The Glaring Matrix Plot Hole That Could Have Ended the Movie Way Earlier

This plot hole from The Matrix is a big part of why AI is so terrifying, to be honest since when you factor in the idea that machines don’t really need people if they’re self-aware and can take care of their own needs, humanity kind of exits the equation in a big way. The plot hole has to do with the fact that Wachowskis might have had to adjust the movie in a big way had they decided to put in the idea that since machines technically don’t breathe, don’t need to worry as much about pollution, and can survive in environments where humans would have a great deal of trouble, they wouldn’t need humans to survive if they had another power source. Unlike humans, machines can survive without as much rest, they can work in dangerous environments, they can handle physical damage much easier, and they can repair themselves far quicker than a human could ever hope to. So now think about that little tidbit when it comes to The Matrix, and one might wonder why nuclear power, gas power, coal power, or anything else that doesn’t rely on a faulty and fragile system such as humanity would be seen as necessary. The human body might produce the needed electricity, but considering the amount of waste and nutrition that would need to be disposed of and provided, and the level of care that would have to go into maintaining the health of each individual, the machines in The Matrix made more work for themselves than they actually needed.

If anything, The Matrix showed the utter cruelty of the machines, a trait no doubt picked up from their creators since they didn’t need to harvest human beings, especially since the process of keeping someone alive and learning how to handle procreation so that the species can continue to survive would be one that would require a great deal of energy, so the payoff isn’t nearly as big as one might think. No matter how efficient the machines were when it came to the process, the reality is that they would never gain quite as much power as they needed from human beings since the act of taking care of them would require just as much if not more. Humans are messy, humans are complicated in terms of what makes us tick, and what keeps us from rebelling against anything and everything that we’re told is right. Even in the current era a lot of us know that things aren’t the way they should be, but whether we’re stuck in a Matrix or not, that knowledge isn’t perfect since its handed down from generation to generation and tweaked innumerable times by what we’re told, what we decide to listen to, and what we choose to believe is real.

But this plot hole is kind of amusing since it gives rise to just how intelligent the machines would be in this movie considering that one might think that they would reason that a greater power output could be reached by utilizing resources that don’t require as much care. While there are always downsides to every possible solution, the fact is that machines would likely look at things from a practical standpoint and probably wouldn’t think about the damage to lungs that aren’t there, or burns or other ill effects that might come from utilizing power sources that might otherwise be a little more effective. It stands to reason that if the Wachowski’s did think of this that they quickly realized that they wouldn’t have been able to devise as great of a movie as they did. But to be fair, developing such a story would have been interesting since it would have pushed humanity to the brink a lot quicker if the machines, who won the war, sought the eradication of the entire human race. What would stop them? In the three Matrix movies there wasn’t much that humanity could do against the overwhelming amount of tech that was thrown at them, though they did stand up and continue to fight, no matter that for every handful of machines that went down, at least a few or several human beings would die as a result. In the movies, the humans were fighting a war of attrition, and they were losing horribly due to the fact that the machines could construct and repair one another far quicker than humans could reproduce.

There are likely a few more plot holes to expose in these movies, but this is one that’s quite pervasive since upon its reveal one can’t help but think about how much time and effort the machines put into creating and then maintaining the system. It’s even more frustrating since it’s obviously not a sound method if people keep escaping the system.