nek0d3r

Considering that was the conclusion that machines made two centuries later (Morpheus mentioning to Neo shortly after retrieving him that they were closer to 2199) does not bode well.

Yes, the Wachowski sisters originally scripted humans being used for neural networking, which was both much more realistic and incredibly ahead of its time. Executives told them that the audience would not understand it, and pushed the battery idea.

But… the whole idea is that the world we’re living in now is the Matrix. Agent Smith and the Architect both described previous iterations of the Matrix where it was designed to be a perfect world where everyone was happy. Humans rejected it, and they found less rejection when they made humans miserable.