(Originally posted to Let's Play Sacntuary)
#111, originally posted Sep 10 2016, 07:27 AM
Route C′—Session 23, part 5: Brink of Death
Yumi had collapsed from a fever. As she lay in a hospital on the brink of death, HE appeared to her, telling her she was a new type of human. Earlier, thanks to HE, she was able to talk to her father through cyberspace, using her newly installed biocomputer.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
-Paradise Regained-
So, Yumi is a "new human", as HE put it, which is to say, a new type of human, or something like that. I'm sure HE was referring to ICs. But more than that, she is apparently special even among them. Just what does that mean? Well, we've seen before that Sami has an extraordinarily high affinity for cyberware; it stands to reason that her twin would as well. But even then, Yumi seems to have even higher affinity. Just why is that?
Also, no explanation for why she was fitted with a biocomputer in the first place, especially considering their borderline legal status. Who would have done that in a hospital in Japan?
So, Yumi is a "new human", as HE put it, which is to say, a new type of human, or something like that. I'm sure HE was referring to ICs. But more than that, she is apparently special even among them. Just what does that mean? Well, we've seen before that Sami has an extraordinarily high affinity for cyberware; it stands to reason that her twin would as well. But even then, Yumi seems to have even higher affinity. Just why is that?
Also, no explanation for why she was fitted with a biocomputer in the first place, especially considering their borderline legal status. Who would have done that in a hospital in Japan?
#112, originally posted Sep 15 2016, 02:15 PM
Route D′—Session 23, part 6: A Mere Program?
The people who met HE in the form of Hinata talk about their experiences. Philosophical questions are asked about the nature of HE's existence. Is he a real person, with a real consciousness, like humans? At last, he decides he is, and starts traveling spacetime to be reunited with the one whom he seeks.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
When starting route D′, there seemed to be a glitch with the music. "Deadlock" ended up playing continuously for quite a while, even when other music was playing. At one point, I tried quitting and reloading in an attempt to clear it, but to no avail; the engine apparently thought that music was supposed to be playing. It's probably a mistake in the script, where they forgot the usual command to stop the current BGM. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Fortunately, it eventually cleared up on its own.
INSTRUCTION
Hmm. So, they look and act nothing alike, but their "souls closely resemble each other's", whatever that means. So, I'm just wondering, how can she tell? Well, I have to assume it's something that one cannot articulate well.
You can read here about Kirlian photography. In short, the technique itself is legitimate, but the claims of parapsychologists and such, as usual, have been disproven.
ETERNAL STORAGE
For some odd reason, Nergal doesn't show up on-screen here. Hey, guys, he does have a sprite, you know?
"Even brains are ... connected with on/off switches." Pretty sure neural networks are a lot more sophisticated than that. For one thing, they evaluate their input signals as a continuous sum rather than a binary value, their outputs can be of varying strength, and most interestingly, their reactions to inputs can vary in complex ways over time. This is not to say, though, that it's impossible to model the behavior of real neural networks; it's just a lot more difficult than the writing assumes.
As for whether it's possible to "electronically record a soul", who knows? This goes to a common set of philosophical questions, such as: Just what is consciousness? Can it be "uploaded" into a computer? If a copy or model of a real person's brain were made, with the exact same neural and synaptic parameters at the time of copying, would it be conscious? Would it feel conscious? There are ideas about how teleportation could work. One is related to quantum teleportation, where the states of particles are measured in a way that does not destroy the quantum states being measured, the measurements transferred to remote particles in such a way as to entangle them, and then the entanglement broken, resulting in a set of particles at the destination being in the same state as those at the source were in. Importantly, the source state is destroyed in the process, so a physical person at the source would seem to be killed. If a person could be teleported in such a manner, would their consciousness really find itself at the destination, or would it be a distinct consciousness that happens to have the same state? To the outside world, there surely would be no way to tell the difference, but to the person about to go through the process, it would be a real concern, since from their point of view, one answer to that question would mean effective death.
OFFICER
This is an arbitrary point at which to bring this up, but who are these people talking to, exactly? It doesn't seem to be HE (except, possibly, when Hinata is speaking), since they're talking about him in the third person. At the same time, though, this is seen from his point of view, as though he were watching a series of interviews.
DEPARTURE
"Ragna Mundi"? What tradition is that from? What language? I know "mundi" as the Latin word for "world", but I don't think "ragna" is Latin. Assuming it's the same as in "Ragnarok", it's from Old Norse. I'm stumped on this one.
"Nami" does indeed mean "wave". It can be written as 波 or 浪 or 濤, though I think with slight variations in meaning. As a name, it might be short for "Namiko".
RESCUE
Eek, "part of her brain has been gouged out", you say? In that case, she's really lucky to still be alive, and even more lucky that it didn't seem to affect her personality in any detectable way. See the case of Phineas Gage for an example of what can happen when the frontal lobe is damaged.
So, here we see HE's perspective on this scene. Doesn't really answer how he ended up there, but we do see that HE assumed that everyone else was the enemy, even despite her not wanting anyone to die. And that's why everyone else in Criminal was killed. How sad. :(
INSTRUCTION
Hmm. So, they look and act nothing alike, but their "souls closely resemble each other's", whatever that means. So, I'm just wondering, how can she tell? Well, I have to assume it's something that one cannot articulate well.
You can read here about Kirlian photography. In short, the technique itself is legitimate, but the claims of parapsychologists and such, as usual, have been disproven.
ETERNAL STORAGE
For some odd reason, Nergal doesn't show up on-screen here. Hey, guys, he does have a sprite, you know?
"Even brains are ... connected with on/off switches." Pretty sure neural networks are a lot more sophisticated than that. For one thing, they evaluate their input signals as a continuous sum rather than a binary value, their outputs can be of varying strength, and most interestingly, their reactions to inputs can vary in complex ways over time. This is not to say, though, that it's impossible to model the behavior of real neural networks; it's just a lot more difficult than the writing assumes.
As for whether it's possible to "electronically record a soul", who knows? This goes to a common set of philosophical questions, such as: Just what is consciousness? Can it be "uploaded" into a computer? If a copy or model of a real person's brain were made, with the exact same neural and synaptic parameters at the time of copying, would it be conscious? Would it feel conscious? There are ideas about how teleportation could work. One is related to quantum teleportation, where the states of particles are measured in a way that does not destroy the quantum states being measured, the measurements transferred to remote particles in such a way as to entangle them, and then the entanglement broken, resulting in a set of particles at the destination being in the same state as those at the source were in. Importantly, the source state is destroyed in the process, so a physical person at the source would seem to be killed. If a person could be teleported in such a manner, would their consciousness really find itself at the destination, or would it be a distinct consciousness that happens to have the same state? To the outside world, there surely would be no way to tell the difference, but to the person about to go through the process, it would be a real concern, since from their point of view, one answer to that question would mean effective death.
OFFICER
This is an arbitrary point at which to bring this up, but who are these people talking to, exactly? It doesn't seem to be HE (except, possibly, when Hinata is speaking), since they're talking about him in the third person. At the same time, though, this is seen from his point of view, as though he were watching a series of interviews.
DEPARTURE
"Ragna Mundi"? What tradition is that from? What language? I know "mundi" as the Latin word for "world", but I don't think "ragna" is Latin. Assuming it's the same as in "Ragnarok", it's from Old Norse. I'm stumped on this one.
"Nami" does indeed mean "wave". It can be written as 波 or 浪 or 濤, though I think with slight variations in meaning. As a name, it might be short for "Namiko".
RESCUE
Eek, "part of her brain has been gouged out", you say? In that case, she's really lucky to still be alive, and even more lucky that it didn't seem to affect her personality in any detectable way. See the case of Phineas Gage for an example of what can happen when the frontal lobe is damaged.
So, here we see HE's perspective on this scene. Doesn't really answer how he ended up there, but we do see that HE assumed that everyone else was the enemy, even despite her not wanting anyone to die. And that's why everyone else in Criminal was killed. How sad. :(
#113, originally posted Sep 20 2016, 06:43 AM
Route D′—Session 23, part 7: The End of Anunnaki
HE continues searching the past for a certain person. Not among Criminal, as they share a monjayaki meal. Not with Hinata and Yumi at school. Not with Ishtar as she calls out to "onee-sama" (but maybe that refers to her). HE finds himself defending Mutsuki and her daughter against a monster, losing his form in the process. Ereshkigal talks to him about the event. Ereshkigal asks Nergal for a favor in exchange for helping him with his business. Mutsuki and Enlil admire their "daughter", while discussing AIO and Enigma; meanwhile, the users discuss Shadow Nulls and LEM. Before this, Anunnaki fell apart after Ea disappeared.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
FRAGMENT
Wait, what? Let me get this straight. In this scene in cyberspace, Mutsuki is embracing Marduk. HE thinks he knows Marduk (though he doesn't remember that name). The association he makes is to Yumi! Well, the way it's worded implies he doesn't think Yumi actually is Marduk, but that there is some connection. What exactly is that about? I mean, I know she helps him rescue Mutsuki from Marduk in the future, but this seems to be a deeper connection.
If you carefully watch this scene of the fight between HE and Ashur (I'm assuming you haven't forgotten this monster is a manifestation of Ashur), you may notice a couple of logos flash when Ashur strikes. The first is Ashur's emblem. Makes perfect sense. The second, interestingly enough, is the eXarch logo. Also makes sense, given who sent him. As to why these are showing up, my guess is that, as a being that naturally absorbs information, HE must have picked up on those... tidbits when Ashur came near. (Heh, look at me, coming up with theories incorporating this story's Hollywood cyber. But I think that was the intention here.)
REQUIESCAT IN PACE
Hmm. Up until this point, it looked like HE was going back in time. But in this scene, which you'd expect to be before the Ashur fight, Ereshkigal is talking about it in the past tense. Plus, the "Cluster:13" title card lacks a date. There could be a more weird explanation, but I'm thinking this is just like in routes C and D, which were in the future and we couldn't know exactly when they were taking place because HE and Yumi didn't either. She is talking about a future event because... well, she has her ways. Probably something similar to the empty Exabyte Crystals. But beyond that, I don't know.
SUBMARINE
You know, after I first saw that picture of Ereshkigal's face, the one with no eyes, I figured maybe they just didn't bother drawing the eyes because we'd only get a fleeting glimpse, or something. But then, in that last scene, we see the same eyeless face the whole time. One might start to think we'd never see eyes, for one reason or another. But surprise! She has eyes after all. :D And she's not too bad-looking, either.
Wait, what? Let me get this straight. In this scene in cyberspace, Mutsuki is embracing Marduk. HE thinks he knows Marduk (though he doesn't remember that name). The association he makes is to Yumi! Well, the way it's worded implies he doesn't think Yumi actually is Marduk, but that there is some connection. What exactly is that about? I mean, I know she helps him rescue Mutsuki from Marduk in the future, but this seems to be a deeper connection.
If you carefully watch this scene of the fight between HE and Ashur (I'm assuming you haven't forgotten this monster is a manifestation of Ashur), you may notice a couple of logos flash when Ashur strikes. The first is Ashur's emblem. Makes perfect sense. The second, interestingly enough, is the eXarch logo. Also makes sense, given who sent him. As to why these are showing up, my guess is that, as a being that naturally absorbs information, HE must have picked up on those... tidbits when Ashur came near. (Heh, look at me, coming up with theories incorporating this story's Hollywood cyber. But I think that was the intention here.)
REQUIESCAT IN PACE
Hmm. Up until this point, it looked like HE was going back in time. But in this scene, which you'd expect to be before the Ashur fight, Ereshkigal is talking about it in the past tense. Plus, the "Cluster:13" title card lacks a date. There could be a more weird explanation, but I'm thinking this is just like in routes C and D, which were in the future and we couldn't know exactly when they were taking place because HE and Yumi didn't either. She is talking about a future event because... well, she has her ways. Probably something similar to the empty Exabyte Crystals. But beyond that, I don't know.
SUBMARINE
You know, after I first saw that picture of Ereshkigal's face, the one with no eyes, I figured maybe they just didn't bother drawing the eyes because we'd only get a fleeting glimpse, or something. But then, in that last scene, we see the same eyeless face the whole time. One might start to think we'd never see eyes, for one reason or another. But surprise! She has eyes after all. :D And she's not too bad-looking, either.
#114, originally posted Oct 10 2016, 04:37 AM
Wow, it's been nearly three weeks since I posted the last part! I'm really sorry about that. Unfortunately, the reasons were pretty much out of my control. My PC just suddenly stopped working. It took a while to resolve, but my optical drive is now a suspected murderer (of my motherboard, that is)! Glad that's behind me.
Route D′—Session 23, part 8: eXarch's Treachery
Anunnaki is in crisis after eXarch's surprise announcement that they are pulling out of managing Babylon and are going to terminate Marduk. In response, Enlil unleashes a flood on Babylon. Earlier, Nabu prepares to save Marduk from destruction. Sin, desperate to save Marduk, transfers her to non-quantum computers. Marduk has a dream about the multilayered world. Earlier, Anunnaki has just received the quantum computer from eXarch and is putting it to use to enhance Babylon's capabilities; Ishtar recruits ICs, Nergal checks on users, and Enlil discovers something sinister. Earlier, Enlil sees eXarch's shameless ads about their new ownership of Babylon. Earlier, Anunnaki has just received eXarch's proposal for a takeover; most are in favor, but one person decides to leave.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
OVERFLOW
Huh. This password contains some Greek letters. I wonder if any of these passwords have a hidden meaning. But I also wonder how the person entering this password has their keyboard set up. It's not impossible, of course, but I don't think most people today have setups allowing them to enter characters from various alphabets like this. In the future, though, I guess there could be a very nice solution.
FALL BACK
This definition of fragmentation and defragmentation is not quite correct. The part about putting things in order is true enough. However, there are two incorrect things about the "Fragmentation" definition: First, nothing is unlinked. The system knows exactly where each piece of a file is located. Second, nothing malfunctions; nothing needs to be searched, as the system knows where everything is. Fragmentation is not some horrible thing as you might infer from this glossary entry. It is simply a suboptimal outcome of having to work with a finite space. When a single free area of sufficient size is not available to store a file in, or when a file grows beyond the space available where it is stored, then fragmentation results, where parts are stored in different areas. Everything continues as normal, except that if the storage hardware is a hard drive, it may take longer to access the separated parts, due to needing to move the heads (solid-state drives don't suffer from this problem, although it may still suffer slight performance hits). Defragmentation reverses the performance penalty by putting fragmented files back together. It is necessary with some filesystems to maintain reasonable performance, but failing to do it should not be catastrophic, except in extreme cases.
That said, "fragmentation" here probably has a somewhat different meaning. Nabu deliberately scattered one or more files and somehow made it so the pieces can only be correctly found with a keyword (password?). Something like that.
And once again, transferring data out of a quantum computer is potentially an issue, due to decoherence. It is only possible if the quantum computer in question stores its persistent state in classical bits rather than qubits.
INFINITE DREAM
One little complaint I have about this sequence is the fact that they want us to watch it pan across the city with each line of the poem, and each pan takes a looooong time. (Well, I could probably have hurried it along, but that would have messed up the flow.)
TO ARMS!
And now the picture is all staticky. I wonder why. My first thought would be, this is a time when whosever memory this is is hazy. But who would that be? Or maybe it's something else entirely.
There's another mention of Kingu. And yet, there has been no obvious appearance of anyone going by that name. Not to say we haven't seen them before, but without knowing their identity. Of course, it could be the one corresponding to Kingu doesn't use the name. In any case, the fact it has come up several times strongly suggests they are very important to the story. I might want to study up on this part of Mesopotamian mythology.
BREAKTHROUGH
Nergal: "In short, we're becoming {eXarch}'s proteges, huh?" I'm surprised he would use a euphemism like that, as blunt as he tends to be. Maybe it's sarcasm.
Huh. This password contains some Greek letters. I wonder if any of these passwords have a hidden meaning. But I also wonder how the person entering this password has their keyboard set up. It's not impossible, of course, but I don't think most people today have setups allowing them to enter characters from various alphabets like this. In the future, though, I guess there could be a very nice solution.
FALL BACK
This definition of fragmentation and defragmentation is not quite correct. The part about putting things in order is true enough. However, there are two incorrect things about the "Fragmentation" definition: First, nothing is unlinked. The system knows exactly where each piece of a file is located. Second, nothing malfunctions; nothing needs to be searched, as the system knows where everything is. Fragmentation is not some horrible thing as you might infer from this glossary entry. It is simply a suboptimal outcome of having to work with a finite space. When a single free area of sufficient size is not available to store a file in, or when a file grows beyond the space available where it is stored, then fragmentation results, where parts are stored in different areas. Everything continues as normal, except that if the storage hardware is a hard drive, it may take longer to access the separated parts, due to needing to move the heads (solid-state drives don't suffer from this problem, although it may still suffer slight performance hits). Defragmentation reverses the performance penalty by putting fragmented files back together. It is necessary with some filesystems to maintain reasonable performance, but failing to do it should not be catastrophic, except in extreme cases.
That said, "fragmentation" here probably has a somewhat different meaning. Nabu deliberately scattered one or more files and somehow made it so the pieces can only be correctly found with a keyword (password?). Something like that.
And once again, transferring data out of a quantum computer is potentially an issue, due to decoherence. It is only possible if the quantum computer in question stores its persistent state in classical bits rather than qubits.
INFINITE DREAM
One little complaint I have about this sequence is the fact that they want us to watch it pan across the city with each line of the poem, and each pan takes a looooong time. (Well, I could probably have hurried it along, but that would have messed up the flow.)
TO ARMS!
And now the picture is all staticky. I wonder why. My first thought would be, this is a time when whosever memory this is is hazy. But who would that be? Or maybe it's something else entirely.
There's another mention of Kingu. And yet, there has been no obvious appearance of anyone going by that name. Not to say we haven't seen them before, but without knowing their identity. Of course, it could be the one corresponding to Kingu doesn't use the name. In any case, the fact it has come up several times strongly suggests they are very important to the story. I might want to study up on this part of Mesopotamian mythology.
BREAKTHROUGH
Nergal: "In short, we're becoming {eXarch}'s proteges, huh?" I'm surprised he would use a euphemism like that, as blunt as he tends to be. Maybe it's sarcasm.
#115, originally posted Oct 17 2016, 10:23 PM
Route D′—Session 23, part 9: Anu no Nakama
Anunnaki finds out their current service provider is shutting them down due to demand outstripping their capacity. Ereshkigal passes something along to Ishtar in anticipation of leaving. Earlier, she befriends Akari, who decides to adopt the handle of Ishtar. Earlier, Ereshkigal, who has just arrived in Babylon, is talking to the members of the Great Triad. Anunnaki has just upgrade to a commercial service provider and is expanding. One of them displays particular talent. The members meet to decide on a name for their group. They get their biocomputers. Earlier, Ereshkigal searches for HE, finding clues on a discussion forum.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
OPERATION X
So, this boy whom Ereshkigal loved used the same words ("I am here") that Mutsuki would later use in reaching out to Hinata. Coincidence? Probably not.
INDUCTION
Whoa, Enlil was jealous of Ishtar getting close to Ereshkigal? This is new. And she went so far as to get cyber eyes. For some reason, this seems surprising.
CREATOR
Ereshkigal draws a phonetic comparison between "Anunnaki" and "Anu no nakama" ("Anu's comrades").
Hmm. So, everyone but Ea got biocomputers. Did Nergal do the installations as he would be doing in the future? But then, he probably couldn't operate on himself, could he? So who did that?
HYDRONAUGHT
These forum discussions... are these what 2ch is like, by any chance? I wouldn't know, but for various reasons, I get the impression it might be a little like that.
So, this boy whom Ereshkigal loved used the same words ("I am here") that Mutsuki would later use in reaching out to Hinata. Coincidence? Probably not.
INDUCTION
Whoa, Enlil was jealous of Ishtar getting close to Ereshkigal? This is new. And she went so far as to get cyber eyes. For some reason, this seems surprising.
CREATOR
Ereshkigal draws a phonetic comparison between "Anunnaki" and "Anu no nakama" ("Anu's comrades").
Hmm. So, everyone but Ea got biocomputers. Did Nergal do the installations as he would be doing in the future? But then, he probably couldn't operate on himself, could he? So who did that?
HYDRONAUGHT
These forum discussions... are these what 2ch is like, by any chance? I wouldn't know, but for various reasons, I get the impression it might be a little like that.
#116, originally posted Oct 25 2016, 01:04 AM
Route D′—Session 23, part 10: Isaiah
Ereshkigal recalls how she started searching for "that boy", learning skills from the rosary. Earlier, the event where the boy dies is shown. Earlier, his trial and sentence for cracking eXarch. Earlier, he stumbles across Yumi in the hospital and helps her; but he discovers something that deeply frightens him. Earlier, being obsessed with a certain girl, he uses his hacking skills to get himself a biocomputer and find her. Finally, he and Ashur speak about what might have started everything.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
ACTIVE SONAR
"Isaiah", huh? If you're the type to notice these things, you might have seen that name a few times over this LP. Once in the OP, although that was waaaaaay back in the first part of the very first session, so you may have forgotten. Or you just never saw it, since it flashes by very quickly. Also, in session 17, the part after HE had joined with Hinata and downloaded data to his biocomputer, a few words and phrases showed up briefly; one of those was "Isaiah", and also the very similar looking "Izaiah Nagy".
MISSING IN ACTION
Well, darn. What a way to go. Some of these scientists think it was an accident. But based on what we already know, the "suicide" theory seems more likely, don't you think? (I say "suicide", but of course, we know only his body died.)
PRISON CAMP
Yup, his name is "Izaiah Nagy". "Nagy" is Hungarian, BTW, and despite looking it up some time ago, I still got the pronunciation wrong when recording this and it came up in the session. Oops.
"...a cypher that can't be undone normally..." So, it's a public-key cipher, then? Ciphers can be categorized into symmetric and public-key (or asymmetric). With a symmetric cipher, a message is encrypted with a single key, then decrypted with the same key, performing exactly the opposite operations. In contrast, a public-key cipher uses a pair of keys. The message is encrypted with one key, but cannot be decrypted with that same key; instead, the other key of the pair must be used. Of course, he might mean something quite different, but this public-key is what comes to mind for me.
FIND OUT
Hey, we have dates back. I can't say I completely understand why we have dates sometimes and not other times.
And this date—2022/05/16—doesn't make sense. Unlike the tetrad that featured in this story before, there isn't supposed to be a lunar eclipse anywhere near this date. The first one of the year is on Nov. 8; the previous one is on Nov. 19 of the previous year.
Huh. He would only feel moved seeing something through a biocomputer, not with his own eyes. This goes along with the assertion that the real world doesn't seem "real" to him (as with all ICs, supposedly).
I see. Given the current date and Yumi's DOB, that makes her just about to turn 7 at this point. I just realized that as I was watching the video and preparing this set of notes. It hadn't been clear in route C′, though thinking about it now, I could have come to that conclusion by thinking about what Nergal said about the incident: that 10 years ago, eXarch had sacrificed their staff in San Francisco. Yumi's father was among them, as we saw in route C′, so it stands to reason Yumi would have been 10 years younger than in 2032.
Well, this explains why HE felt such fear when learning about the quantum computer. It wasn't because of that dragon thing he had fought. It was because, as Izaiah Nagy, he had already feared it (and perhaps for a legitimate reason, given the circumstances).
Um... a quantum computer is "the origin of all people"??? Well, he was referring to this "Ark", but close enough. I don't really get it.
INSPIRE
This last scene doesn't seem to be further in the past, since (a) they are referencing events that happen after the ones we just saw and (b) Izaiah is talking to Ashur, who didn't even exist until later. Is it in the future, then? Maybe, maybe not. It might be one of those things that is outside of time, since a quantum computer is involved.
"Do machines have hearts? Quantum type computers operate the same way as human brains. So it really isn't strange at all for them to generate hearts." I have to point out here that some recent research has shown that emotions exist, in a sense, in the body as well as in the brain, in that physiological responses are part of the experience. I haven't read enough to know whether the organ known as the heart is particularly involved in this, but it lends surprising credence to ancient wisdom, if only somewhat. Even though emotion is ultimately felt, just as everything else is, in the brain, the body may be a necessary component. The question is: could a being still feel emotions without a body, and if so, would they be the same? It might be possible to simulate those physiological responses in a virtual environment or for an artificial being. I should also ask: is that necessary, or is it possible to accurately simulate emotions in a different way?
BTW, in this scene, we have one voice actor (Hagi Michihiko) talking to himself as two different characters. I guess with this casting, it was pretty likely to happen.
"That {eXarch} itself creating quantum computers...might have all been planned by 'someone'." Oh, boy. What are you trying to say now? Surely not that there's some God directing these things. I guess more likely, it's that there's some being in a higher reality influencing events. This is all getting really mysterious.
"Isaiah", huh? If you're the type to notice these things, you might have seen that name a few times over this LP. Once in the OP, although that was waaaaaay back in the first part of the very first session, so you may have forgotten. Or you just never saw it, since it flashes by very quickly. Also, in session 17, the part after HE had joined with Hinata and downloaded data to his biocomputer, a few words and phrases showed up briefly; one of those was "Isaiah", and also the very similar looking "Izaiah Nagy".
MISSING IN ACTION
Well, darn. What a way to go. Some of these scientists think it was an accident. But based on what we already know, the "suicide" theory seems more likely, don't you think? (I say "suicide", but of course, we know only his body died.)
PRISON CAMP
Yup, his name is "Izaiah Nagy". "Nagy" is Hungarian, BTW, and despite looking it up some time ago, I still got the pronunciation wrong when recording this and it came up in the session. Oops.
"...a cypher that can't be undone normally..." So, it's a public-key cipher, then? Ciphers can be categorized into symmetric and public-key (or asymmetric). With a symmetric cipher, a message is encrypted with a single key, then decrypted with the same key, performing exactly the opposite operations. In contrast, a public-key cipher uses a pair of keys. The message is encrypted with one key, but cannot be decrypted with that same key; instead, the other key of the pair must be used. Of course, he might mean something quite different, but this public-key is what comes to mind for me.
FIND OUT
Hey, we have dates back. I can't say I completely understand why we have dates sometimes and not other times.
And this date—2022/05/16—doesn't make sense. Unlike the tetrad that featured in this story before, there isn't supposed to be a lunar eclipse anywhere near this date. The first one of the year is on Nov. 8; the previous one is on Nov. 19 of the previous year.
Huh. He would only feel moved seeing something through a biocomputer, not with his own eyes. This goes along with the assertion that the real world doesn't seem "real" to him (as with all ICs, supposedly).
I see. Given the current date and Yumi's DOB, that makes her just about to turn 7 at this point. I just realized that as I was watching the video and preparing this set of notes. It hadn't been clear in route C′, though thinking about it now, I could have come to that conclusion by thinking about what Nergal said about the incident: that 10 years ago, eXarch had sacrificed their staff in San Francisco. Yumi's father was among them, as we saw in route C′, so it stands to reason Yumi would have been 10 years younger than in 2032.
Well, this explains why HE felt such fear when learning about the quantum computer. It wasn't because of that dragon thing he had fought. It was because, as Izaiah Nagy, he had already feared it (and perhaps for a legitimate reason, given the circumstances).
Um... a quantum computer is "the origin of all people"??? Well, he was referring to this "Ark", but close enough. I don't really get it.
INSPIRE
This last scene doesn't seem to be further in the past, since (a) they are referencing events that happen after the ones we just saw and (b) Izaiah is talking to Ashur, who didn't even exist until later. Is it in the future, then? Maybe, maybe not. It might be one of those things that is outside of time, since a quantum computer is involved.
"Do machines have hearts? Quantum type computers operate the same way as human brains. So it really isn't strange at all for them to generate hearts." I have to point out here that some recent research has shown that emotions exist, in a sense, in the body as well as in the brain, in that physiological responses are part of the experience. I haven't read enough to know whether the organ known as the heart is particularly involved in this, but it lends surprising credence to ancient wisdom, if only somewhat. Even though emotion is ultimately felt, just as everything else is, in the brain, the body may be a necessary component. The question is: could a being still feel emotions without a body, and if so, would they be the same? It might be possible to simulate those physiological responses in a virtual environment or for an artificial being. I should also ask: is that necessary, or is it possible to accurately simulate emotions in a different way?
BTW, in this scene, we have one voice actor (Hagi Michihiko) talking to himself as two different characters. I guess with this casting, it was pretty likely to happen.
"That {eXarch} itself creating quantum computers...might have all been planned by 'someone'." Oh, boy. What are you trying to say now? Surely not that there's some God directing these things. I guess more likely, it's that there's some being in a higher reality influencing events. This is all getting really mysterious.
Route D′—Session 23 (full)
Yes, it's over 4 hours long! Can you enjoy it? :D
#117, originally posted Nov 10 2016, 10:21 AM
Route D′—Session 24, part 1: Reunited
Izaiah and Nami are reunited in the past (?), as are Marduk and Ashur.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
ARRANGEMENT
This last CG before the credits...
If you look at the background carefully, you should be able to see the outline of the Ashur emblem. Take that as you will. Well, in this scene, it seems that not only are Izaiah and Nami being (re?)united, but so are Ashur and Marduk. But poor Marduk doesn't have an emblem here.
This last CG before the credits...
If you look at the background carefully, you should be able to see the outline of the Ashur emblem. Take that as you will. Well, in this scene, it seems that not only are Izaiah and Nami being (re?)united, but so are Ashur and Marduk. But poor Marduk doesn't have an emblem here.
#118, originally posted Nov 18 2016, 08:41 AM
Route A′—Session 24, part 2: What About Sakuya?
Now that Mutsuki is back safe and sound, Hinata starts to wonder about Sakuya's fate, and is shocked to find her missing. He decides to go to the eXarch lab, where she was last seen, and search for clues.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
forgotten, closed, entrapped
Hmm. It seems that, when Yumi heard that Mutsuki would be coming along to the eXarch lab, she decided she didn't want to be there. Why is that? What does she have against Mutsuki, I wonder? (Hinata thinks it's because she doesn't want to see the place where her friends died. Well, maybe, but it certainly sounded like she was willing initially.)
Hmm. It seems that, when Yumi heard that Mutsuki would be coming along to the eXarch lab, she decided she didn't want to be there. Why is that? What does she have against Mutsuki, I wonder? (Hinata thinks it's because she doesn't want to see the place where her friends died. Well, maybe, but it certainly sounded like she was willing initially.)
#119, originally posted Dec 12 2016, 12:52 PM
Route A′—Session 24, part 3: Seeking Sakuya
Hinata and Mutsuki go to the eXarch building to look for clues to what happened to Sakuya. There, HE tells him about what happened. Then they return home, and Hinata reminisces about his past treatment of Mutsuki.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
clue found
When he remembers killing Izumo in that one timeline, we see a flash of Izaiah Nagy when his body was fried. Not sure why.
sob
Another Mutsuki malapropism (or maybe it's more of an eggcorn?): Hinata says it's never been verified—"datou sei", which she hears as "dauto sei" (ダウト星)—"doubt star". (I had to check the Japanese text to find out the kanji for "sei" in the latter case. I never would have figured it out otherwise.)
When he remembers killing Izumo in that one timeline, we see a flash of Izaiah Nagy when his body was fried. Not sure why.
sob
Another Mutsuki malapropism (or maybe it's more of an eggcorn?): Hinata says it's never been verified—"datou sei", which she hears as "dauto sei" (ダウト星)—"doubt star". (I had to check the Japanese text to find out the kanji for "sei" in the latter case. I never would have figured it out otherwise.)
#120, originally posted Jan 3 2017, 06:53 AM
Route A′—Session 24, part 4: Hit and Run
Hinata wakes up and makes breakfast for Mutsuki, then gets into a brief conversation about Izumo. Yayoi calls and invites them to the school to discuss something, but he refuses since they're planning to visit their mother in the hospital. On the way back, they stop and think over what she said to them. Then an accident occurs nearby, causing Hinata to almost do something terrible. At home, Mutsuki accuses him of not being serious about his search for Sakuya. Before going to bed, he notices something in his room he had previously overlooked.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
admiration for death
Finally, we get to see Hinata and Mutsuki's mother.
white darkness
Interesting. An old poem is a clue to something. "Pointing the sunlight facing it to the answer"...or is it "sunlight it faces"? Kind of an important difference, if you ask me. But anyway, HE suggests it might be an allusion to Hinata himself. In other words, it's supposed to guide him to the answer, whatever that might be. We probably shouldn't ignore the first line, either. But I'm really not sure what it means.
Finally, we get to see Hinata and Mutsuki's mother.
white darkness
Interesting. An old poem is a clue to something. "Pointing the sunlight facing it to the answer"...or is it "sunlight it faces"? Kind of an important difference, if you ask me. But anyway, HE suggests it might be an allusion to Hinata himself. In other words, it's supposed to guide him to the answer, whatever that might be. We probably shouldn't ignore the first line, either. But I'm really not sure what it means.
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