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In the last scene of the 3rd Matrix movie, the following conversation takes place:

Seraph : Did you always know?

The Oracle: Oh, no. No, I didn't. But I believed.

But before that the oracle for tells a lot of things like Niobe giving her ship to help Neo, Trinity falling in love with the one, Morpheus finding the one, and letting Smith believe he will win the final battle etc.

  • What really makes me wonder is, she tells to Neo a computer cannot see a previous choice, then how did she arrive at these conclusions?
  • How could she conclude so precisely these choices when they cannot compute choices so well? Remember the first scene where she tells Neo, "In one hand you have Morpheus' life and in the other you have your own, it's up to you to choose". And also tells Neo he has the gift but he is waiting for something.

All these things are making me wonder: Could the oracle really see the future or just compute people's future choices?

1 Answer 1

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In Matrix Trilogy, Oracle is kind of a dubious character. In first movie she is shown as a very knowledgeable woman whom few humans (like Morpheus) consults and believes in. Later she is revealed to a be program, residing in the core of the Matrix. She lacks the ability to see past her own choice, which explains that no one can see past their own choice they do not understand.

Oracle's power of foresight is not based on knowledge of a "pre-determined" future, but rather a calculation; Reason of Oracle's existence is simply to "investigate the human psyche", as mentioned by the Architect, allowing the Matrix to become more like a human world for humans to actually accept it.

Oracle actually predict events directly relevant to both programming of the Matrix and human responses according to her knowledge about them. Most relevant example is her prediction of Neo's choice between Morpheus' life and his own.

While the Oracle knew that the Agents would be searching for Morpheus as he was searching for 'the One', and seeing Cypher's actions and reactions (such as his conversation with Agent Smith), she predicted the most likely event.

Another example is her prediction about Neo's choice in The Matrix Reloaded;

She had existed throughout five versions, and regardless of the One's ability to exhibit free will, she had experienced a series of events that had and would occur and push the One to the Source.

So it can be concluded that her responses (predictions) are direct result of precise calculations of nature of the Matrix and her knowledge about human beings.

Further Information: Wiki

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  • But it still does not explain y she failed to compute. Jun 13, 2015 at 9:55
  • Like she says @war_Hero, no one can see part the choices they have not understood. The Oracle is a very efficient program, but even she has her computation limitations. While she knew with Neo things are going to be different when he gets to the source, she could not compute how different. Besides, Smith changed up the equation by spreading like a virus in the Matrix.
    – John
    Apr 10, 2017 at 8:41

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