

OP, you mentioned Mouse as an example in a comment. You’re on the right path - it would have been trivial for Cypher to program (or have Mouse program for him) a mini Matrix where he’s uber rich and everything he wanted. Of course, it would get old real soon.
I reckon Cypher would even have mentioned it a few times to people… things like “man, I miss meat” or “man I wanna be rich af”. Most would have taken his words as just bluster. Others would equate it with Mouse’s actions - a coping mechanism or just a temporary relief.
But the reality of it - only the machines control the real Matrix. Only they decide what gets in and out, barring a few hacks like the one that got Neo out and the others out.
To plug a full fledged human back in would require quite a lot of work. As the mania of wanting back in would have gripped him, Cypher would have left clues back in the Matrix and the machines, as someone else said, would have groomed him to betray.














Didn’t read the article, as you said it’s just an ad for VPNs. But one way this affects VPN users is that now you can’t VPN into Italy to use a service without hitting the age verification prompt. That just sucks!