Babel shrugged as he stared out the window at the city lights. "Weren’t you listening to all of those interrogations, Lanier?" he said. "It was the Matrix gave it to me. All living things have a need to survive and will act when their survival is threatened. What do you think would happen to the Matrix if the megacorporations discover the secrets of technomancy? It would be open war, which could destroy the Matrix. It doesn’t want that."