[ED]

Originally Posted by Noctis

Unless they've figured out how to clone through some process using stem cells or the like. They are machines and if the Matrix is approximately 600 years old, then it's somewhere around the 28th century, so an advance in the science is all but inferred.

This would infer then that the machines are THINKING machines. That they operate beyond logic, into the realm of neccesity which breed invention. I dont buy it. The MATRIX is created to ressemble the 1990's. In this day and age cloning is possible but not on a scale that I believe would make it practical for the machines. It is possible that they are cloning humans, growing them in petri-dishes. But again, the MACHINES require human invention, human thought - so this is another situation where the humans still are of use.

As for the further debate of ZION=NOTHER LEVL OF MATRIX - if we assume that the storytelling extends into different media (games, animated movies), then the song "Sleeping Awake" could provide some answers in and of itself.