In the broad strokes yes but if preservation really mattered that much to them, they would have adjusted their plan in so many ways. Is it really an existential threat to leave 500 people instead of 24? Do they really need to threaten The One with total extinction to get him to choose to participate in the matrix? That really makes it seem like the matrix is a higher priority to them than human survival: the matrix or nothing.
In the broad strokes yes but if preservation really mattered that much to them, they would have adjusted their plan in so many ways. Is it really an existential threat to leave 500 people instead of 24? Do they really need to threaten The One with total extinction to get him to choose to participate in the matrix? That really makes it seem like the matrix is a higher priority to them than human survival: the matrix or nothing.