The Second Renaissance

'''"The Second Renaissance, Parts I and II." #2 and #3 in The Animatrix.''' Mahiro Maeda, dir. Andy Wachowski, script. In The Animatrix anthology.

Development of humanoid robots, enslaved even after they develop AI. Note "Million Machine March," images of murders and massacres of machines by humans, and the establishment of the Zero/One, a reservation in the Middle East for AI machines" (Part I). Zero/One does very well economically, and the US (esp.) can't compete, leading to humans starting an apocalyptic war as "the Final Solution" of their machine problem.  "Sentinels" and other combat machines are developed by the machines, and huge fighting suits are developed and used by the humans (cf. THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS).  Humans intentionally cause "the destruction of the sky," to deny the machines a primary source of power; with machine victory, the machines find an "endlessly multiplying, infinitely renewable energey source" that is the "very essence of the Second Renaissance": humans as power sources (the "coppertops" of THE MATRIX), that allow triumphant machine civilization. Note very well the sights and sounds voiced-over by the revelation of what "The Second Renasissance" is: hive imagery, plus the torture of humans. Here and in "Matriculated,"note insectoid machines (cf. and contrast more squid-like Sentinels).

(RDE, 13/02/05)