Well, maybe they finally figured out that your physical body doesn't have to die with your mental form being punched in virtual reality, and that the _REVERSE_

Well, maybe they finally figured out that your physical body doesn't have to die with your mental form being punched in virtual reality, and that the _REVERSE_ is also true. If Smith can proliferate in the matrix with a mind of its own, no reason a human can't. The biggest problem might have been that ... the actors aged.