For 2.12, some late edits and editorial comments were added.
No new revision, but a great new German translation is now available. I've tweaked the Polish a little too, to fix some minor CSS issues.
For 2.1, I revised the essay slightly by moving the change history here and adding links to the rest of the site.
Some of the footnotes have been edited for 2.05 in order to clear up their ideas, and I added a footnote credit for the Cryptonomicon (which I should have done the first time around). I fixed some of the footnote numbering problems too.
I did some housecleaning on the document, and I made some remarks about disobedience, and so I micro-revved the version to 2.01. I am still planning to release the follow-on essay described below. A heavy work schedule has kept me from it. After Revolutions comes out I'm sure I will create time to write some more on the subject of the Matrix.
Version 2.0 is a top-to-bottom rewrite of the Architect section. I didn't change many of the ideas, but I gave the section more coherence and let it point more clearly at the general thesis. It's also substantially longer. I also made a number of other minor changes and corrections to the entire essay.
Version 1.7 is the first to include a Spanish-language version of the essay. Extreme gratitude goes out to carlosepachecog@NOyahoo.SPAMcom for his work on that document. I did some cleanup of the HTML and document structure, so any errors you find are likely to be mine. Please note, however, that my Spanish skills are quite poor and I will be unlikely to be able to respond to emails written in Spanish.
Version 1.6.5 includes revised links to the reader comments and reader arguments pages, which is a completely redone way to post email I receive. My next task will be a complete rewrite of the Architect section. Someone was clever enough to send me the transcript of that scene, and so I will go back and make a more coherent argument.
Version 1.6.1. added the statement below:
I am going to specifically address the second-Matrix theory in a separate essay. I have realized that everyone who emailed me insisting that Zion is in a second Matrix are unknowingly hinting at a fascinating truth. I am distinguishing between the "Matrix-in-a-Matrix" theory, which is generally about the impossibility of escaping the Matrix and which is still completely wrong, and what I now call the "second-Matrix" theory, which is a metaphor for a profound philosophical point. The working thesis is: What Neo learned when he transcended the Matrix was that all reality is simulation. He has applied this lesson to the Matrix; now he is applying it to the real world.
In version 1.5, I introduced two new sections on Agent Smith and the story arc in general. These new additions easily double the size of the essay, which is why I didn't include them the first time around. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them -- it was a nice exploration for me too.