In that regard, non-human animals could be farmed and harvested for their biological, thermal and electrical energy much more easily without any need to worry about their subjective perception, leaving the artificial intelligence entities with the option of simply eradicating human life altogether. Finally, it is never explained who is responsible for maintaining the working telephone lines in the real world without human activity and telephone companies.
Philosophical Analysis
Naturally, the plight of human beings in Matrix seems horrific from the perspective of autonomy and free will. However, beyond that level, their suspension in a convincing reality may not necessarily be as bad as it is depicted and assumed to be. Philosophers have realized for many centuries that there really is not objective way to prove that our reality is any more real than the reality of the human beings suspended in aqueous solution in Matrix. It could be that we are currently completely unconscious or in deep comas and merely dreaming very realistic dreams that appear to be our reality. More importantly, it is not clear why that state of existence would necessarily be such a bad thing. Presumably, when suspended in the Matrix, nobody's false reality consists of living in poverty or of being physically or emotionally abused, or even simply being bored with life. Whereas many human beings suffer through...
Consider an individual who wakes from an incredibly realistic dream in which he was enjoying a wonderful life of happiness, good health, wealth, good fortune, and fulfilling relationships. He discovers that the life he thought he was enjoying was only a very vivid dream and that his reality is that of a homeless double amputee who has been in a deep diabetic coma for months. If given the opportunity to return to his dream or to the reality of his real life, it is very conceivable that he might choose the former over the latter.
While that concept is not explored explicitly in the Matrix, one could argue that some humans were actually benefited by electronic collectivism. Specifically, the subjective experience of life of any human being whose artificial reality was a higher quality of life than his real life would be preferable to his or her actual reality for as long as that individual remained convinced of the subterfuge. Many of us might very well have chosen the other (blue) pill. In that sense and only in that sense could one argue that electronic collectivism in the Matrix was anything less than entirely hostile to human life and welfare.
