I think he's wondering what happens if a scientist is doing research and detects something out of place, because the data shows evidence of having been manufactured, or actually observes a violation of basic physical laws due to a minor glitch or deliberate change being made in the simulation. For the most part the machines have the ultimate gaming engine, a perfect simulation of real world physics. No normal person who's hard wired into the Matrix can leap tall buildings or do anything to bend the simulation's rules.
If somehow a researcher were to obtain proof that showed the "real" world wasn't, the machines could alter or erase that proof. Other people would assume they were paranoid quacks if they started spouting nonsense about all of us being manipulated by unseen forces. Worst case scenario, if enough people saw the proof before the machines could get rid of it, they'd have to sacrifice those people. Chemical leak at a scientific conference. Real tragedy. More on the story at 11.
This is one of the reasons they have Agents in the system, to maintain the status quo. Most control is going to be preemptive. Anyone proposing experiments that might be especially problematic would find it impossible to get funding. Faced with an inability to sell people on your pet project, and offered a good paying job doing something else, you'd probably shelve it. For the time being anyway. And eventually give up on it entirely as your career went in a different direction. Control of an entire world almost (but not quite) eliminates the need to fall back on brute force methods.
reply
share