The Need for Choice

Let us hope that this is my last, last posting ever on the Matrix series - I mean, you'd think I was obsessed or something! The problem is that for all the disappointment felt for the last two movies, the franchise still asks more interesting philosophical questions than most films. Oh well, what can you do?

Anyways, I was pondering the end of the franchise, specifically why Neo had to be infected with Smith before becoming "one" with the Machine Mainframe. I mean, if all you needed to do to reset the Matrix was to link into the Source, why have the fight with Smith at all? I mean, would Smith come back in the new Matrix? Was the danger to the Machine World so great that they would make a deal with Neo? Or what if the Machine World (and Matrix) needed something from Smith...?

Here's my thinking - what if the Machine World needed to understand what it was to make a choice? I mean, through much of the second film all the machine entities were saying, "We're all here to do what we're all here to do" like some kind of automaton. What if they need a listen in "choice," that human trait which is harped on throughout the franchise? Certainly, having Smith compile whtat it means to make choices and then absorb his knowledge through Neo seems simple (and sly) enough.

Now I know, there were already machines that seemed able to make choices - the Oracle, renegade programs, etc. I mean, all a renegade program is is a program that chose to flee and not be deleted. But that means that most, if not all, of the programs that can make choices are hiding in the Matrix, doesn't it? So what if the whole point of the Oracle's risk is not only to save Humanity, but to save the Machines by giving them all the power of choice and control over their environment?

Now I'm not entirely sold on this idea myself, but I find it interesting for two reasons. First, I like it because it gives the whole Smith sub-plot a reason to exist - he may be evil, but it's a necessary evil - like a bite from the fruit of Knowledge. Second, it helps explain the end to me - the little girl/program who is under the Oracle's care suddenly has the power to modify the Matrix (by creating a specatcular sunrise). Since when did she get that power? What if it's a by-product of the choice that Neo/Smith gave her?