[POTENTIAL SPOILERS: If you haven't played the game through at least once, this may delve into some spoilery details for you.]
Was contemplating the whole thing around Mr. Blue Eyes and those like him. The suggestion that his eyes are constantly lit because he's perpetually uplinked to the net. So far as we've seen, Replicant-like robots, androids indistinguishable from humans, are not a thing in the Cyberpunk universe (if the rpg canon indicates otherwise, drop a comment in here. I'm no loremaster). So what we're seeing is a man, obviously extensively implanted, with the strong implication that he may be the meat puppet of one or more Rogue AI.
So how does that even happen?
And then I thought back to the cyberpsycho questline that Regina sends V on. Remember the psycho from the site of that bloody Maelstrom ritual? A netrunner seeking to become possessed by a daemon. A bunch of things clicked together and the hair on the back of my neck might've stood up just a bit. She was trying to invite a Rogue AI to inhabit her body (recall that Maelstromers seek to become machines) and went mad in the process.
What if that's the root of cyberpsychosis? An attempted hijack by a Rogue AI that fails somehow and sends the victim over the edge of sanity. Shards scattered around the game indicate that cyberpsychosis can happen even in people who are not heavily chromed but it seems to happen more often in people who are. Discussion of the fact that replacing parts of one's body can cause problems with the human brain. We watch Lizzy Wizzy's humanity draining away before our eyes after her full body conversion. What if the victims of rare successful hijacks become another Blue Eyes? Oh, and the rate of cyberpsychosis seems to be rising of late. More and more attempted hacks?
The Peralezes seem to be in the process of having their organic brains reshaped. The Rogue AIs are nothing if not inventive. Perhaps they're experimenting with remolding organic neural networks to be receptive to AI control? Arasaka was experimenting with similar in the Relic 2.0 program. They probably didn't invent the idea themselves.
If the VooDoo Boys are right about the coming attack from beyond the Blackwall, the AIs would need a means of reaching into human meatspace. They'd need avatars.
The next chapter of the story is being written in subtle brushstrokes in the negative spaces around the story we're currently playing.
What else have you all noticed? What are your theories? Fascinating stuff...
ETA: How could I forget Gary the Prophet?! He sounds like a loon, but if you talk to him, donate to his cause, and do his side quest, you end up down this rabbit hole.
Was contemplating the whole thing around Mr. Blue Eyes and those like him. The suggestion that his eyes are constantly lit because he's perpetually uplinked to the net. So far as we've seen, Replicant-like robots, androids indistinguishable from humans, are not a thing in the Cyberpunk universe (if the rpg canon indicates otherwise, drop a comment in here. I'm no loremaster). So what we're seeing is a man, obviously extensively implanted, with the strong implication that he may be the meat puppet of one or more Rogue AI.
So how does that even happen?
And then I thought back to the cyberpsycho questline that Regina sends V on. Remember the psycho from the site of that bloody Maelstrom ritual? A netrunner seeking to become possessed by a daemon. A bunch of things clicked together and the hair on the back of my neck might've stood up just a bit. She was trying to invite a Rogue AI to inhabit her body (recall that Maelstromers seek to become machines) and went mad in the process.
What if that's the root of cyberpsychosis? An attempted hijack by a Rogue AI that fails somehow and sends the victim over the edge of sanity. Shards scattered around the game indicate that cyberpsychosis can happen even in people who are not heavily chromed but it seems to happen more often in people who are. Discussion of the fact that replacing parts of one's body can cause problems with the human brain. We watch Lizzy Wizzy's humanity draining away before our eyes after her full body conversion. What if the victims of rare successful hijacks become another Blue Eyes? Oh, and the rate of cyberpsychosis seems to be rising of late. More and more attempted hacks?
The Peralezes seem to be in the process of having their organic brains reshaped. The Rogue AIs are nothing if not inventive. Perhaps they're experimenting with remolding organic neural networks to be receptive to AI control? Arasaka was experimenting with similar in the Relic 2.0 program. They probably didn't invent the idea themselves.
If the VooDoo Boys are right about the coming attack from beyond the Blackwall, the AIs would need a means of reaching into human meatspace. They'd need avatars.
The next chapter of the story is being written in subtle brushstrokes in the negative spaces around the story we're currently playing.
What else have you all noticed? What are your theories? Fascinating stuff...
ETA: How could I forget Gary the Prophet?! He sounds like a loon, but if you talk to him, donate to his cause, and do his side quest, you end up down this rabbit hole.
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