Neo met with the Architect and found out the real truth about the Matrix.

As far as the Machine war itself, it's covered in the prequel, The Animatrix, in the episode entitled "The Second Renaissance." The story is prefaced as part of the "Zion historical archive," and is told like it's a history lesson for the citizens of Zion. But that being the case, we already know that all of the information Zion had about the world and even their own history was wrong. History is written by the victors, and the Machines were the victors.

It was also an incredibly dumb idea from the humans' point of view, since, if they believed the Machines would be stopped by blocking out the sun, they were obviously wrong. There were clearly other forms of energy available. On the other hand, it screwed humanity and most life on Earth for all time.

Nobody in our reality would ever think blocking out the Sun might stop the machines; but in The Matrix reality things may work differently. Maybe they don't have geothermal energy or radioactivity. As fissionable materials break down they emit neutrons which bump into things causing the geothermal energy known as heat. If the machines had existed in our real world they would have known about this, and so would the humans. In none of the films or shows is there anything radioactive...if I recall right. Also they seem to equate energy and soul, as if energy is life. They send people down telephone lines.

 

[Stevicus]

Nobody in our reality would ever think blocking out the Sun might stop the machines; but in The Matrix reality things may work differently. Maybe they don't have geothermal energy or radioactivity. As fissionable materials break down they emit neutrons which bump into things causing the geothermal energy known as heat. If the machines had existed in our real world they would have known about this, and so would the humans. In none of the films or shows is there anything radioactive...if I recall right. Also they seem to equate energy and soul, as if energy is life. They send people down telephone lines.

I don't think they show anything radioactive in the trilogy, although the prequel in the Animatrix shows the original war between humans and machines in which nuclear weapons were used.

I've heard some fan theories about a matrix within a matrix, in which Zion and all the ships that send people in by telephone lines are themselves inside a matrix.

And yes, they did seem to equate energy and soul, at least in the sense that death of their residual self image in the Matrix meant death of their real body on the ship. "The body can not live without the mind," as Morpheus explained it, but then Neo was mysteriously resurrected - and he also brought Trinity back from the dead. Where does one's mind physically go if no longer contained in one's body?

 

[Brickjectivity]

I don't think they show anything radioactive in the trilogy, although the prequel in the Animatrix shows the original war between humans and machines in which nuclear weapons were used.

I've heard some fan theories about a matrix within a matrix, in which Zion and all the ships that send people in by telephone lines are themselves inside a matrix.

And yes, they did seem to equate energy and soul, at least in the sense that death of their residual self image in the Matrix meant death of their real body on the ship. "The body can not live without the mind," as Morpheus explained it, but then Neo was mysteriously resurrected - and he also brought Trinity back from the dead. Where does one's mind physically go if no longer contained in one's body?

Yes those bombs resemble our nuclear bombs, so then it becomes difficult to explain why either humans or machines would think losing the Sun would cut the machines off from energy or why the machines would resort to using human brains as a source.

A matrix in a matrix? That would explain a lot; but it might not explain the outermost matrix. Any plot hole could be explained by putting any story inside a matrix inside another matrix.

One's mind physically would go to 'The Source'; and Neo (and all people I would assume) is from the source and can touch the source. I imagine Neo could grab anything and anyone from the source but has not so far tried to. I assume the machines are (only) able to extract energy from humans, because the humans get it from the source. In our reality such energy extraction would not work. Our universe has a certain amount of matter and energy, and from our perspective it decays. We do not get fresh energy from a source.