[Ar-list] Continuing dialog

[Joe Mason]

On Sat, 13 Apr 2002, Lizard wrote:

> A quick note on the Matrix issue...the writers missed a very good opportunity.
>
> Why do the machines keep humans around? We're solving a problem for them.
> Each human mind is a node in a network billions strong; the purpose of the
> simulation is not to keep us content, but to provide inputs to the nodes in
> a coded form. A lot of what a human/node does is just busy work, the
> equivalent of running a screen saver, but, every so often, a bit of real
> computing is done.

I like that, too.

I had pictured the 'real answer' (obviously not that battery thing, that's
just stupid) as being more like the rationale from Jack L. Chalker's _Rings
of the Master_, where the computer's main programming was to keep humanity
safe, and it decided humanity would be safest if it was lobotomized.

Joe