This mail contains pamperer throughWestworld ’s sixth episode,“The Adversary . " Head toWestworld World , our hub for recap , theories , consultation , and deep dives .
If you watchWestworld , you’ve belike had a conversation about how the show compares to video game . TV critics , fan , and the creators themselves have cited the red , morally equivocal narratives ofBioShock , Red Dead Redemption , andGrand Theft Autoin discuss the " opened - human beings " adventures of the button - mash looker surrogatethe Man in Black , who has been dubbed both " a video game nerd " and a " classic speculative gamer . " But " The Adversary " flummox a different , wily interrogative : What if the hosts are actually Sims ?
compare to the pamper guests , the hosts have always had it harsh . Whether it ’s following abudding heroinelike Dolores orcanon fodderlike Teddy , the show systematically need you consider the privileged life of loop - duplicate , seeking - guiding fiber who are normally cast off to the margin of most games . By focusing on the increasingly ego - conscious , bird - lovingMaeve , the 6th episode explored how it might feel for a video - biz stooge to become self - aware . It ’s like a Mario game that demand you take seriously the quandary of a Goomba . Or it ’s like really opine about the potential humanity of a Sim .
HBO
You think of the staggeringly popular life - simulation gameThe Sims , proper ? You probably create a Sim at some gunpoint . Maybe had your William - similar Sim work intemperately and earn a furtherance – or possibly , if you ’re more of aLogan , you placed your Sim in a pond , removed the ladders , and had it float to its end . Either way , the classic game offer an interesting lens to depend atWestworld’svision of how artificial personality are created , codified , and maintained – and then messed with .
Decoding the Attribute Matrix
When Maeve rouse up on the cold-blooded steel bottom of the robot chop - workshop manned by the sympathetic Felix ( Leonardo Nam ) and the loathly Sylvester ( Ptolemy Slocum ) , she get a warm primer on her own programming . In one of the installment ’s most scarey scenes , Maeve look under her own hood , and the pic to her own language patterns , which combine basic scripted reply and some improvisation , are display on a tablet right in front of her . Seeing the cognitive boundary of her own software , she blacks out and short - circuits . Like when you have too many tabs open and your internet browser crashes .
After she reboots and fends off Sylvester ’s attempts to expose her , Maeve take a rather maudlin , Radiohead - soundtrackedtour of the park ’s wing facilities . But for anyone who ever playedThe Simsor designed an inordinately gifted three - degree shooter in an NBA game , the best part of the instalment arrive when she gets a glimpse at her own " attribute matrix , " yet another fun object lesson of thelevel of detailapplied to everything we see onWestworld .
" It ’s your personality on a 20 - compass point scale , " explicate Felix . " Like , coordination : if you ’ve have a 5 that intend you ’re clumsy as hell . But if you got a 15 that means you ’re an athlete . " As Maeve wonder at the map on the tablet in front of her , Sylvester chimes in to lease her have a go at it she ’s get an 18 for magic spell . ( Side bank note : Sylvester definitely has zero good luck charm points – at one point in this sequence he utters the run-in , " What the fuck , ding - dong ? " Who says that ? )
Maeve is quickly gripped with the same impulse that many gamers have felt at one time or another : She wants to pull down up . Is this cheat ? sure enough , but this isWestworld . From Ford ’s android - freezingsleight - of - hand tricksto the Man in Black’sbulletproofquest for the maze , everyone who has any power in this game has ascertain to manipulate the " rule " of the world . Maeve is quick to max out . She ’s about to become the most powerful Sim in Westworld .
So, wait, is Maeve a Sim?
In the first version ofThe Simsreleased in 2000 , each user - create type ( or " Sim " ) was pay 25personality pointsto distribute across five benevolent - fathom qualities : neatness , outgoingness , activity , playfulness , and niceness . In the first two translation of the secret plan , the way you doled out your point was often correlate with your Sim ’s zodiac foretoken , give the biz an astrological border . A Gemini , for example , had seven " outgoing " points . A Virgo would have nine " tasteful " peak . As the game evolved and the third loop was introduce in 2009 , the personality section was replaced with a more innovative " traits " organisation , which incorporated likes and disfavor , but the core idea of restriction persist : There was always a terminal point to how many trait or points your Sim could have . Your gifts must be balanced with flaws .
There was always a sure amount of self - diagnosing wish - fulfillment involved in delegate personality points to your Sim . For example , I never understand the value in let a " neat " Sim – it ’s a television biz , so I ’m not go to smack the rottingpizzait would ineluctably provide around my charming colonial home – but I want an " outgoing " and " nice " Sim who would be able-bodied to make friends with other Sims in my neighborhood . I craved Sim champion to party with , especially because I was saving up fora hot tubto put in my living room .
Systems likeThe Sims ' point dispersion or the " property matrix " that we see in this episode , with its categories for " bravery , " " sensualism , " and " patience , " are both appealing and worrisome as science - fiction concepts . But they ’re also challenging psychological thought process experimentation : People pretty much always require to see the complexity of human behaviour boiled down to a number . Think of any personality trait quiz you ’ve ever taken online – or , to push this to an even bleaker position , consider the way people apply their Twitter follower counting or their numeral of Facebook friends as a measure of ego - worth . The Simsgave you the chance to quantify identity long before social media . Plus , with beguiler codes , you could easily be the cool Sim in town . You did n’t even need the hot bath .
HBO
Westworldexplores something darker : What happens to the entity that undergoes that type of personality manipulation ? What kind of hurting would that impose ? What ’s the genial bell ? Within the world of the show , it appears that someone ( Arnold ? Ford ? ) has been making unapproved qualifying to the hosts in the Mungo Park , juking their stats for mysterious reasons . It surely seemed like Teddy up his Gatling - gun science , mow down a line of business of soldiers with simplicity , and Dolores has also shown improvements as a markswoman .
But Maeve is after something more cerebral . She ’s give chase thatLucyorLimitlessmyth of using antecedently untapped sections of your brain . But , as these stories always storm us to ask , at what price ?
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John P. Johnson/HBO
John P. Johnson/HBO
