[Spoilers] Epilogue - Could humanity be restored? Updated 12-27-2016

[Mina Darsh]

Note: Doing another playthrough and updating this post where needed. I will likely play in debug mode to prevent monsters from hampering my info collecting. Checked a series of videos to further learn about the events in Soma, been a while, edits are at the bottom of this post, some of them are pretty positive for the outcome.

Could humanity be restored, in the physical world?

After watching some playthroughs again after a while a thought popped up, and maybe it has for more but, the short version is, after the events in the game, could humanity, sort of, be restored?

There is as far as we know not a single actual Human left alive but there are many scans left, some made it onto the Ark and some are perhaps still in the databanks and robot units at Pathos II. (Though I fear none in the robot units are still sane.) But there is also Pathos I and Pathos III I believe? (Been a while since I played the game.) So who knows, there could be survivors there. (Unless they were destroyed, I recall communication being lost with them but I think that does not equal to them being lost at all, will check in new playthrough.)

Setting the stage.

So the game is over, the Ark flaots safely in space and should have limitless energy, only space debris might pose a problem for it, but let's imagine it never does. Meanwhile, Simon-2 might still be alive depending on the player's choice, and Simon-3 is certainly still alive. My only question is how long they could live. Not only do they have to avoid the dangers on the station itself, but I'm not sure what happens with the WAU gone, assuming the player destroyed it, but there might be others problems left. Like Simon's suit, I recall it running on a limited battery? I guess we could assume Simon would eventually search for other means to power his suit and stay 'alive', he will be crucial I imagine should the people on the Ark wish to return to Earth. Yes, I speak of getting people out of the Ark back on Earth when the time is right... Which might be after a long... Long time.

The return.

So... People on the Ark, and Simon(s) on the bottom of the ocean, could they survive long enough, for the Earth to recover enough that machines might be able to revisit the surface, and perhaps even rebuild? We also learn in the game that the entire world is on fire, this sounds like an event that would take many years to vanish. I don't know if we speak of years, ages, millenia or even longer. But say the time is right, and that both the Simon(s) and the Ark have survived. Could they somehow get the Ark back, or perhaps skip this step altogether and just use the scans still present in Pathos II to create duplicates? I also realize that there was a problem with putting Humans in robot units, so would the lack of corpses by now also hinder this plan maybe? Were any bodies perhaps put on ice? Even so the amount of corpses would then be limited...

What do you think, would this be futile, or perhaps indeed a better idea than the Ark for the continuation of humanity?

After checking some dialogue videos the realisation is made that there might be a small plot hole regarding why Catherine does not seem to go insane in a robot unit or Omnitool. It is however speculated that she does not go insane because she already explained that she has always felt disconnected from her original body anyway. Other speculations point out that her behavior already seems odd as she lacks empathy. Added speculation to that is that it takes time for a mind to go insane.

I was thinking the battery would be limited, but it's actually unclear how long a battery lasts, it's likely limited, but it it may be possible to keep it lasting for a long time and perhaps be able to keep it charged if the station itself is able to provide power, question is though how long Pathos II would last since many section were already having power issues.

An interesting line uttered by Ross makes me wonder if the WAU actually truly dies...

The only way to make sure the WAU stays dead is to destroy the only one who's immune to the new pattern.

Now this, and going a bit off-topic here, makes me wonder if the WAU could find a way to live on, perhaps in Simon, or some other means... But it could again try to force survival on Earth, and who knows what will happen from there... It will be horrendous I fear though...

In the final scene where we see the Ark float off into space, we see that not the entirety of Earth is set ablaze, but still some rather large areas are. A Reddit post actually shows what areas of the planet are on fire, and not all of them are. (Source) So maybe it would even be possible to return to the surface... Right after the game! Assuming there are areas not too hot for stuff to immediately melt.

Another video I checked that discusses some (pretty fair and not punishing) critiques on Soma also seems to throw the idea that humanity could indeed live on as robots on the surface, skip to 40:02 for this, but I also recommend checking the whole video as it is pretty good.





There's a huge advantage to being a robot, no oxygen needed, much better resistance to environmental extremes, so they don't have to wait very long for the Earth to recover, maybe not at all. (The video also suggests the story could be different and if people actually didn't kill themselves in Soma, they could've lived on, but, that's a bit beside the point I'm after here.)

[cantremember]

I don't think the Ark could return to earth, it probably has no means of safe re-entry and landing through the atmosphere. Even in space the life isn't limitless but described by Cath as "thousands of years".

Whether a corpse/robot running a formerly human's brainscan consists as a "human" is pretty much the question that the game wants the player to ask himself. In my opinion such creature is a life worth protecting, but the surface being populated by such beings is IMO not good enough to call it a "restoring humanity".
Also I think Simon needs energy to run. Cath's conciousness is suspended whenever she isn't plugged in, and I think Simon relies on battery power (and WAU flower charges) to keep his cortex unit and structure gel from failing. Many other robotic creatures also quickly die when they are unplugged from the WAU.
Even if the robots could go onto dry land, I don't think they have any reason to, there is nothing there for them, Pathos II is the only place left for scavenging and energy.
They also only have so many brainscans, they can't naturally replicate or create more "humans". They might be able to extend humanity's legacy, but at the risk of creating more suffering (like the WAU did)

I don't remember what Pathos I (or if there was a Pathos III) was, but my impression was that the facility was a unique thing in the world. The other Pathos locations were on the surface. The last human in the infirmary also believes she's the last human on earth. I suppose it's possible that another nation had constructed a secret underground base somewhere that the Pathos staff were not aware of, that would be very cool in my opinion for a sequel.

My idea is that humanity is toast, and the only thing left in the world is marine life. The WAU infected ones won't get far but there are also plenty of unaffected sea creatures still living in the ocean.
Main reason for me is that Simon really being abandoned to his fate in a dead world makes for a much more powerful ending.

The only real chance they had was if the WAU didn't go coo coo and the crew gained the ability to catch marine life for food. Perhaps they could have lived in Pathos II long enough to leave back to the surface before the station wears/breaks down due to erosion, as they also aren't getting new supplies to maintain the facility.