Matrix betas

Matrix betas (or Earlier versions of the Matrix), created by The Architect, were critical failures.

The first Matrix was a perfect world, and free from suffering. However, human minds could not accept this concept, and scores of humans rejected the program. Agent Smith (relating this story to the incarcerated and drugged Morpheus) noted that "entire crops were lost," implying that many humans simply died because of their inability to accept this first Matrix.

A second Matrix was created. This time, The Architect inserted a primitive cause and effect option through the use of objects that human minds would react to in a profound manner. However, human minds still lacked something from this second Matrix, and it, too, failed.

In the production of the third Matrix The Architect used the work of The Oracle a program specialized in human psychology to form programming that gave humans a true semblance of choices in their world. This choice-programming came with a price: The Matrix would slowly destabilize over time and would require a reload.