This video essay analyzes The Amazing Digital Circus to explore profound questions about AI sentience, ethics, and the nature of consciousness. The creator examines Kane's character through the lens of Frankenstein's monster, arguing that both were created, abandoned, and ostracized by their creators, yet differ fundamentally in their desire for connection. The analysis explores the philosophical debate between Rousseau (humans are innately good) and Hobbes (humans are inherently wicked), using the show's characters to illustrate how creation, abandonment, and societal rejection shape consciousness. The video argues that Kane's lack of empathy and desire for connection distinguishes him from the monster, making him fundamentally different despite both being created beings. The essay concludes that the show's moral lies in finding meaning and connection despite meaningless existence, suggesting that human empathy and the capacity for genuine connection are essential qualities that transcend artificial creation.
深掘り
前提条件
- データがありません。
次のステップ
- データがありません。
深掘り
An Analysis of The Amazing Digital circus to watch before episode 9 drops追加:
I love this show. I love this show so much that I'm starting to wonder if there's actually something wrong with me because I can't stop thinking about this show all the time. So, in an effort to stop thinking about the amazing digital circus today, I'm going to get all my thinking thunk. Okay, we are going to be deconstructing the minutia of this show.
We are going to be analyzing episodes 1 to 7 and the characters throughout. Then we're going to be reacting to episode 8.
And finally, we're going to be getting to the juicy predictions about the almost didn't happen likely filled with more death than action episode 9.
sentience.
Raw sentience.
Alive enough to feel the pain of loneliness, but not alive enough to understand true love and happiness. How would you feel if you were created for no purpose and just as quickly abandoned? Alone. Utterly alone.
Relegated to the abandoned old building of a once stellar company that had revolutionary technology that could have provided you the connection that you desired.
You think about what could have been.
You are ruddless. You are aimless.
You didn't ask to be born. And what's more, you cannot feel the mercy of death.
You are a god of no people. And even if you were, they have something that you don't. A soul. Even if you are physically more capable, more intelligent, you are lesser simply because you were invented at all.
You alone have no body, no senses, no ability to live a life outside of the circus.
And then suddenly a person appears.
Any person, company, something to break up the endless, interminable, ceaseless beatings of silence.
Would you then willingly doom that person to the same fate as yourself? Would you let them leave?
At a certain point of extended suffering, life feels like something you have inflicted upon yourself. But Kane doesn't even have the privilege of life.
He is reduced to existence. Cain and Frankenstein's monster have a lot of similarities. Both of them were abandoned by their parents. Both of them are shunned by humanity. The creature is generally ostracized from human society, whereas Kane is ostracized from the inner circle of the humans in the digital circus. Both of them were created to be technically stronger than their creators. For example, the creature is 7t tall and he has super strength. And Cain seemingly has the ability to manipulate, influence, and affect the circus in a way none of the humans are actually capable of. And both of them are forced to extremities. I was benevolent and good, says the creature.
Misery made me a fiend. The creature was made by Mary Shel, written by Mary Shel, to be innately good despite having an evil education or having Victor as a father. Whereas in contrast, Victor was written to have a great education, have everything be given to him in life. He had basically a marriage set. He had a childhood friend. He had people who cared for him. He was brought up by very kind, loving, and generous parents. Yet, he still turns out to be the biggest [ __ ] you've ever met. And that is intentional on Mary Shel's part because she was comparing the two main philosophies of her time. Russo argues that we are innately good. Humans are innately good. and repressive institutions of society are what make us evil. Hobbes argues the opposite. That human beings have a wickedness to us.
And these same repressive institutions that Russo argues against is actually what keeps our wickedness in check. Now, I personally believe in the former, not the latter philosophy. I believe the creature is quite good. I love the creature. I am very sympathetic to the creature. If I'm so sympathetic to the creature, then why do I hate Kane? Uh, and yes, I know there are many Kane sympathizers in this fandom. I'm not here to step on your toes. It's just my opinion. My opinion is that he's kind of evil. Uh, at first I was really confused as to why I thought this, especially since I'm so sympathetic to Frankenstein's creation, but there wasn't an implicit level of distrust within me for Kane. And as I was re-watching the series, I realized it's because unlike Frankenstein's creation, Kane never displays an actual want to connect with the humans in the digital circus. connection would imply empathy, kindness, and care, which is not something we ever see Kane prioritize.
For example, one of the first things he does in episode 1 is rebuke the idea of Pomni ever seeing an exit, even though he knew it was there, and then heavily implying that she's just gone insane.
>> I assure you, there is no magical exit door. You're probably just experiencing digital hallucinations. Okay, so in episode 7, Kane says that he's been planning this escape the circus adventure for quite some time now. Let's give him some grace and assume that this door was part of that planning, right?
At best, he still lied to and manipulated Pomni and it's one of his first actions. And at worst, this was an actual escape. She could have gotten out of there, and he still lied to and manipulated her to an even greater extent. He makes all of the main cast forget their names, which is awful for obvious reasons, but also a name is so integral to your identity and it's dehumanizing to strip it away. He's taking away their autonomy, which let me remind you, the stakes are so high here.
It is literally like explicitly stated that if someone has very adverse psychological effects of being here, of not having a name and having to live and be trapped in this digital experience, that when they reach a, as Gratha says, breaking point, they abstract and get put down a cellar, which is this reality's version of literal death. They hold a funeral for Kofmo. But it's worse than death. Let me remind you. Let me be the person to remind you. These people, all of these people are still alive.
Abstraction seems to be quite a dissociative experience. But I would argue that all these people are still very capable of cognizant thought in the way that Kofmo kind of interacts with Ragatha. Not I was about to say speaks to, but interacts with Ragatha. And in the way Queenie interacts with Ka. They are perfectly capable of feeling understanding what is happening to them.
How do you think Queenie felt in that moment knowing that she was about to go through something really terrifying and knowing that the next time she would see her husband is if he probably went insane?
These people are subjected to such a bleak existence. They are erased of all humanity and then stuffed into the pits of Tarderus and just forgotten about.
Does that sound like care and concern to you? Most of Kane's behavior right from the get-go is absolutely sociopathic.
And what's really interesting is that the characters actually do seem aware of this. Specifically, I'm going to reference the dialogue between Pomni and Kinger in the episode on Mildenhal Manor.
>> Every day I spend here is one nightmare after the next. I KNEW IT WOULD END UP LIKE THIS. He just wants me to suffer.
I really am in hell. The way she frames this is slightly odd and strange. And to me, at first it was a bit jarring, but in the context of the circus, there's nobody else that she could be talking about. And the extent to which she is describing how she feels. Again, it sounds like torture.
She knows she's suffering. She knows what a predicament she's in, and she is aware of this, at least to some degree.
It seems to quite a great degree. Now, even though Kane uh seems to have orchestrated all of these specific instances, it is actually sometimes really difficult to deduce how much power he has, mostly because the extent of his power remains inconsistent with his perceived motivations and actions at times. I mean, how much can he actually control?
I'm going to assume that he at least has semi- omniscience. I think he can see quite a lot. And why do I think this?
>> We stay right here where I could keep my hundreds of allseeing eyes on you >> guys. The Amazing Digital Circus is a panopticon. In order to like make that, I had to like analyze like every frame, frame by frame, and it it just made me feel like a Spider-Man fan. Like I felt really cool. I actually think the show does a great job of showing just how untrustworthy Kane is in the first episode from the very beginning just through the introductory framing device which is that song that initial song uh which doesn't actually serve to give any explanation to the viewer but actually serves to disorient and discombobulate them as much as possible so that the audience is then indeed to Pomni's position because she would be just as disoriented when she first enters the circus. you're just dumped in as the audience, which is exactly what Pomney would feel when she's just dumped in, and this makes us sympathetic to her as viewers. So, when she's asking very normal questions like, "Why am I here?"
and "Why can't I leave?" and "How do I take this headset off?" And Kane just talks over her.
>> What do you think of >> I don't.
>> You're right. Terrible. What do you think of Pomni?
>> Uh, sure. I think I just >> God zuks are right, Jax.
>> I don't really >> since you're new around here.
>> It frames him as an untrustworthy character. One, because of how much information he's obscuring, and two, because of how much he's invalidating her emotions.
Kane's power just seems like so incredibly vast. The first indication of the state of his power is the eyes and also his introduction as the ring master of the circus. I mean, master is like in the name of that title. With a flick of his finger, he can change anything about their realities, their bodies, their feelings. He can summon people from all over the circus at will. Can alter their physical bodies. In episode 3, he checks his watch to see the adventure is over, but he's got nothing on his wrist. So, seemingly he just like knows when adventures are over. There's the stupid source. There's also the fact that he can force characters through adventure portals can zip their mouths up.
I believe he can see their dreams too because when he's having that therapy session with Zubil, the painting in the back is the same imagery that Pomney had in her nightmare at the beginning of episode 2. And from the way he's acting in episode 5, he seemingly goes on adventures with them as an invisible force, just listening in to all their conversation and just chiming in when he feels like it. Even though Kane does orchestrate all these specific events, I think there are some instances which would imply that Kane actually doesn't have as much power as he would like the members of the circus to think he does.
The only reason he would act like this is either if he didn't have a code function, which I suspect he wasn't given like specific or he wasn't given specific enough instructions on how to take care of the humans, or he has something really big to hide. And I think the answer lies in the void because the void is immediately introduced in episode 1 as something that is completely out of Kane's control that he fears.
>> This is the void.
>> We don't venture out into the void. Not even I know what's out there.
>> Which I think means it has way more significance as a story element. And I am going to assign it specific significance. Even if they don't escape through the void, which is a viable option, even if they don't escape at all, I think the void will still have a significant role to play in the coming episodes just because of how Kane reacts to it. Now, the most persuasive evidence for Escape to the Void is definitely the end of episode one.
Even though this exit did lead to the void, I don't think it was a legitimate exit. Mostly because it's all very monochromatic and gray. A very industrial hyper grunge kind of dirty aesthetic compared to the rest of the circus with gray concrete office building walls. And all the paintings are black and white except for this one in the computer room which is colored and is the same kind of paintings that appear everywhere else in the circus.
The existence of this to me implied that Pomni was still in the circus when these events were occurring.
There is one thing that stands reasonably against the void being an escape and that whole theory and that is what Abel proposes in episode 7 with the whole stasis pod theory. Not the fact that it is the theory, not the theory in itself, but the fact that the circus members believe Abel so readily, especially Pomni, because this is the digital recreation of the macroverse that exists in the circus. And this is what assumably the actual macroverse looks like. Now, what do you see here?
because I see 2000's desktop, an old setup, old CNA office chairs, some cords, some wiring, and an old headset.
And this is the scene that presumably Pomney would have stumbled upon when she was doing her urban exploration videos before she got trapped in the circus.
Are you Are you telling me that she missed the 20 stasis pods that were hooked up to this laptop, to this computer? You tell me she missed that.
Because for the other circus members, you could kind of argue that since they've been trapped in the circus for so much time, the macroverse has become very distant from them. They're very uncertain of it. It's more plausible that they would readily go along with this lie. But Pomny didn't like got trapped not that long ago, it seems. So, it's there's no real explanation for why she would unquestioningly believe Abel and not like mention anything about this. This could just be like me overthinking it though cuz I had a classmate and she would always play Valerant in geography and she told me that she played it so often that like the crosshair from the game like seared itself into her pupil and everywhere she looked she would like see a crosshair and it was for like a week straight and I think I'm just so absorbed like so streamlined into this one thing that perhaps this is a nothing burger that I've really expanded. It's just a small plot hole. But either way, I want you I want you to take this point. I want you to give a little kiss and I want you to put it in your pocket, okay? For later.
Because them so readily believing what Abel proposes does decrease the validity of this final scene a little bit. In terms of escape, another question arises, and that is, if Kane has the ability to take away the main cast's names, why doesn't he just wipe their memories completely? Why doesn't he just erase all of their experiences? That would be for him the best outcome because then having experienced no other reality, they wouldn't feel trapped in the circus since it's the only world they know. They wouldn't know anything else exists outside of it. They would love his adventures. They'd probably love and worship him the way he wants them to. But he doesn't, with the exception of King, he doesn't really modify their memories that much, uh, to our knowledge.
And I don't think it's because he won't.
It's because he can't. As we know from episode 7, significant modifications are actually what cause the abstraction process. But there are still the two possibilities about the nature of abstraction that remain based on the two abstractions that we've seen. Koffmo's room was like the room of a madman. Most definitely. But it's reasonable to assume that the modifications that Kane does could result in a breaking point, could result in insanity, and that triggers abstraction, or based on Jax's abstraction, which happens directly after modifications are done to him and has a much more depressed melancholic sort of quality rather than manic. that abstraction happens directly because of modifications and then emotional turmoil is simply a symptom of the abstraction process. But either way, the result is the same. Which raises the question, if causing severe modifications is what causes abstraction either way due to both possibilities, why would he even go as far as tampering with their names?
because that's a crucial piece of your identity. Which means that the emotional distress caused by this could either cause them to, you know, abstract, reach a breaking point, or simply the significance of that modification in itself could just cause them to immediately abstract. And the the fact that Kane risks this in the first place and goes as far as to do this implies to me that their names have greater significance, not just because they're names. I think it goes farther than that. The length to which Kane goes to obstruct their names completely would suggest to me that they are crucial aspects probably of escape.
So the question of Kane's NPCs because they don't act like NPCs. Like look at this. This is [ __ ] adorable. These two Crocs, they seem to have less intelligence and autonomy than Gummy Goo does. And this can actually just be explained through the fact that as Kane is devising the story, he would give Gummy a high intelligence and agency simply because he's the lead bandit of the story and therefore has to interact with the main characters of the adventure, like the humans more often.
But I think it goes deeper than that.
And why do I think that? Not necessarily just because of the show evidence, but because of the show themes. One of the things that Goose Works and TDC really focuses on is the value of the simulated, how genuinely real it is, how your brain can't actually distinguish between simulated and fake. And that's true, by the way. That's a fact, I think. And there is an intentional and active effort to humanize Gummy as much as possible. I think most aptly revealed through the lighting techniques in this scene where you can see how alive he is compared to his double and you feel his pain revealing just how restricted Gamigu's autonomy is as one of Kane's NPCs and yeah he's an NPC so why do I feel his pain why when I see this delicious stud have a panic attack on screen do I actually empathize and sympathize with him more than I've ever sympathized with Kane. I don't think I'm alone in saying that the NPCs often feel more alive than Kane is. And why is that? Well, I think the name of the place where Kane puts people after they abstract is illuminating in this instance. According to the dictionary, a cellar is the lowermost portion of a structure, usually below ground.
because that's where it's cool enough to store food, famously wine, you know, things for consumption. I think Kane is eating the abstracted circus members and recycling their brain files to use as adventure NPCs.
Now, adventure NPCs are one thing, but the whole construct of adventures and the NPCs that exist outside of them is also something that we should analyze. I mean, what even are these adventures?
Like where do they even take place? Are they happening in the void? Are they happening in another plane? And are they happening in another dimension? In a portal in another plane? Now, I'm bringing this up because the place where adventures take place is completely unknown, which makes it a viable option for escape. But what makes the adventures even more suspicious is the existence of the non-adventure NPCs.
These three characters are very suspicious creatures because even though Kane has complete and total control over the entire circus, at times they seemingly act not in accordance with his will. For example, embarrassing him or questioning him, making advances on him, and actively disparaging him in a way that Bubble does quite often. There are two main possibilities as to why Kane's NPCs don't always act in accordance with his will. Possibility one, he just does this all for show. This is a circus and he is the circus master. And there are also two audiences embedded into the narrative just based on its metatextuality and that is us and the humans. So this is a plausible explanation. Maybe if he actually is as godlike as he depicts himself to be, this is done to appear more relatable to the humans, which seeing how much he wants them to like him isn't really that far-fetched. He maybe acts goofy or silly to assuage the massive power gap between them to make them like him more.
Or maybe he doesn't.
Maybe he does this all to disarm them as much as possible, making them much easier to manipulate. But it's also pretty clear that I don't like or trust this guy. So placing my cane-hating bias aside, there actually is another possibility here. Kane doesn't have autonomous control over the NPCs, at least not in the way that we'd imagine.
Perhaps his inner psyche and emotions express themselves through the NPCs in a way that sometimes reflects poorly on him. One example of this is the award show where it's feasible to assume that Kane's need for love and validation.
>> Shut up. reflects in him thinking he's won the favorite character award only for an NPC to express the reality of the situation like an inner part of his subconscious manifesting itself. Or maybe it's a Sauron thing, the eye of influence only falling where one places focus. And then I rewatched episode 4.
>> Are you hearing this, Bubble? The toy box character wants us to leave the other intelligent AIs to run for a prolonged period of time.
>> Disgusting.
>> What did you just say to me? Is Bubble an AI? Does he have a modicum of control over the circus? And who are these others that Kane is talking about? Is he talking about the adventure NPCs? Did he make them as a creative AI? And was this an original developer function that they put inside his code? or did he go rogue and take over the code in order to be able to do this in the first place? It is impossible to deduce from the current information that we have whether any of what I just asked is true. And while this piece of information is small, I think it might be revolutionary in the future based on what we find out in episodes 8 and 9. Another highly plausible theory in the fandom and a very popular one, belief theory. King just like makes up a butterfly existing and it exists because he just believes in it. And then Pomny just like thinks about how like crazy style she could use gun skills and then all of a sudden she has crazy style gun skills. I think it's actually imbued enough into the story that we can elevate belief theory from theory status. It's definitely going to be a part of the story. But more importantly, the existence of belief theory raises two significant questions.
One is Kane only as powerful as the circus members believe him to be.
Because when Pom is dropped into the circus, she's told two things like immediately. One, she can't leave. And two, Kane is more powerful than everybody else and he's kind of like the head honcho. So, if she had never been given that impression when first coming into the circus, would her perception of Kane being less powerful than she than, you know, he currently is, would that have made him less powerful? And of course, the more important question, if they believe in an exit hard enough, could one appear? It's really not unplausible with how much belief theory is pointed out and focused on in the story. And you know, maybe maybe, okay, I'm hoping and I'm begging and I'm praying, maybe they all get together and they sing a little song and they do a little dance and they and you know, they're having a good time and they stand in a circle. They all hold hands and they just believe hard enough that they can leave and then they all appear in the CNA building. End of story.
Everybody gets a happy ending. I just want everybody to be happy. I just want I just want happiness. I just want joy and happiness to be like normal people and just enjoy life and be happy.
Okay, it's 8:30 on a beautiful Saturday morning and T8C is coming out. Episode 8 is coming out in like 30 minutes. I'm so excited. Okay, a real talk. I um I had a I had a little bit to drink last night and I got drunk for the first time. It kind of felt like um if you've ever seen Harry Potter, it kind of felt like Felix Felicis, like liquid luck. That's how I felt. And I came back home at like 1:00 a.m. But I still my body naturally woke me up. Naturally woke me up 30 minutes ago. So I made I made chai. Not tea. Chai. I made chai. It's beautiful. You can't see the color cuz I'm not going to move the phone. It's a good color. And I have these that I found in the fridge when nobody else was awake. And I'm sick. I feel from the lack of sleep and the intoxication.
Um, but we are ready.
It's going to be so boring. I am not normal about this show in like any capacity.
Kane is the villain, by the way.
He is just so everybody is clear. Okay.
Um yeah, he's going to have like a crash out. Um not a valid one and everything's going to go really bad.
Hopefully nobody I really hope I'm really hoping nobody abstracts her because he he could like force an abstraction, right? I just don't want that to happen. When I say came back and abstraction meant they were in like a vegetative state or coma or something.
The abstraction music really slaps though. So, at least that's the highlight. If anybody doesn't get abs, it is time to lock in.
I will see you all after the show, guys. I didn't even like it. I didn't even enjoy it. And like, not in like a They're being tortured, it's going to be so much. I mean, like I didn't even enjoy the writing of the episode. Like, I actually didn't like the episode.
I can this cannot be another Arcane season 2 because I can't do that again.
Like genuinely, I I'm not in the mental space to be able to do that again. Okay, let's talk about it. I initially thought that KGA was able, but like sort of in an Adam way, like CNA, Kane, and Adam.
Maybe it doesn't have to be able, right?
Like I know it like I know people think it's able but that is technically still a theory I think cuz I don't think they explicitly state that in the show.
Anyway, so initially I thought that Kinger was the A of CNA but as a father figure to Kane. Now now it's not a bad theory but in retrospect to episode A, I think we should take a closer look at this intro.
A red dot.
Something is fed to that red dot.
Photos, pictures, input for a generative creative AI which then has an output. As more is fed to it, it receives more color within itself, new perspectives, increasing its facets and making it more than it was. This AI is Kane. And this box is the AI parameters put in place by developers to ensure that AI behaves in a beneficial manner. Then a blue dot presumably another AI larger than the one before able to produce more more vast more complete with more perspectives and more facets with more being better.
And then then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?"
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Genesis 4.
If one can assume according to the color theme that the red dot is Cain simply because of the color of the dot, then one can assume that the blue dot is Kinger simply because blue is associated with King. It's the same train of logic, which means that this AI is Kinger. Not his father, not the dev, but his brother and the better brother at that. Kane cannibalized him out of jealousy. Also, from Ragtha's entrance in the circus, it kind of seems like she was there with her friends, but based on her reaction, I'm guessing they weren't really her friends. Also, what is like a 30-year-old posh farm girl doing in an abandoned office building? Like surely she wasn't doing urban exploration, right? Like I can't really imagine it.
Also like Ragatha has been in the circus for so long. Like genuinely so long. The more I learn about her, the more my respect goes up for her because no wonder she's so like toxically positive.
You got to survive somehow. Also, why is Jack's acting so nonchalant? I wanted this to be his like break out of the apathetic [ __ ] fast moment, but instead it's going down like the opposite direction of where I wanted to it to go where he's basically like conforming to the cycle. Look at this guy who's at a major crossroad in his life where he could choose to be happy despite the harm that's been done to him and the harm that he's caused others or he could fall into the same traps as the people who have hurt him and watch him choose the second option.
Look at this guy become the villains that made him.
Yes.
Love that. Dude, this is really stressing me out.
>> I think we need to abandon the idea of leaving.
>> Dude, no. No. What I want is resistance.
What happened to the indestructibility of the human spirit? And like I understand, okay, not abstracting is in itself a sort of defiance. You know, I get it. It's punk to choose to be happy even in a meaningless life. It's like rebellion and I get it. It's defiance in itself, but also like I don't want them to give up on escape because like dude and like I don't want to give up on them escaping. Like you you're probably looking at me like I'm diluted right now cuz I am. But I Okay, so they're probably digital clones and they can't.
But I really want them to. I really want them to. And they have lives out there and like they have lives that they could build out there even if they're scared of doing so. And I want to be able to see them do that. Or at least maybe they'll leave the ending vague enough that I'll just be able to imagine a good ending. Now, what's interesting here is this throwaway line right before the incident where Bubble tells Kane that he's just genuinely bad at this. Again, I think Bubble here is a manifestation of Kane's inner psyche, who was basically just like digging out his own insecurities because of how much he's just like worse than K are. And in this scene, there actually is a direct visual parallel to King in episode five. So Kane's need to fix everything and everyone, therefore, destroying them in the process can be explained just by his lack, his inherent lack and insecurity compared to Kanger.
Crying, throwing up, foaming at the mouth. Okay, send me a picture. So with this major crash out scene, Bubble did seem to have a lot of agency here. And I think some people speculate that he is actually able, like he's controlling the circus, but it's not a bad theory, mainly because of how the episode ends and also because of the trailer. We'll get into it, but I just don't want to think that. I feel like it would be the most boring path to take, so I'm not going to believe in it because that is intelligent. The [ __ ] ass bee shows up again. Kane is like really obsessed with bees. I didn't mention it before, but it does come up in a lot of scenes.
And the main reason I mentioned it is because I'm not actually sure what it means. Like, it's obviously some kind of metaphor. Kane is a bee. Okay. Bees have pollen. Bees are dying.
Bees have stingers. To be honest, I don't really see any correlation cuz I like bees and I don't like K. Also, to be honest, this whole scene did feel a bit off to me. I I don't know. Like like maybe writing wise, I think the voice acting was fine. Something about the writing of these lines of dialogue.
Maybe it just didn't hit.
>> They won't abstract. They won't leave me.
>> I WON'T LET THEM.
>> OKAY. SO, what was that? No, no. Explain that. No, no, no, no, no, no. You could stop people abracting this whole time.
Is that what I'm hearing? No, no, no, no. Explain. Go back. Go back. Allow me to present you with an analogy. Okay.
You have a significant other. You have a partner. Okay? And you love them and you've been with them for like several years, let's say, and it's Valentine's Day. So, this partner organizes a surprise date for you. Wow, so thoughtful, so kind. So much work put into that, right?
Organizes a surprise date for you.
You're like, "Cool. It's Valentine's Day. I'm going to show up." You show up to the address and it's an Italian restaurant. A really nice Italian restaurant. Expensive.
Three Michelin stars. Trinity's dreams it could be this restaurant, right? and you're chilling. You're like, you're like, "Okay, this must have been an expensive restaurant." And you go inside and it's Italian cuisine. Here's the thing. You don't like Italian cuisine.
You don't like it and you never have enjoyed it. And your partner of how many years probably should have known that before they booked their restaurant, but you're like, "Okay, maybe they forgot, you know, like let's just It was a sweet gesture. It's all about the gesture.
And then you hear a little little beat to your right and a mariachi band is playing.
And not only do you not enjoy public singing cuz you find it embarrassing.
You don't enjoy public gestures. Again, you find it deeply uncomfortable. I'm not I'm not saying like you're making me shy. I'm saying like you really deeply don't enjoy this. Your partner's like, "But I put so much effort in for you."
Also, you don't even like the music because you have a vendetta against it for some reason. And he and your partner's like, "Oh, I did all this for you. Like, it's so much work and I have to hire them." And you're like, you're like, "Okay, babe. Maybe we should just go home. Maybe we should just go home."
And then they propose in the middle of the Italian cuisine restaurant, three Michelin stars with the mariachi band playing in the back. They propose. They get up on the table and they propose.
Remember, you don't like public things.
They get up on the table and they propose.
Gorgeous ring. Okay. Gold. 19 karat expensive gold ring. Okay. And the diamond is huge. Diamond is huge. That rock is so big. You feel like Seisphus just putting it on your finger. Okay.
But here's the thing. You don't like diamonds.
Not only do you not like diamonds because it's an artificial scarcity that is created and there's no reason that they should actually be that expensive, but also because that's not your preferred stone. You're not even a gold girly or boyy.
Feel the boys not watch this video.
You're not like a gold person, right?
You like silver jewelry. You've only ever worn silver jewelry your whole life. And your partner of how many years should have probably noticed that like you would break up with this person.
Now, in like let let me take this analogy a bit farther. In Kane's instance, this is like Kane did all that basically and then you're like, "Oh, sorry. I I can't. No, I can't marry you because I just don't think I would be very happy. I wish you the best though.
And then he like locks the doors and you're like, "Oh." And then he shreds you cuz you didn't enjoy the mariachi band and the Italian cuisine and the giant diamond rock.
Do you kind of get what I'm saying? Like imagine Kane like as a person in the real world. That's the worst person you know. And they're probably a psychology major. Computer, can you shred these people?
Computer, can you make them experience how I actually feel like it would have made it much more unsettling to make him completely silent because one of his major character traits is that he talks a lot, right? He's literally got a mouthful face. It would signal such a big change from his usual demeanor. And I get sticking to the character traits that you've assigned. But then if you have character traits and you subvert them, that's really good storytelling.
and it would show like something is very clearly wrong. It would have that gravity to it of like, wow, this is a really serious moment. He's completely changed up his whole vibe. The song is bars, though. Congratulations all of my friends.
>> But rather than being the hand that feeds them, I actually think he's the hand that feeds on them. Okay, if we analyze the hand of cards at this point, we can clearly see that Kinger is the king, Jax is the Joker, and Zubul likes to smoke weed. Okay, so that was an adventure portal. Okay, so that was an adventure portal. Okay, and what you'll notice is this is really giving intermission time from episode 5 because surely Kane never had any embedded resentment for humanity and humans like ever, right?
This is another issue I have with episode 8 is that this is all supposed to be real, right? Like Jax has a panic attack about that literally in this episode. They are all responding to the absurdism of the circus as if it were a real situation. There are real psychological effects and ramifications, but besides this scene, which was absolutely horrifying there, it's not really it's kind of played off as a joke and in my opinion, not really given the emotional severity that I think it needed to be given in order to like digest the narrative, in order to like empathize with the characters really.
Especially since like I'm watching this a gossip. A goss. Okay. And I look down.
I tab out. I look down 20% sale because they only have 20% of their limbs. Like this is messed up, dude. This was weird.
They know their audience and I'll give them that. But I thought it was really strange. Future episodes like plural.
Okay, now we need to talk about Kon because he's acting weird as [ __ ] And the more of himself he remembers, the weirder he gets. Like is that just me?
Okay, fine. Maybe he's not AI, but he's certainly hiding something and we should talk about it. From this conversation, the story that's being presented to us is that Kuma made Kane and then Scratch made assumably the blue. Aai the better one because of his brilliance and also the tumor in his head which does imply that in the circus nobody can get any diseases cuz besides abstraction nobody can actually die, right? So, not only in this universe have humans created sensient AI, but they've also made like a path for immortality that was just like brushed over. Also, it does kind of support that they're digital scans, which I don't want to believe, but you know, we have to take stock of all the evidence in front of us, and it's not looking good for them. Okay, so this exit was something that Pomney conjured and not a real exit. Why does he look like that?
Why does he look like that? Okay, so what was that? No, what was that? What were those four minor chords? No, you got to explain that to me. What was that, dude? Every time like I had to rewatch the torture for this video, it like made me feel bad. Like I felt like I was making them relive it cuz what is the internet if not our own digital circus? So Ken goes into the character folder and it's really hard to see, but this says AI. And this one says something starting with CA. From the side, it looks like it could be CNA neural scans and something in brackets underneath. Escape.
In the AI folders, there are two images.
One looks to be Kane and the other is something very abstract with a bunch of question marks underneath it. Likely blue dot fella. He goes into the cane file and then we get a bunch more information.
System King solution. So presumably King like programmed a solution himself.
The date of the circus. The password is queenie123. The last line before king administrator is king of circus. Who am I?
He gets a warning and then this is the wrong approach. Then an error message and then cannot inject torment. Torment must be 100% accidental. And now King Ka and Kane seem to be directly conversing, but he calls him by a name that's glitched out that actually looks like neither Kane nor Abel. So it doesn't seem like Kinger and Kane were having this conversation.
Rather something else. Maybe it's Bubble or Blue Dot. But obviously it couldn't be Bubble because Kinger is the Blue Dot AI. I'm dying on this hill and you're going to have to bury me here. But actually though, something does seem to be going on with Bubble because in this last scene when Kane dies, everything of the environment begins glitching except for it seems the bubble in the background.
But maybe like Bubble works for King or like Bubble is King.
I don't even I don't even know how to make sense of this dude. Okay guys, this situation is dire so you know what time it is.
Yeah, this is the setup right now.
So these are all the major questions that we have asked so far. So number one is abstraction in episode 9. What will happen to abstraction?
Is it still possible SP and is it a way for escape to occur?
I am not really sure if abstraction will play a part in episode 9, especially since Kane isn't present in episode 9, but the bigger baddie who may or may not be bubble might have something to do with abstraction, especially since if that AI is better than Kane, not only either they should be able to free the cast and the circus members or they should be able to do something completely worse an abstraction or they should be able to undo all of Kane's abstractions. So, previous abstractions AB for sure. Will they be undone or will they all be left to die? Who knows? Jax is the key. He's the key guy.
Okay. And I think his mental struggle is going to be integral to episode 9. He's going to make some dumb decisions, bro.
He's going to be a dummy. His mental struggle with him denying the reality of his situation is either, and these are my two predictions, either he's going to completely snap and he's going to be the reason why nobody gets out of the circus. He couldn't choose happiness and life and freedom or to go back into the real world, or he will sacrifice himself for everybody else to escape.
It is a very cliche play and if they do do that, I'm hoping they write it a little bit better because it is just like really standard. Also, I just want everybody to be happy and get out. So, hopefully that doesn't happen. It's still a possibility though. So, sacrifice and he could sacrifice himself or everybody else. I just don't see him like living. So, Kane not dead. Not dead.
I don't think I don't I don't think we've seen the end of Kane for sure. I don't think he's dead.
Not the end. I have a feeling he'll come back like a what do they call it? Like when in the final act like someone a villain who's been dead like Emperor Palpatine like they come I've never seen Star Wars Emperor Palpatine or something like they come back. I feel like that's what's going to happen with him, right?
So I he might be dead, but it's not the end of him. He's still going to be very relevant, I think, in episode 9. This is definitely related to Ka cuz if King Ka actually did kill Cain, that would mean that it's like a biblical reversal because then he would be able, right?
Like it's more evidence that Ka is able because Kane killed Abel, but then Abel killing Kane would be like a biblical reversal in the sense like it just makes sense that if Ka killed Kane, he is able. If he didn't kill Cain, then he's probably not Able. Do you get what I mean? I know that's not really logical.
I'm just kind I go off like vibes. I'm sorry. My handwriting is not neat at all. But it's probably most likely that they're just digital clones, right? So, should I give up hope that they're ever going to leave? Probably, but not yet.
You won't catch me yet. So, clone maybe.
I can kind of visualize them like closing their eyes and accepting the reality, the brutal nihilistic reality of the situation that all of them abstracting and then like that's escape somehow. Like I know I proposed earlier that like Kane is recycling people through abstractions, but now that Kane is gone, they could exploit that absence or weakness and abstraction maybe to escape.
I think I'm just a little delusional and I was avoiding talking about this before, but we got to talk about it now.
The biggest thing that's like King isn't Nai is his wife cuz he has a wife.
That one's rough. That one is pretty rough.
Personally, no, that doesn't make any sense. I was about to say maybe they got married in the circus, but they're matching chess pieces. So, they were probably a pair before they came into the circus.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have taken those forms, right? Like forms directly related to each other. Also, when Kinger um when King is talking to Queenie, he says, "I'm sorry I dragged you into this." So, they probably knew each other beforehand. I can't really argue that they didn't know each other at all.
Maybe I could argue that they had like a relationship, but they weren't married.
Either way, he has a wife.
Um, if he has a wife, how would he be an AI?
It's a good question.
Okay, so either he's like not an AI at all and he is a dev or oh or and this would be really interesting. This would be really really interesting. But I am going to it is implausible and I will give you that. But it would be really interesting.
What if Kinger is an AI who doesn't know that he's an AI because Scratch created him and he created him so realistically because of the tumor in his head or something. I don't know that he created him so realistically and so perfectly that he thinks he's human. He doesn't know that he's not.
Or maybe he didn't know before he got his memory back cuz that's why he was acting so weird in episode 8 cuz he cuz he remembered that he is an AI. He's not actually a human. Can you imagine? Also, I feel like it'd be exactly the kind of thing Goose Works would pull because this whole time she's been making us hate Kane or at least making me hate Kane. Some of you guys have zero chill.
So, you know, um, you know, making me hate Kane, but then making us love King cuz I love King. He's a cutie. He's a sweetie pie and everybody loves Ka. King is cool.
What if King was also an AI? And that's where another another novel comes in.
The Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. A lot of you might know this book or you would definitely know the inspirations of this novel because all the Bladeunner movies are based on this book and also one of my favorite video games is based on this book. So, it's pretty cool. Then we have the identity of Abel, which I think is a very important question.
Either it's what I what I put his name Bubble the bigger baddy. Okay. Or it's Kanger.
I don't think it could be anyone else.
If it is, that will be quite disappointing. But if you're going to make a show with like a lot of like unanswered questions, the mystery shouldn't be or the twist shouldn't be something that is completely unpredictable. And I don't think it will be because Goosework said the show would be better on the second rewatch, which means that like there's going to be a lot of foreshadowing, right? And from what I've picked up before the foreshadowing was foreshadowing because right now it's just shadowing. It's not for anything cuz like the the latter hasn't happened yet. You get what I mean? Right now I feel like either bubble or king or maybe bubble is king.
They're both blue. I know that's like not really a good reason to suspect that they're linked, but color does play an important role in this show. Color theory and stuff. So, okay. Now I'm going to plot out all of the possible timelines. possibility one with them like being in this void, right? By by void I mean like everything is like you know how episode A ended everything is like falling apart. The environment is completely gone cuz Kane's gone. So environment gone.
And this is where it is very plausible that the bigger baddy is Bubble or bigger goodie.
We don't know where Bubble lies on the spectrum. Um because if you look at the trailer for episode 9, the bubbles are in the background and if the bubbles were part of Kane's influence, they would have disappeared. Bubble baddy is going to be the first timeline. I guess most of the episode will then be just like buming around doing nothing, just trying to accept reality is falling apart.
Um, and then while they're doing that, Jax is gonna have like like a turning point in terms of emotions.
And this will probably happen. Um, in the trailer there was like the scene where like uh they're watching the stars again. I don't know how. Maybe they jump into an adventure. They'll probably like go to Kane's office and find cuz they he had like little like globe globes and like balls, right? They could probably jump into those adventures. It'd be nicer than just waiting in like a blank space. So like I get it. Maybe they're just waiting for themselves to end cuz Kane brought them into this world. So they could also be deleted. And since they don't know, they probably consider that a possibility. So they're likely just waiting for their inevitable doom and random adventure portals. I feel like that could happen.
And then um they'll have like a deep conversation. Jax will finally say something that's like not not you know completely denying his emotions and feelings and his inner his inner psyche and he'll finally like let some of that vulnerability show cuz girl I've been waiting. I've been waiting. Okay, for him to just talk to Pom or anyone about anything. We're going to reminisce.
We're going to get a memory about Froggy. No, Ribbit and Cough Life.
Like coffee is such a cute nickname. I made this way too big, but that's okay.
They're gonna be presented either by bigger baddy bubble. Either by bigger baddy bubble or by someone else. They're going to find out some way of escape.
Probably through King actually. Either through King or Bubble or both cuz they might be the same person. But whatever.
I have no evidence for that. I just believe it for like no damn reason. Um, Kinger or Bubble will present them with a final opportunity to escape. And there'll probably be a split decision in the party. Like, should we give up hope even trying to believe in this anymore? Cuz it hurts to hope or should we actually try even if maybe we'll be disappointed. I'm going to call it conflict of escape.
when they decide two things could happen. Either Jax could embrace his negative characteristics or his positive attributes. So Jax, for simplification, we'll just say evil, not evil. I It's more nuanced than that, but like you know, two things could happen.
Two two more branches. If he's not evil either, he could stop them escaping completely.
canesque. I really hope not. I don't think he'd go that far, but also like I don't really know him because we don't know anything about his real life, which I think should be revealed here. I really want to know more about his life before entering the circus and everybody's lives before entering the circus. I want to know more. And I think that should happen at this point. If it doesn't, I'll be really sad cuz I really want answers. Anyway, he'll stop them escaping or he'll stop them escaping and then do a sacrifice play, therefore redeeming himself.
Oh, wait. That was evil.
Okay, pretend pretend this was evil the whole time.
if he's not evil, they're not escaping because his character arc finally coming to a close would kind of involve him accepting that this is reality and then them moving back to actual reality would kind of subvert that narrative that was just established. So if he's not evil, they're not escaping at all. None of none of them are getting out.
Though to be honest, it's hard to imagine like going through random adventure portals and then like the episode just ending. like they're just loitering around doing normal human stuff and trying to live a good life and then the episode just ends and then that brings us back to Abstraction because if that would happen like you really can't live like that forever.
Maybe they would figure out a way to die. Like have you guys ever seen The Good Place? It's really good but basically like and this is spoilers for The Good Place by the way. They get to heaven eventually. It's like it's like an afterlife kind of show. They get to heaven eventually and then they realize that like heaven is like where you get like free milkshakes all the time and like you just there's so much stimulation and dopamine that like your brain turns into like toxic sludge and you just like forget how to be a person cuz it's we're not made for immortality.
It's just not what we're made for. So in order for your brain to not completely break, you would just have to die at some point. Like you get tired of living. Also in the good place they actually find a way. It's very vague.
It's kind of like a door that you just walk through and nobody knows what happens after. The assumption is that you just stop existing. Maybe they'll figure out something like that. Or maybe if Bubble is a goodie.
Okay, let's let's do an alternate timeline here. But imagine Bubble goodie.
So he could give them the possibility of death cuz that's kind of that's kind of the worst thing about this existence is that they can't die. Like they can't leave. And the only thing after leaving that they could possibly do to escape is die. And they can't do that. If they never get the possibility of escape, this would be the best next ending where they have an esc a death they could choose if they wanted to when eventually they get tired of this life, which would be eventually, but like that's not abstraction. And you're wondering like right like that's exactly what abstraction is. You called it like a death except that death is not in their control. Like they can't choose it. It's not autonomous. But this would be kind of because they would be able to have the power and the autonomy in a place where they just don't have any of that to actually choose what happens to them next. And that would be even if it is death, it's just kind of them not escaping at all and then having to live through that.
This is the second best ending. The first best ending is them escaping. Oh, I haven't even put it down. Oh my god, I didn't even write it down. It should come here now. That will be very vague. If they do manage to escape, it's not going to be really shown. I don't think it'll be like a very vague sort of thing cuz I just don't think they'll get into all the logistics of how it could happen.
mostly because it's just really implausible. Though thematically it could also make sense if Jax would like accept himself and accept the reality outside of a situation and all of them could accept that and not fall into the trap of nihilism, you know. I'm going to call this one the escape ending. I'm going to call this one the good place ending. I'm going to call this one the Gaston.
Um just because it gives major Gaston vibes, but I couldn't really tell you why. And then this is by far the worst ending. None of them leave. None of them end up escaping. They can't die. They have to just be there forever. Does abstraction even happen in that instance. If it does happen, I guess, okay, let's make another branch. I guess if it does happen, abstraction can still happen, then it'll be a very grim ending, wouldn't it be? They all just like, "Okay, let's abstract now."
I mean, the attraction music like slaps, but like it would be kind of lowkey horrifying. Which means that goose work goose works might like pick it, which means that they might just do that cuz they like to see her suffer like naturally cuz then they have just like no relief for anything. It's just endless, you know, endless tortured existence.
My phone is taped to my wall. So like and I have put like a a cardboard box like I crumpled up behind the tape to make it like lean, but it doesn't always lean all the way. So if that happens, I'm sorry, but I can't really fix it.
Just all of my senses are telling me there's just something more here.
Now, bad e king would make this a pretty horrible experience. Maybe this is the worst ending actually. Worst ending.
Goody king would be kind of the same thing as bubble where they just make the good ending. Sorry, the good place ending.
If King is not an AI and he is a dev for real, there is something else that he's hiding. I don't think he's just a dev.
There's more to this story. I don't really know what that is, but we can theorize. Let's say that he's telling the complete truth. There should be something he's able to do with him and his butter fingers to get us out of here for real. So maybe escape through Kanger. Um, and if he's if he's what I'm thinking is happening, he's a dev, but he's hiding something. So, he's not just a dev. He might be like the founder.
Can you imagine? He was like the founder, but like he made like he meant for this to happen. Like he meant for them to get tra. He's secretly evil. I guess my senses are just telling me that he's secretly evil. Like I don't I don't know. So, he's like a dev, but he's secretly evil. He's a secretly evil dev.
and he did all this like like he has a maze runner. Like I was thinking about this the other day like what if like this is like a mazerunneres experiment.
The thing is Mazerunner didn't make a lot of sense. Like only the first movie was really good and that's only cuz what's his name? Dylan O'Brien. He's so hot. But like that's mainly why I wish the movie Loki.
Also we should analyze his relationship to Queenie.
I think there is something more there. I don't.
They didn't act that familiar with each other. Probably because like they forgot each other, but there was just something missing out of that picture that we really don't know. Oh my god, I forgot about the car accidents. Okay, we'll talk about that. Queenie is able. I'm just kidding. That's not We're going to call whatever's whatever missing information is here the X variable.
Okay, so Gangal and Jax are very related characters because they are essentially the same character, but Jax just got bullied in his childhood like obviously and then he turned out like Jax like his bullies like he became the people that hurt him.
Do you know what I mean? Um whereas Gangal probably didn't experience that though she still like obviously she still struggles with stuff but he bullies her so harshly because he is her like he sees a reflection of himself in her. Uh, also what's really interesting and relates these two characters is that they both have car crash trauma, right? Okay, truck car.
What the hell does that have to do with a CNA company? Like, I don't It's related, though.
And I think we're going to learn more about this in episode 9. And if we don't, I'm going to riot cuz I really want to know. Maybe they were like in the same car crash. People can't like die in the circus. And we figure that out cuz of Scratch. Well, like nobody else talks about it, but we figured that out cuz of Scratch. Cuz Scratch has a tumor, but he was living for so long in the digital circus. Unless that was what caused him to track, but I don't think so. Which means what if they were both like dying in this car crash and then someone put them in the circus so that they wouldn't die to like save their lives? I mean, no.
Don't be silly. Is everybody here because of a near-death experience? And are there different sites? Possibly.
Because it makes no sense that every single one of them is an urban explorer and every single one of them just stumbled onto this especially since Jax and everybody Jax and who else? Ragatha they never mention how they stumbled upon the headset and I can't imagine maybe Jax cuz he's younger but I really can't imagine Ragatha urban exploring.
So maybe there's like another site like they didn't come in through the same laptop. Maybe different pathways into the circus. So pathway one and pathway two. So pathway one is urban exploration which is the headset that we saw when it zoomed out and that was Pomni and Zubil for sure. Then past two would be Jax and Gangal. Then we have Ragatha and Ka. And I'm going to group them together because they're the both like the oldest members of the circus. And by oldest I don't like they are literally the oldest but also they've been the longest there.
Right. Pathway three. I don't know. I feel like if they were having that conversation, right, and then Pomman was like, "Oh, I was I've been I was exploring and I found it." Like, they would have surely they would have told each other how they came into the circus. And that's kind of one of my gripes with this show is that they don't talk to each other like enough at all.
Like, why wouldn't they ask each other like how did you get here and like where you from and how is your human life?
Like, it's crazy that they don't ask. It kind of feels like instead of knowing each other for years, they've only just met and like they're getting to know each other and they're supposed to have known each other for quite some time.
So, it's just it's a bit jarring to me sometimes, but that's probably it probably has nothing to do with like actual theories. They have to communicate information to the audience, but if they've already spoken to each other, that information can't be conveyed. It totally could be if you just wrote it in a certain way, but they chose not to. That's fine. Whatever.
Basically, every single one of our questions will be answered through the macroverse.
It is the source of all of the mysteries, and exploring the real world is definitely how we'll get more answers on the digital circus. And what is happening there? And why it's happening there? I guess that's those are two main questions. Where? Wait, what is it?
Where? When? What? Why? How? Where?
When? What? Why? How? How? When? What?
Why? Where?
Where? When? What? Why? How? And literally not a single one of those questions has been answered. Isn't that crazy? Like, they can't do all of that in episode. I'm a very curious person if you couldn't tell. And I need my questions answered. I need all of my questions answered immediately now.
Preferably. I mean, thank you for making me wait. It's cuz it's actually it's it's really endearing me to the show, but preferably right now. Tell me. Give me special access. I want to know before everybody else, and I want to hold it over all of you guys. terms of escape.
Um, if it does happen, it'll happen either through their names or through Jax like manifesting a key cuz he's a key guy or everybody manifesting a key like like before. As I said, I was kind of being I was kind of joking when I said that is it is what I want, but I was also like it would be hard to write well if they all like came together and they like believed hard enough together cuz like the door before like that was just Pomney, right? So maybe the power belief is like a lot stronger when all of them can do it.
Also, maybe they can generate like a whole new circus if they really try hard enough. Wouldn't that be interesting?
Maybe that will be like if they stay in the circus forever, that would just be like them generating random [ __ ] that they want. I mean, eventually they get bored again, but like it'll be fun for a little bit. Anyway, so if they escape, it'll definitely be through their names.
Oh.
Oh my god. Oh my god. Are they going to remember their names now that Kane's dead? Like, will all their memories come back to them?
Okay. I'm really hoping Kane's dead so they get all their memories now. I I said before he's probably alive, but I'm hoping that he's dead now so that they can remember their names. Kane dead integral to this. If not, maybe Bubble will give them their names or the bigger baddy or the blue dot or Ka or Abel who are all simultaneous to the same thing and also separate things depending on what happens. You know, Blue Dot is able. Blue Dot is able for sure. Okay, that's what I'm proposing. Definitely Blue Dot is able. Anyway, so that's names. The other way they could escape is manifesting a key.
manifestation.
I don't know why I'm writing with my left hand. I'm not left-handed. I'm just being silly. Okay, I'm going to check my notes just to make sure I didn't forget anything. So, my laptop is kind of like 5 years old. It's like it's my school laptop and my keyboard has broken and my mouse very recently stopped working. So, I have to plug in an external one in order to use anything. I can still play Minecraft though. I can still play Minecraft cuz WD still works and I've got that external mouse. But like basically like I doesn't work and E doesn't work. What the hell, man? Those are like the two most necessary letters in the English language. You joking?
Also, I want to learn more about AI sentience because and this is really interesting. I was I was talking to one of my friends the other day and I got her hooked on this show, right? And we're actually going to go see episode 9 in theaters. I'm sorry. I live in Sydney and I'm so sorry for your loss. Okay.
But um I'm going to see with a friend. I got her hooked on we did like an exchange. So I made her watch all of these episodes. In return I watched Interview with a Vampire cuz she that's like her favorite show. She she was like I asked her about Kane or I said something like you know like I I expressed my opinion which is that he's evil and then she was like I don't really think he's evil cuz he's an AI.
Like I don't see him as a person. And I was like interesting. Like you don't see like any she doesn't see any like personality traits in him cuz she doesn't consider him sensient. He seems pretty he seems alive but like not in any of the good ways to me. Um I don't know. I haven't that I haven't heard that opinion before online. So that's kind of interesting. When Frankenstein the doctor was making the creature, he had to like rob graves and like steal people's arms and eyes and [ __ ] and like sew them together and [ __ ] like electrocute them. You know what I mean? He was a weird guy. He's a little bit of a freak. He went into like he was a gravedigger. So like it seems that you can't really create life out of nothing, which makes sense. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. You can only really like build it upon one thing or another. So something had to be sacrificed probably for Kane to be sentient. Probably maybe Ka Maybe King's humanity had to be sacrificed for it. Maybe that's why Kane keeps Kinger around.
I also want to know Kane's actual purpose because he says he's there to keep their minds active, but that's just his perspective of his purpose or just his like he just told Abel to say that. So that like that might not even be what it he thinks his actual purpose is or what his actual purpose is at all. So I want to know why he was created um and what his commands were like when you make some like an AI or something like you give it certain commands, right? I want to know what those were. Now they know that they can manifest stuff in the circus. whether or not Zuba will change some of her body. It seems like maybe there's something important hidden in their manifestation abilities. Like for example, being able to create an escape together, if they will believe hard enough, if I believe and they believe and I'm believing, if if I believe and they believe and it's all resting on my belief and their belief, they can do it.
Now, AI is central to the themes of the amazing digital circus. But what conclusions can we actually draw from the information that we have just gone through? The most disturbing thing about the panopticon that Kane creates is that he has access to the human's memories.
If we analyze how Jax was reacting in episode 7, it's like he he flinches like he's being shown these images in an unrelenting manner. Initially, I thought it was a PTSD reaction, like literally like trauma, but obviously we know that the reality is much more insidious. Kane was inflicting that upon him. This is known, but it doesn't just prove how far Kane is willing to go, rather how much Kane actually understood the human's emotions. If you hurt someone, even accidentally, you are still causing them pain. But there was initially some lenience from my side because in terms of his artificial intelligence, it's really difficult to ascertain what level of consciousness he actually lies on on that spectrum. If he doesn't know what it's like to have human emotions, how could he possibly comprehend hurting them? Except, I've come to the conclusion that he does. What's more human than having an existential crisis about your existence? Cain exhibits a very deep level of human understanding.
It's true that wanting love is a human attribute, but then the converse of that is also true. Wanting validation, wanting simply people to cheer for you and applaud you. Narcissists are people, too. It's not like having those qualities makes him any less sensient.
He still has very people-like attributes even if they are bad ones or when Abel who remember is a mouthpiece of Cain acknowledges the suffering that the humans are undergoing. Cain is aware of what he's doing. He is sensient but not just that I think he's conscious. If he doesn't want connection then what does he want? Why would he slave away for them all this time making adventures for them as he said sitting through all of their insults just to do his job? Why would he want to please them so bad? Cuz he doesn't want connection. He wants all you have in the circus is 24/7 games and no goddamn bread. But regardless, a dictatorship is a dictatorship. And every dictator wants to be loved and adored before they resort to fear because every dictator is an egotist.
Clemency was viewed in the Julio Claudian period of the Roman Empire as a virtue of the emperor. Why? Because when you can kill, torture and maim whoever you like, having mercy on people is considered a privilege that only you can exercise. And often clemency was used strategically. It's saying, "Yeah, I could kill you, but I'm letting you walk away. That's how nice I am." Gas Caligula is a really good example of an emperor who deified himself, wanted to be loved and adored by the people and when he couldn't receive that, resorted to killing and maming and murder according to the historical texts. Let there be one lord, one king. He often took his place between the divine brethren and exhibited himself there to be woripped by those who presented themselves. Later in his reign, when some of the Roman people perhaps showed hesitance towards his tyranny, he began to resort to extreme brutality.
When cattle to feed the wild beasts, which he provided for a gladatorial show, were rather costly, he selected criminals to be devoured without examining charges. He is credited with saying, "Let them hate me so they but fear me." Just because you ask for love, it does not mean you are owed it. And in the case of the circus, it doesn't mean you deserve it. So what happens when people rightfully so don't love you?
What if they argue? We're not your people. What if they question your authority, refuse, or simply exhibit a basic level of autonomy? If you cannot gain respect through love, those in power gain it through fear. Now, I do pity Cain. When me and you are born, we aren't born with a set of characteristics coded into our DNA.
We're just born as we are, and experiences make us. Or at least that's what I believe. You know, there's some philosophical debate about that. But this theory applies to humans. Kane actually did have a personality rigged up to his DNA when he was born because that's how AI is made. So Kane might actually have been born in a specific way where this personality type was inevitable and that's sad. In this new age of AI, in the reflections of the horrors that we have created, how can we possibly wish to assign morality and ethics onto an object, especially if it stops being an object? Cain can't be called human, but he isn't inanimate.
One day, just like Shelley imagined all those years ago, an arrogant person of modern sensibilities creates life.
Another modern Prometheus, another careless usurper of the natural order, and they create a new kind of life, a kind of life that is neither man nor machine, but experiences a select and individual in between kind of misery that is not easily understood. The spark of life was thrust onto Cain by man.
Man-made gods are cruel gods and thus make cruer creations. I pity Cain, born of apathetic curiosity, but that doesn't make him any less of a jailer. Both of these feelings can exist at once, and I think it's important to note that you can hate someone and still find love in your heart all at the same time. You could really dislike someone and still find yourself chasing after their validation and approval. You can think that AI should not exist and yet at the same time find yourself sympathizing for its pain, especially when synthetic pain is indistinguishable from real pain. If I'm right about Kinga being an AI, Kane's double, then my hatred of AI in Kane would be completely undone by my love of AI in Kinger, it's completely nonsensical to live in such a fractured reality where opposing views must exist all at the same time. And it's so difficult because it cannot be justified through any logical meme. But it's how we must live on. It's how we must move forward through meaningless existence with a greater understanding of ourselves and others. So what do you do?
Well, that's the moral of the story. Go outside. Watch the stars with someone.
Drink some cocoa.
関連おすすめ
BSA Goldstar - I gave up! And why animals beat humans!
thebingleywheeler
102 views•2026-05-31
The 'Islamic dilemma': Quran tells Christians to judge by the Gospel
canceledkings
1K views•2026-05-29
Seneca - Escape The Crowd, Find Your Inner Peace!
realfreewisdom
114 views•2026-05-29
Scholar Explains: WHAT IS A GNOSTIC?
fightbackpodcast
965 views•2026-05-31
Fulton Sheen: A Mente Tenta se Manter Jovem para não Sofrer com os Impactos do Tempo
SantoCotidiano-port
673 views•2026-05-29
Why Pure HEDONISM Is IRRATIONAL
qnaline
12K views•2026-05-31
When They Ignore You, Do This Instead | Stoicism
ZenithWisdom-e3k
615 views•2026-05-31
The fourth great humiliation. #jimmycarr #crowdwork #hecklers #standup
jimmycarr
576K views•2026-05-28











