PVPOnline's Matrix strip (5/14/03)

[Ted C]

http://www.pvponline.com/

Brent seems to have a mindset common to radical Trekkies and Fivers; he believes that just because Neo has some ability to reprogram the Matrix, that his powers are unlimited. In reality, he must still be limited by what the hardware, the operating system, and his own brain will allow.

[Yogi]

That's actually one of my complaints as well. One of the things that impressed me at the end of the first Matrix was that Neo wasn't using Kung-fu to fight Agent Smith, and in the end it wasn't Kung-fu that killed him. While the "mere mortals" had to use Kung-fu as a type of crutch, after Neo became the One, he threw the crutch away and simply stopped the bullets cause he wanted to, and blew up the Agent cause he wanted to. Of course, if we had that, there wouldn't be those cool fight scenes.

This, of course, begs the question on how is he going to kill Agents with Kung-fu? Their physical bodies may be destroyerd, but they can just re-incarnate. Kung-fu against agents is just stupid.

[Darth_Shinji]

I'm pretty sure they are going to state a reasoning behind it... Which will prob seem very caked on but all well.

One I've been thinking of is that basicaly Neo is trying to accomplish goals in the matrix while the Agents are trying to capture him (Since neither is able to kill the other now).

[Ted C]

My guess is that they'll simply say that while Neo has substantial power in the Matrix, it's not unlimited. He can be stronger and faster than any Agent, defy some of the Matrix's physical laws, and take hits that no human should, but that doesn't mean he can be in two places at once, resurrect other humans, or arbitrarily switch off the entire system.

I won't be surprised if he spends a lot of his time in The Matrix Reloaded figuring just what he can and can't do.

[neoolong]

Shouldn't there also be a limit due to the physical nature of it. It is a computer hooked up to his brain. Because of that, there should be a limit on how much he can do or how fast he can do it.

So while he may be faster, if there are enough enemies, he may not be able to mentally process them all at the same time.

[Ted C]

Shouldn't there also be a limit due to the physical nature of it. It is a computer hooked up to his brain. Because of that, there should be a limit on how much he can do or how fast he can do it.

So while he may be faster, if there are enough enemies, he may not be able to mentally process them all at the same time.

Indeed, the bandwidth over his connection to the Matrix would inevitably limit the speed at which he could interact with the system.

If hardware plays into the superhuman abilities of the Agents and human "rebels". They might derive their superior strength and speed to some extent from higher-bandwidth connections than their "slave" counterparts.

For example, if a "normal" person in the Matrix has a 100mbps connection to the system and a "rebel" has a 200mbps connection, then the rebel should be able to react, move, and expend energy twice as fast. I don't know if there would be an explanation for why Neo could be even faster and stronger than anyone else, though.

[neoolong]

So the agents are LPBs. Damn it, I knew it was the lag.

[The Yosemite Bear]

*Agent summon's 1000 clones into one place at one time....*

*How come everything is moving like a Chow Yun Fat movie"
"Server Lag"

[Sindai]

It's true! Just check out these super-secret Matrix admin server logs!

*Agent_Smith's ping has exceeded 400 ms for 1 time(s)
*Agent_Smith's ping has exceeded 400 ms for 2 time(s)
*Agent_Smith's ping has exceeded 400 ms for 3 time(s)
*Agent_Smith's ping has exceeded 400 ms for 4 time(s)
*Agent_Smith has been kicked for excessive lag.
<teH_0n3> rofl biatch

[The Yosemite Bear]

Shit why try and stop Neo, just flood the work with agents and initiate a DOS attack?

[DPDarkPrimus]

This is the first time I've ever seen a debate about bandwidth rates in the Matrix.

[Hobot]

I had a very similar debate with a friend today about Neo's power. I argued that Neo can't have unlimited power because otherwise there would be no point in his fighting the agents. My friend's response was that it wouldn't be enertaining in that case, so he just fights in the name of a good story. Personally, I don't like that explanation. I don't think the Wachowski (sp?) brothers would be so stupid as to shoot themselves in the foot like that. They're trying to make their story "deep" aren't they? I would hope they'd realize that giving Neo unlimited power would totally screw up the story for anyone paying attention...

[GonK]

I think that they have some better reason for Neo fighting than
"It look's cool"


Personnally I like the idea of Agent Smith spawning multiple copies of himself into the Matrix to eat up Neo's bandwidth and thus limit his powers...

[Yogi]

Isn't the whole point about power in The Matrix not a matter of "bandwith" but a matter of doing things that are supposed to be impossible. Supposedly in the Matrix, EVERYBODY can leap tall buildings in a single bound. However, most people never actually try it.

[Cyborg Stan]

I don't know if there would be an explanation for why Neo could be even faster and stronger than anyone else, though.

I suppose one thought I've been playing around with for about the last two minutes is that Neo's genes allows for some kind of 'backdoor password' for robotic AIs and their products. Suppose for instance that one of the oringinal designers for the AIs put in such a mechanism in to exert some control over them, but died before the Human/AI wars. A descendant, or a clone of that person might still have access/power to this.

It does seem he might have some control/usage of the AI systems themselves, now that I think about it. Matrix time does seem to correspond to real time as far as I can tell. However, given the time he dodged bullets, it seemed his perceptions slowed way down from usual, while Trinity's didn't. This would probably mean that his mind was working way faster than normal - I'd hazard a guess and say faster than his own brain can work.

Well, I haven't really thought this one too much, so feel free to shred it.

[weemadando]

Isn't the whole point about power in The Matrix not a matter of "bandwith" but a matter of doing things that are supposed to be impossible. Supposedly in the Matrix, EVERYBODY can leap tall buildings in a single bound. However, most people never actually try it.

Everyone has the capacity to do it. But first they need to understand that its possible. Then they have to BELIEVE that its doable. Then they have to do it themselves. Even Neo fell, despite seeing Morpheus jump and receiving the pep-talk. So if someone does it in the Matrix and falls, then they are just written off as another "suicide".

[weemadando]

I suppose one thought I've been playing around with for about the last two minutes is that Neo's genes allows for some kind of 'backdoor password' for robotic AIs and their products. Suppose for instance that one of the oringinal designers for the AIs put in such a mechanism in to exert some control over them, but died before the Human/AI wars. A descendant, or a clone of that person might still have access/power to this.

It does seem he might have some control/usage of the AI systems themselves, now that I think about it. Matrix time does seem to correspond to real time as far as I can tell. However, given the time he dodged bullets, it seemed his perceptions slowed way down from usual, while Trinity's didn't. This would probably mean that his mind was working way faster than normal - I'd hazard a guess and say faster than his own brain can work.

Well, I haven't really thought this one too much, so feel free to shred it.

Well, Neo has been "implanted" from birth... Also, notice that only the most extraordinary hackers get pulled from the Matrix? Perhaps in their head they are just rewriting their personal *.cfg within the Matrix as they go...

set "weight" = 0.5kg
set "max velocity" = 100ms
set "muscle conditioning" = 99.4%

aaaand Juuuuuump and floooooooat and...

set "weight" = 70kg

...land *thud*


It might be that simple.

[Cyborg Stan]

Thought about that. Even if he did have some kind of built-in ability to access the Matrix better, he'd still would need to learn how to use it, or rather learn that it was there.

As for the pulling only extraordinary hackers part, I believe they stated that usually they try to pull them out when they're very young, so I believe it would be a matter of training, or perhaps a simple upload away.

[neoolong]

Their skins must be kept separately or else all the 1337 hackers would have skins looking like extremely beautiful people, or anime characters, or other funky stuff.