politicophile

Agreed. The "humans as batteries" thing was particularly strange. Maybe the laws of thermodynamics are just a construct of the Matrix?

The other point about flstf's quotation from "The Matrix" is that natural equilibrium is not a definitional trait of mammals. The argument is analogous to this one:
1. All men that were in this room before 4:00 were bald.
2. The "man" who entered the room at 4:01 was not bald.
C. It clearly follows that this late enterer is not a man.

The fact that, in Agent Smith's observation, all mammals maintain an equilibrium with nature is incidental, as this is not an essential characteristic of mammals.

Sorry for the threadjack: I was temporarily stupified by looking at the idiocy that got joe_eschaton banned from this place.

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The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty