TRILOGY ONLY In the Matrix, Agent Smith is closer to being the One than Neo is.

Morpheus learns of the Prophecy early in his life from a mysterious woman known as the Oracle, who in reality is a program. Morpheus becomes consumed in his quest to find The One, leaving his lover Niobe to seek other company, and confusing and confounding some Zion officials and hovercraft operatives who do not share his belief in the Prophecy.

Actually, the Prophecy is an invention of the machines, told to Zion operatives by the Oracle; the Prophecy is designed to manipulate the humans into leading The One to meet the Architect and not the Source itself. The One learns the truth and is forced into reloading the Matrix under the consequence that the Matrix will crash and all of humanity will die if The One does not comply.

The exact origin(s) of this school of thought cannot be traced, although it is possible to locate influences or sources as far back as the second and first centuries BCE, such as the early treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum, the Jewish Apocalyptic writings, and especially Platonic philosophy and the Hebrew Scriptures themselves.

In spite of the diverse nature of the various Gnostic sects and teachers, certain fundamental elements serve to bind these groups together under the loose heading of “Gnosticism” or “Gnosis.” Chief among these elements is a certain manner of “anti-cosmic world rejection” that has often been mistaken for mere dualism. According to the Gnostics, this world, the material cosmos, is the result of a primordial error on the part of a supra-cosmic, supremely divine being, usually called Sophia (Wisdom) or simply the Logos. This being is described as the final emanation of a divine hierarchy, called the Plêrôma or “Fullness,” at the head of which resides the supreme God, the One beyond Being. The error of Sophia, which is usually identified as a reckless desire to know the transcendent God, leads to the hypostatization of her desire in the form of a semi-divine and essentially ignorant creature known as the Demiurge (Greek: dêmiourgos, “craftsman”), or Ialdabaoth, who is responsible for the formation of the material cosmos. This act of craftsmanship is actually an imitation of the realm of the Pleroma, but the Demiurge is ignorant of this, and hubristically declares himself the only existing God. At this point, the Gnostic revisionary critique of the Hebrew Scriptures begins, as well as the general rejection of this world as a product of error and ignorance, and the positing of a higher world, to which the human soul will eventually return. However, when all is said and done, one finds that the error of Sophia and the begetting of the inferior cosmos are occurrences that follow a certain law of necessity, and that the so-called “dualism” of the divine and the earthly is really a reflection and expression of the defining tension that constitutes the being of humanity—the human being.

Oneness:

The concept of oneness implies a fundamental unity or interconnectedness of all things. In the context of panentheism, this oneness extends to the relationship between God and the universe.

Panentheism:

This belief asserts that God is present in all of creation, but God is not identical to the universe. God is considered the "place" of the world, while the world is not God's place, according to a Midrash quoted by Bradley Shavit Artson.

Relationship to Pantheism:

Pantheism, on the other hand, suggests that God and the universe are one and the same, or that the universe is God. Panentheism distinguishes itself by asserting that God's being extends beyond the universe.

AS was there from the very start. He birthed with the Matrix... Neo is alive in the 6th. The One was prophecised to be born inside the Matrix. Neo is a human

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

The trilogy makes it clear that The One isn’t chosen but that a person becomes The One through a certain course of actions. Neo became The One through his choices.

Neo has powers beyond the matrix, while Agent Smith’s powers remain limited to only the matrix. (Remember that Neo is able to affect the matrix on a superior/significant level, able to rewrite the code or control the entire system itself, which is consistent with the abilities of The One)

Here's how Agent Smith's actions fundamentally impacted the Matrix:

• Assimilation and Control:
  

  Smith's ability to copy and assimilate others, especially humans, allowed him to control the Matrix and its inhabitants on a grand scale. 
  

Power Imbalance:

Smith's duplication and assimilation granted him power rivaling Neo's, making him a force that even the Machines couldn't stop. 

Core Network Control:

Smith's control over the Core Network meant he could fundamentally alter the Matrix's structure and reality. 

Destroying the Reality:

Smith's goal was to not just destroy the Matrix, but also the real world, which he saw as a flawed and unstable environment. 

Let us see what a computer worm is.

A computer worm is a type of malware whose primary function is to self-replicate and infect other computers while remaining active on infected systems.

A computer worm duplicates itself to spread to uninfected computers. It often does this by exploiting parts of an operating system that are automatic and invisible to the user.

Typically, a user only notices a worm when its uncontrolled replication consumes system resources and slows or halts other tasks. A computer worm is not to be confused with WORM, or write once, read many.

How do computer worms work?

Computer worms often rely on vulnerabilities in networking protocols, such as File Transfer Protocol, to propagate.

After a computer worm loads and begins running on a newly infected system, it will typically follow its prime directive: to remain active on an infected system for as long as possible and spread to as many other vulnerable systems as possible.

Trinity was prophesied to fall in love with “The One.” She falls in love with Neo, never Agent Smith.

Neo’s name is literally an obvious and intentional anagram of the word “one.” 

Skip to 2:03

https://youtu.be/qTnBVDKuNdI?si=rD-mji4j333fO755

No wiki page that specifically defines the One as Neo is permitted. No source that believes the Oracle told the full truth is permitted.

For Agent Smith to be closer to beinh the One it is required that the Oracle either lied or was programmed fooled. Either way, the One was a concept and Zion was not the real world, it was another level of the Matrix.

The One isn’t as simple as The Chosen One movie trope or like a holy prophecy of the messiah, even if there are some elements to it.

His rebirth in The Matrix, in which he returns to life after being killed by Agent Smith. Neo gains access to powers beyond your imagination, thus fulfilling his true destiny as The One.

to come out of a mother's body, and start to exist:

having started life in a particular way

If we wish to know who The One is, then it makes sense to observe the facts and unravel the vision of the movies based on how the original creators intended it. Pro is essentially making the case that his opinion and interpretation is superior and should replace the writers’ vision. If he is to succeed at this, he is required to give a reasonable explanation or justification. 

While filmmakers and creators can strongly influence how audiences perceive a movie, they cannot dictate it. They use various techniques to guide the audience's understanding and emotional response, but the final interpretation is subjective and personal.

Why perception is subjective:

Individual Background:

• Each person's experiences, beliefs, and cultural background will shape their interpretation of the film.
  
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Personal Preferences:

What one person finds compelling or moving, another might find boring or confusing. 

Critical Thinking:

Viewers can actively analyze the film, questioning its themes, messages, and techniques, leading to their own interpretations. 

In essence, filmmakers provide a framework for understanding, but it's up to the audience to fill in the blanks and make their own meaning.. They can be steered, but not controlled. 

an undoubted or self-evident truth  

If I am the father of the Matrix, she...would undoubtedly be its mother.

She was initially created to interpret aspects of the human psyche and was responsible for the key principles behind the third "current" version of the Matrix. After having served her purpose, she went into Exile and aided The Resistance in the Machine War; she ultimately is responsible for ending the war through her manipulation of key members within The Resistance, including Neo.

• The three together (Morpheus, Neo, Trinity) are necessary to conquer the matrix — the three in ONE. They may have powers against the matrix that others do not. Christian Allegory - Matrix Fans
  

• In the first sequence of the first film, Neo delivers an illegal computer disk to a fellow hacker, who jokingly says of Neo, “Hallelujah. You’re my savior. My own personal Jesus Christ.” The Matrix: Unloaded Revelations - Christian Research Institute
  

• Keanu Reeves’s character Neo has been the biggest target of religious association throughout the Matrix Trilogy.  His portrayal of the Christian Messiah has lead to many academic articles, debates and insights, which have been intertwined with religious beliefs of the movie’s message. 
  First, the death and resurrection of Neo at the end of the first movie is analogous to Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection.  Neo is killed by the authorities of the Matrix realm, which can be seen as the equivalents of the ruling power who killed Christ two thousand years ago. Neo

Reincarnation, resurrection or rebirth does not count the same as literally being born.

The autowin truism path Con wants violates the spirit of both debate and the description. It should add to why to vote Conduct against him.

If the creators are wrong on logic inside their own show, what then? The creators can only claim how they intended the art to be but they cannot ever tell the eye of the beholder to perceive the art as they dictate. That violates a core principle of art.

Con suddenly decided that it matters what Morpheus thinks. Morpheus is tangible in this debate. He is not an intangible axiom.

Morpheus needs to have been misled or at least somewhat confused. Evidence of this is the fact that 5 'One' candidates before. Sources won't fully confirm his age but because he is known to be among the original Zionites, we can assume he existed through all the sub-Matrix (or according to Con, all Matrix) simulated realities thus far.

https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Morpheus

I don't exactly know when Trinity was around. Regardless she is there early on and is said to be the first 'mate' (odd term to use for a female in this context) aboard the Nebuchadnezzar with Morpheus. We don't even know if she was one of the 5 (or is it 6?) mistaken Ones pre-Neo. We just know there were definitely 5 that were wrong and that Trinity was a major threat to the machines that Agents were after.

In Con's Logic

The Oracle knew the entire time that Neo was the One and withheld it watching Morpheus and Trinity helplessly mislead their crew for several iterations. Furthermore, she intentionally withholds that AS who calls her Mom is changed and mutating and lets them vs him alone blind and confused.

This means she was withholding information frequently.

In Pro's Logic

She knew almost all of it the entire time as her and the Architect were making a huge long con that they needed even the smartest of Machines to not catch onto. They needed a necessary red herring (the 5 wrong ones pre Neo and Neo himself) to make it so the Machines end up needing someone like Neo to stop the actual dangerous One (AS) who was a mutated/altered Agent. They needed very badly for the Machines to pay attention to humans not agents, to enable this and needed to socially engineer Morpheus and his crew to instigate the fights with AS that led to him changing as he did from Neo's code.

The Oracle was tactically tricking them the entire time but did genuinely want the destiny of the One achieved.

• The One has powers that transcend The Matrix, and abilities in the real world. Neo does, Agent Smith does not.
  
• Trinity is to fall in love with he who becomes The One. She falls for Neo, not Agent Smith.
  
• Neo is repeatedly demonstrated to be a messianic figure and the parallels between him and Jesus regarding their self-sacrifice, the number 3, and the 72 hours. The One is prophesied as a savior, so Neo is very obviously The One.
  
• When Neo dies by Agent Smith's hand and is brought back to life, he gains the powers that only The One could have. Fulfilling his destiny and prophecy as the messiah and savior.
  
• Morpheus is the most talented at identifying The One. Even if he does not always know who The One is, he knows who The One isn't. And Agent Smith never crossed his radar as even being considered a potential One, thus rendering it unlikely. 
  
• Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus are obviously a parallel to The Holy Trinity. Neo obviously being a metaphor for Jesus.
  

The show is rooted in Gnostic heresy or panentheist anti-materialist philosophy such as Buddhist philosophy.

In Round 1, I laid out that the creators are 2 transwomen now with funky hairdos who quite clearly opposed Judeo-Christian theology. The new points my opponent raises in Round 3 are something I foresaw but I refuse to address some nonsense new angle that the creators literally made Neo Jesus.

My rebuttal is not needed. My case is constructively defensive rather than destructively. Agent Smith is akin to the Gnostic Messiah. His mission goes from blindly serving the demon 'demiurge' Architect to dedicating to destroy him and the machines. His primary mission was to rid humanity of what he felt was a prison and zoo.

This is all covered in my previous Rounds.

The only issue is AS seems Many and not One. This is due to taking it as a count. If you see One either as the end result of the mission and the culmination of the cataclysmic event just before the ending that temporarily frees humans from the machines, he fits. Alternatively, he fits because he turns the many into one type of coded being (himself).

Con changed what he thinks One is. At first he says One is whatever the creators say. Then he says maybe not but lore is a huge indicator. Now he makes a Christian theology and tries to make Neo Jesus.

I will explain also why he got annoyed in Round 1 at me saying AS is also not truly the One.

The topic being debated is who is closer to being the One. The One was a myth, sort of. The Oracle lied about 1 chosen human being the One. It also was not entirely a chosen agent. As Con agreed in Round 2, the One had to be an unchosen freak case.

The real One that the Oracle had in mind is better defined by its end goal. The One was the one to free humans of the machines' tyranny. The One was to be born inside the Matrix and lead to fundamental changes so powerful it became a severe threat to the machines.

AS was the most essential and rare reactant. Neo was a catalyst. At best Neo was a lesser reactant. They had tried out 5 So to say Neos prior, who were not Neo. The Oracle secretly knew the entire time that one of her agent 'children' had to come into direct conflict with the fake One. The fake One was special. He/she had glitched code that gave him/her higher rebelliousness and self awareness.

The issue was it had to be exactly the kind of fight where Neo's code imprinted on an Agent and led to a freak accident where the machines try to fight the human, not the agent, after both get reincarnated.

The fundamental issue also was that most agents in the shoes of AS would confess immediately to the machines or Zion on-the-record that they had gained self awareness and were able.to resist commands the machine gave them. AS as a personality was driven to act against the machine's wishes. This is where many viewers go wrong. They think the machines and AS shared a goal.

The Machines needed humanity enslaved, trapped in the Matrix. It suited them well. AS wanted to 'free them at gunpoint' to quote Greyparrot of this website as well as Wylted on their eccentric political views.

AS was far closer to being the One than Neo. The event that freed them was an implosion in Neo caused by AS turning Neo into himself while.Neo was directly being handled by an apex Machine. This severe glitch fries the Machines in Zion realm and forces a hard reset sort of (it is not entirely reset) so more a reboot with some things kept in tact such as Oracle and Architect.

The nature of said freedom was destructive, severely so. This fits AS's approach, not Neo's. Neo ends up freeing the humans by somehow being the defender of the Machines against their greatest threat ever.

This was all socially engineered by the Oracle, primarily and Architect who went along with her plan.

I remind you they needed the Machines convinced the humans were where the One is, so they never paid enough attention to the glitched Agent Smith until it was far too late to stop him.

This was the plan in essence and is why the Oracle had to lie to engineer it.

• The One had abilities that transcend The Matrix. Neo had powers within The Matrix and in The Real World while Agent Smith's powers were limited only to The Matrix.
  
• Trinity falls in love with he who would become The One. She falls for Neo, not Agent Smith. Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus represent The Holy Trinity.
  
• The One is The Matrix version of The Messiah, and Neo's parallels all intentionally resemble Jesus. Including his self-sacrifice, rebirth, the number 3, and the 72 hours.
  
• Morpheus is the most talented at identifying a potential candidate for The One. Even if he doesn't always know who The One is, he knows who The One isn't. Agent Smith never even crosses Morpheus's mind as a potential One.
  
• Neo is the one who willingly performs the final self-sacrifice, while Agent Smith is killed off rather than voluntarily allowing himself to die.

The topic being debated is who is closer to being the One. The One was a myth, sort of.