In Matrix (1999), Morpheus says to Neo about the AI:
Morpheus: They were dependent on solar power…and it was believed that
they would be unable to survive…without an energy source as abundant as the sun.
Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive.
Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
I tried:
Fate means kind of like destiny, and irony is when something
happens, but immediately something happens that contradicts itself,
do in this case, fate is how humanity has been dependent on machines
and now machines are dependent on the sun. It's a repetitive cycle of
our respective fates and that is the irony since we're both dependent
on something greater than ourselves.
What does "Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony" mean?
Best Answer
The missing piece of understanding, here, is that in The Matrix—I know, it's a movie that's quite old enough, but it's an important plot point, so I'll use a spoiler tag—
The rest of the line depends on personifying "fate." Morpheus speaks of Fate—meaning destiny in the abstract—as if it is a person with the ability to appreciate irony. (Many cultures in fact have treated this personification as a deity or other recognized and named entity, like Wyrd, and the habit of speaking of Fate as a proper noun continues in common usage.)
The use of "irony" here is closest to what you might call "situational irony", a dramatic reversal of positions or fortunes. Note, there are many arguments about whether "irony" is the right word to use for this meaning, but that's not part of the question that we're answering here. Morpheus used it, and we're just explaining what he meant.