[MASSIVE PLOT SPOILER DISCUSSION] - WAU

[PathOS]

I think one can argue that the Warden has good intentions, if you can call it that, since at the end of the day it still is just an AI and incapable of human emotion and feeling. Its underlying directive is to preserve humanity which of course is noble. But then what comes into play is how it is interpreting this directive, which as we know is very divisive to say the least. It could very well be possible that the Warden after calculating the variables from the extinction event realized that Humanity could not survive in its present form and that the only way for that to occur is for Humanity to be altered and "evolved" in the Warden's logic.

So why does it attack Simon if the Warden is responsible for releasing Simon? (though that's still unconfirmed). At some point the Warden must have felt that Simon was something necessary to create and release, possibly as a test, to see how humanity could evolve. It's clear that compared to the other creatures and robots of Pathos-2, Simon has the most "Sanity" about him. One could also argue that Catherine was insane from the get go given how easily she grew accustomed to her plight.

I'd imagine though that once it became clear that Simon was following Catherine's direction, and maybe even Ross's, the Warden would begin to realize that Simon was a real threat to itself and since it needed to keep preserving humanity, it would stop at nothing to eliminate all threats from that perspective.

Why would the Warden be bothered by the ARK project? I'm not sure if it was, or if it was stated that it was. But some reasons for obstructing it would be that perhaps it calculated that the Ark maybe was "flawed" in some way that would make it anathema to human survival. While of course Catherine cannot stop singing the praises of her invention, one has to take a step back and realize she's hardly objective about it, given her own odd personality (very unlikable person) and devotion to it.

But yeah, it's not so clear cut as Warden is just "Evil AI run amuck".

[Kaliyo]

It reminds me of System Shock 2. Man-made AI as antagonist (Shodan was much more sophisticated AI however), and it's creation that alters humans (WAU's structure gel, Shodan's The Many).

[Fortigurn]

This is what I'm talking about.

[Yggalf]

It seems like Golaski build the Vivarium or at least has something to do with it. The Device in his room looks way to similar like the Vivarium to be just a coincidence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fjQtmGumVs Transmission 5.


Is the abuse of the Gel by golaski and his mental unstable condition together with the constant abuse of the WAU the reason he build and later destroyed/damaged the vivarium and the reason the WAU started to realize what humans need to be happy and therefore changed it to the vivarium we all know?

I really like those vids they give slowly but steady more and more insight to the horrors that happend in Pathos 2 before Simon awakes.

[Omnitool]

Could Akers and Ross be two personalities of a schizoid WAU? Both were involved with programming it, and maybe the WAU took something from the personalities of both.

Akers worships the WAU. He stayed alone at Delta for almost a year, maybe he just got mad from the lonlieness, and started having hallucinations, then injected himself with structure gel, linking to the WAU. Maybe the idea of keeping the people in a comatose state linked to the WAU was his all along, after being merged with it himself and experiencing a higher state of counsiousness.

Ross was programming the WAU, it was also its psychologist. He died and the WAU revived him, also linking itself to him, but he somehow maintained individuality and was able to act independently. He dislikes the WAU's way of saving mankind and wants to put a stop to it.

What if the WAU, when merging with them, integrated them into its "counciousness", and thus the two personalities are conflicting with eachother? Maybe part of it wants to go on with its way of saving mankind, while the other considers it has failed and that it has become obsolete, and wants to put a stop to everything. Being an AI it cannot kill itself due to its inherent programming, so it is trying to convince Simon to destroy it.

[caffeine4671]

Could Akers and Ross be two personalities of a schizoid WAU? Both were involved with programming it, and maybe the WAU took something from the personalities of both.

Akers worships the WAU. He stayed alone at Delta for almost a year, maybe he just got mad from the lonlieness, and started having hallucinations, then injected himself with structure gel, linking to the WAU. Maybe the idea of keeping the people in a comatose state linked to the WAU was his all along, after being merged with it himself and experiencing a higher state of counsiousness.

Ross was programming the WAU, it was also its psychologist. He died and the WAU revived him, also linking itself to him, but he somehow maintained individuality and was able to act independently. He dislikes the WAU's way of saving mankind and wants to put a stop to it.

What if the WAU, when merging with them, integrated them into its "counciousness", and thus the two personalities are conflicting with eachother? Maybe part of it wants to go on with its way of saving mankind, while the other considers it has failed and that it has become obsolete, and wants to put a stop to everything. Being an AI it cannot kill itself due to its inherent programming, so it is trying to convince Simon to destroy it.

If the WAU was so good, then it would vomit coffee into Golaski's mouth on-demand, wouldn't it? Instead it just torments him. :c

[Yggalf]

[quote='AlterVision' pid='328389' dateline='1443821060']
If the WAU was so good, then it would vomit coffee into Golaski's mouth on-demand, wouldn't it? Instead it just torments him. :c

Well to be fair golaski is tormenting himself by rewatching video logs about his daughter and drinking structure gel. With all the Structure gel inside him its no wonder he snaps.

[Kein]

The more I think about it the more I realize that WAU's "unintentional" intentions weren't just about "saving humanity" in its own way but he actually went full global mode - he was changing the whole damn ecosystem of the planet, regardless if it even was unintentional side-effect of his originally "unintentional" plan.

Remember the log entries about mutated deep seas fish looking for the prey that "does not exist" in the ecosystem? They sure do love you as their prey and you, as a protagonist - new "life form" top this planet, be it a robot or a mutated through gel hybrid.

Interesting how would that system develop further. I assume the gel would be the base of everything and it seems like new earth state and conditions won't be an issue for it.

[Darth Biomech]

The ARK ensures that everyone who was scanned is allowed to live on. Destroying WAU ensures that its experiments stop and some manner of the natural life on Earth is preserved without being mutated so that eventually something new may evolve from the ashes untouched. There is no reason to leave the WAU. It is a wide-spreading and uncontrollable AI set on desecrating the corpse of the human race - quite literally.

The ARK is a joke. It is futile. All it do is prolonging the life of those who uploaded on it, but it is just a solar powered computer in orbit around the sun. People in it cannot evolve, cannot return to physical world, they cannot even repair their satellite if it start breaking down! I think people who build it didn't realized that in same way that Simon didn't realized that he will be left behind.

WAU on the other hand is whole other thing. It can interact with physical world. It can shape it. It is trying to figure out the correct way of restoring humanity, and it is almost founded it - Catherine acts and sounds like a normal human, so is Simon. Eventually humanity will be able to rise from ashes in posthuman mechanic bodies. And there is NO "natural life" on earth is left. Yes, there is some weeds, and fishes, and life on the ocean floor... But all of this is depending on the nutrients provided from the corpses that sink from above. and all THAT was killed by the comet impact. Life on the land is also COMPLETELY destroyed - ENTIRE CONTINENTS burning so brightly that it is visible from orbit. So killing WAU is not a right thing, it essentially is destroying the only chance that intelligent life on this planet could reinstate itself. I'm afraid that Earth won't be able to sustain organic-friendly conditions for another 4 billion years to let life evolve again from bacterias.

I wont even comment on the "desecrating" BS.

[caffeine4671]

The ARK is a joke. It is futile.

WAU on the other hand is whole other thing. It can interact with physical world. It can shape it. So killing WAU is not a right thing, it essentially is destroying the only chance that intelligent life on this planet could reinstate itself. I'm afraid that Earth won't be able to sustain organic-friendly conditions for another 4 billion years to let life evolve again from bacterias.

I wont even comment on the "desecrating" BS.

The ARK is a joke. It is futile

It is futile