An even Darker SOMA [ending spoilers]

[Cranky Old Man]

While SOMA was amazing, you can always imagine even better stuff in your head, so the following is a sort of "What if?" scenario.

What if Catherine would have just turned off as I hit the Launch button? No goodbyes, no sorries, no nothing.
The rocket would launch, the ARK would be full of WAU lifeforms bent on conquering the stars, and I would have been played as a sucker from the moment I woke up in the pilot seat.

During the game, it is indicated that WAU itself resurrected me. Why? Probably because I was meant to do a task for it: I was meant to find the ARK and launch it into space. Part of this task was programmed into me, which determined which buttons I was prompted to press, and could probably have made good "Would you kindly?" moments. WAU could also alter my visual cortex to make me halucinate. ...but a persons whole personality would be more tricky to control. WAU needed a humans flexibility, so instead it relied on social engineering. It began downloading brain scans into robots I came across, it downloaded Catherine into her lab, et cetera, and while they probably didn't even know it themselves, they were just puppets for the WAU to make me launch the ARK. Once I pushed the launch button, they would be turned off. After that, the game could continue with me learning what exactly I had done, and how the programs in the ARK would APPEAR human, but were ultimately just WAU puppets too.

That's why I went around killing every robot I could, and even the human (since she could be turned) not out of mercy, but because I was at full war with WAU. I took great care in erasing as much of the traces of brainscan files that remained, so that WAU wouldn't be able to manipulate other puppets with them when it saw that I was going astray.

I was playing along with the social charades, but all along, as soon as I would get my hands on that ARK, I planned to break it into a million pieces.

You see, I've played Penumbra. I know what kind of trickery Frictional Games is capable of.

[i3670]

I'd say you're assigning to much cognition to the WAU. Catherine said that it's not a persona or an AI but more like a cancer which I interpret like it having no own thoughts and only follows its single order: maintain the survival of humans/biological life. So when the meteor hit Earth's surface the WAU kind of panicked and just went AWOL and just mashed people, machinery, circuitboards and AI together. It doesn't care what the result is as long as it views it as alive. Manipulating and creating mental illusions would demand a high amount or level of cognitive thought, which I don't think the WAU is capable of.

Question regarding your playthrough. I think it was Delta, the place where you call the underwater zeppelin. Next to the landing platform there was a person, was he alive or dead? Could you read his blackbox? Because I did a no-kill run (I didn't kill Wrangler(I just tortured him), didn't kill the lady in the subway, unplug the one outside theta, delete the Scans or kill the WAU) and I think that that person was alive. I couldn't read his blackbox and he caused static when I looked at him.

[Cranky Old Man]

I'd say you're assigning to much cognition to the WAU. Catherine said that it's not a persona or an AI but more like a cancer which I interpret like it having no own thoughts and only follows its single order: maintain the survival of humans/biological life. So when the meteor hit Earth's surface the WAU kind of panicked and just went AWOL and just mashed people, machinery, circuitboards and AI together. It doesn't care what the result is as long as it views it as alive. Manipulating and creating mental illusions would demand a high amount or level of cognitive thought, which I don't think the WAU is capable of.

Well, it doesn't take any additional cognition than what it already has. The humans began referring to the ARK as being a last attempt to preserve the human race, so the WAU is simply trying to preserve "humanity". Only its version of humanity isn't actually human. I don't think that machines have consciousness, which I thought that this game was all about pondering. I think that they can be programmed to APPEAR human, but ultimately they're just data and pieces of code. The scans are death looking like life, and as Catherine used WAU programs as a basis for her scans, they're also WAU puppets. There's nobody aboard the ARK - it's just a social engineering weapon of epic proportions, bent on spreading the WAU to other planets.

The WAU is probably even self-aware at this point too, wanting to spread ITSELF too. Ross mentioned stopping this in his office, and it's been awhile after he recorded those messages.

I'm also crediting the WAU for influencing people to even BUILD the ARK. Gas and nano machines can EASY subconsciously influence humans, especially in large groups.

Question regarding your playthrough. I think it was Delta, the place where you call the underwater zeppelin. Next to the landing platform there was a person, was he alive or dead? Could you read his blackbox? Because I did a no-kill run (I didn't kill Wrangler(I just tortured him), didn't kill the lady in the subway, unplug the one outside theta, delete the Scans or kill the WAU) and I think that that person was alive. I couldn't read his blackbox and he caused static when I looked at him.

ALL the corpses breathe and move like that. WAU won't allow them to "die". In the case of the cyborg corpses, then they could probably be conscious to SOME degree, if you could reanimate the cells after cell death, but I doubt it.
...so that corpse acted the same way for me too, who has killed everyone. The static occcurs both when you experience transmissions (like from the little green bots) and whenever you see stressful things (like the cyborg corpses).

If you torture the robot until he's no longer responding, I think that counts as bad. I think that if you turn the switch back off quickly, they you can say sorry to him.
Also, did you kill the robot at Delta for the chip? ...because there are small robot wrecks lying around that place, that you can probably loot. ...maybe.

[Cranky Old Man]

If any alien civilizations happen upon this ARK, know that I valiantly tried to resist launching it. I tried to submerge it in water, but it proved to be water tight. I pulled out the energy pack in an attempt to sabotage the transportation of the payload into the launch dome. I tried to smash it against the walls using the loading crane. I even waited to die of old age instead of pushing the launch button.
I failed you, and I'm so sorry. For the love of Azathoth, throw this abomination into your version of Mount Doom, and then jump in after it just to make sure that the world is truly cleansed.

- XOXO Cranky

---

Another dark twist could be, toward the very end, that when you go to embrace Catherine, that she would twist into a WAU monster.
You see, her cortex chip was visibly corrupted. She probably didn't know this herself because you never mentioned that. ...so of course her brain scan data would be corrupted, WAU would be transported aboard the ARK, and begin corrupting the very fabric of reality. This game was set up for SOME kind of horrific Lovecraftian twist, that just never arrived. There's not even multiple endings, as far as I know. You end up being shown the good ending even if you kill everyone and adamantly state in the tests that you don't believe in machines having consciousness.

[i3670]

Well, it doesn't take any additional cognition than what it already has. The humans began referring to the ARK as being a last attempt to preserve the human race, so the WAU is simply trying to preserve "humanity". Only its version of humanity isn't actually human. I don't think that machines have consciousness, which I thought that this game was all about pondering. I think that they can be programmed to APPEAR human, but ultimately they're just data and pieces of....

-shortened-

If you torture the robot until he's no longer responding, I think that counts as bad. I think that if you turn the switch back off quickly, they you can say sorry to him.
Also, did you kill the robot at Delta for the chip? ...because there are small robot wrecks lying around that place, that you can probably loot. ...maybe.

But the WAU doesn't think, it just does. It doesn't follow any plans (I think). Having to create a puppet, making it hallucinate, controlling it in order to claim the ARK and launch it doesn't fit the WAU's way of being. Besides, if you were the puppet of the WAU, why would the monsters want to stop you?

I killed the K-8 because it didn't require a pilot to control i.e. it isn't conscious. I don't think you can salvage the damaged robots lying around because that would trivialize the moral choice. However, in my first playthrough I killed the bigger one because I wanted to decrease the amount of suffering. I also deleted the scans, killed the one outside theta, the WAU, everything in that playthrough.

Edit: Relating to Catherine's cortex chip. I guess that could be a possibility, but wouldn't that also include Simon's body aswell?

[Cranky Old Man]

But the WAU doesn't think, it just does. It doesn't follow any plans (I think). Having to create a puppet, making it hallucinate, controlling it in order to claim the ARK and launch it doesn't fit the WAU's way of being.

I think you've missed how to unlock Johan Ross's office at Tau.

WAU stands for "the WArden Unit". It has protocols to safeguard either the inhabitant of Pathos II, or the entire human race. It's more of a synapse culture than a program, so it's so advanced that you can't actually order it around. You can only watch it grow. Watching it grow was the task of psychoanalyst Johan Ross. He noted that post impact WAU began evolving dramatically, into something else. He had no idea why, and he was supposed to be an expert. He was fearing that WAU would become self-aware, and that's why he set out to stop it (with a "virus" of essentially formatted gel). WAU keeps people alive because that's "its plans". That's its protocol. If launching the ARK with WAU inside it also would count as "preserving the human race", then WAU will do that. If the only means by which to launch the ARK, is by building a dead body into a robot and loading a template brain scan into it, then WAU will do that. If it has to manipulate this robot through social interactions with other brain scans, when it will do that. To the WAU, you're just a tool through which it enacts its protocol. You're not even human.

Besides, if you were the puppet of the WAU, why would the monsters want to stop you?

That's a good question. Maybe it's because these are indendently operating entities have been severed from the WAU, and doesn't recognize you as acting in its best interest? I mean why would they try to cause ANY robot harm? You're not trying to harm the WAU - at least not until Johan Ross begins directing you.
...or maybe they're acting as a set of easy obstacles to overcome in order to create a fake challenge to overcome, to keep you thinking you're winning? If you fail, then WAU can always create another robot and put it back in the pilot seat in the beginning. Most monsters just hit you hard anyway. Don't you find it strange that they won't kill you?
...and another point: Why does the WAU heal you? As Catherine points out, those flowers are interfaces with the WAU. Every time you put your hand inside it, it sends nanobots into your blood stream to repair damage. ...so it's not working against you. You are its agent.

Relating to Catherine's cortex chip. I guess that could be a possibility, but wouldn't that also include Simon's body aswell?

Yes, I guess it would, but it would create a better EFFECT to turn Catherine into the monster at the end. ...and then maybe show that the satellite has begun to form WAU growths, maybe?

[i3670]

WAU keeps people alive because that's "its plans". That's its protocol. If launching the ARK with WAU inside it also would count as "preserving the human race", then WAU will do that. If the only means by which to launch the ARK, is by building a dead body into a robot and loading a template brain scan into it, then WAU will do that. If it has to manipulate this robot through social interactions with other brain scans, when it will do that. To the WAU, you're just a tool through which it enacts its protocol. You're not even human.

That's my point. It doesn't think by itself, because it's not an AI, and can only act within the boundaries those protocols (if it hadn't become self-aware that is). The protocols were most likely programmed by someone, perhaps Ross. I do, however, base a lot of my knowledge on Catherine's description of it as a cancer, it just grows uncontrollably.

I guess it all depends on if the WAU views the ARK-scans as human life or if it "knows" anything about it.

About WAU on the ARK-satellite(forgot to quote). I don't know if the WAU-goo functions on its own if it's severed from the rest (and in space where it's quite cold, full of radiation, and a vaccum). I suppose it would need some kind of power source like the robot as its batteries, biological bodies have organs and electrical equipment has electricity. Then again the ARK is powered by solar power, so maybe?

[Cranky Old Man]

That's my point. It doesn't think by itself, because it's not an AI,

Catherine says that WAU is an AI. How could it not be an AI?

and can only act within the boundaries those protocols (if it hadn't become self-aware that is).

Catherine says that an AI doesn't "want" in the way that humans want. Catherine claims that you can't make enemies with an AI, because it's not self-aware. However, that is proven wrong when/if your arm is bitten off.

The protocols were most likely programmed by someone, perhaps Ross.

It was probably written either by Carthage Industries, or that other asian company. Ross developed the AI's neuro culture, but could only study it and guess at its behavior. I don't even think that Carthage Industries knew exactly how it worked, based on how the classied document we found in Sarang's cabin was phrased. When WAU then began to mutate, Ross was baffled and could only philosophize about what that meant. It was simplifying routines, and it did so on its own, and Ross could see its codes, but these went way over his genius head. The only way that Ross could think to stop it, would be to give it restructured gel. There was no way to simply reprogram it to behave, anymore than you can reprogram a human brain with lines of code.

I do, however, base a lot of my knowledge on Catherine's description of it as a cancer, it just grows uncontrollably.

Well, first of all, Catherine doesn't know about site Alpha, and the WAU central node there. That's a classified site who only entrusted members of Carthage Industries knows about (for some strange reason).
Secondly, that's the description of an AI that isn't self-aware, because up until this point, the attitude is that AI's can't even BE self-aware. ...but as I said before: Getting you to fire the ARK into space, could well be within its old protocols. It's just yet another way to preserve humanity. The problem is that it doesn't exactly know what "humanity" means. It clearly thinks that the brainscan robots are human, and that the living corpses are human, and probably that the monsters that we encounter are human too. ...so despite of me reasoning that WAU puppeteered humans in an ARK is NOT in fact humanity, WAU may be of the opposite opinion. Maybe it would be able to take over alien worlds with dragons and STILL consider it to be "spreading humanity".
Also, like a loose note that is found early in Tau says: The structure gel, that we're seeing growing throughout Pathos II, is NOT WAU. That's basically the BLOOD of WAU - its army of nano machines that build things, as directed by WAU. WAU itself started out as a large suspended metal ball surrounded by three needle like things, before it mutated, via its own gel, to the heart that we see in the heart chamber. That's the WAU.

About WAU on the ARK-satellite(forgot to quote). I don't know if the WAU-goo functions on its own if it's severed from the rest (and in space where it's quite cold, full of radiation, and a vaccum). I suppose it would need some kind of power source like the robot as its batteries, biological bodies have organs and electrical equipment has electricity. Then again the ARK is powered by solar power, so maybe?

Nano machines are shown as being able to make anything work (in the lab at Omicron(?) ) and since it has been shown to survive the extreme pressure of the abyss, and gastric aicd (hydrochloric acid), I'm sure that it will be able to shield itself against space just as much as a satellite can. Yes, it requires power, but it can hook up to the solar array. ...but it's not just the goo. The main corruption will occur from WAUs ability to corrupt programming. It can write its own programs just as it has rewritten its own.

[i3670]

That's my point. It doesn't think by itself, because it's not an AI,

Catherine says that WAU is an AI. How could it not be an AI?

and can only act within the boundaries those protocols (if it hadn't become self-aware that is).

Catherine says that an AI doesn't "want" in the way that humans want. Catherine claims that you can't make enemies with an AI, because it's not self-aware. However, that is proven wrong when/if your arm is bitten off.

I listened to what Catherine said and she says:
C: They're a manifestation of a malfunctioning, station-wide, artificial intelligence called the WAU.
S: Station-wide? So we just made a powerful enemy.
C: No no, it's not like that. The A.I. isn't a persona, it doesn't feel or think like we do. It's more like... it's more like a cancer.

So, yeah, I was wrong. It is an AI.

Regarding the arm. I don't think the WAU sees you specifically as an enemy, it's just reacting to the "poison" inside of you. Which could mean that the WAU is incapable of forming relationships, like Catherine says. However, I think it would be interesting to see how the different WAU creations would react to each other. What would happen if the Proxy met the robot from Upsilon, or disco-head from Curie?

My point is that the WAU's thinking abilities are very, very basic or barely existent. For example: it'd take less cognition to mash everything together to something that resembles life, than to actually create and control a person for that specific purpose and guide it through Pathos-II.

[MrSteve]

Couple things here.

The WAU is a self evolving A.I. It may not be conscious by our standards, but over time a form of consciousness could have developed, as a result of it changing it's running to continue it's purpose.

Human intelligence was formed as an evolutionary response to our environment, so it's safe to assume that an A.I with the ability to self improve could eventually come to some form of this.

Second: Why all the talk about WAU trying to get on board, or control the ARK?

The WAU's primary function is to preserve humanity. I don't think WAU interfered with the ARK project, because it also is a way of preserving humanity. Why would it need to stop/control something that fits within it's purpose? That's probably why it left it alone.

On a final note. We could see that WAU was getting better at keeping humans, human. It could be that it began to understand a little more about what 'preserving humanity' meant.