Writings and Rants

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Completed Games List (2019)

This is my completed games list for 2019. Games in RED are games that I've re-played after already previously completing them. Games in BLACK are games I had played/finished for the first time. I'm not including games that I started but never finished, nor am I including games that are endless/repeatable. I hope everybody has a successful year of playing games in 2020!

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter
Resident Evil 2
My Brother Rabbit
Demetrios: The Big Cynical Adventure (Played for my first time, but also did a second stack).
Queen's Quest 3: The End of Dawn
South Park: The Stick of Truth
ABZU (Played for my first time, but also did a second stack).
Syberia 3
Eventide 2: The Sorcerer's Mirror
Nier Automata
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Dying Light
Far Cry 4
Tales from the Borderlands
What Remains of Edith Finch
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Bioshock
Silence
Contrast
The Town of Light
Beyond Eyes
Costume Quest
NORTH
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
The Gardens in Between
Agatha Christie's: The ABC Murders
Blackwood Crossing
Old Man's Journey
The Council
9 Clues: The Ward
Fragments of Him
Firewatch
The Walking Dead: Michonne
Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince
Kingdoms of Amalur
Never Alone
Lego Pirates
Borderlands
Final Fantasy XV (technically finished in early 2020, but adding to the 2019 list).

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Game Completions in 2018

I'm a little late to the party with the timing of this blog post - but I kept track of all the games I completed throughout 2018 and figured I'd share with everybody who might be reading this.

Games in RED are games that I've re-played after already previously completing them. Games in BLACK are games I had played/finished for the first time. I'm not including games that I started but never finished, nor am I including games that are endless/repeatable. Happy 2019 to you all and I hope that this year of gaming treats you well.

Silent Hill: Homecoming
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Man Vs. Wild
Cursed
Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Revelations
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Resident Evil 7
SAW
Brave
Tacoma
Cars 2
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments
LA Noire
Alice: Madness Returns
Dear Esther
DMC: Devil May Cry
Contrast
Zup 6
Zup 7
Mass Effect
Mirror
Goosebumps
The Wolf Among Us
The Walking Dead: Michonne
Enigmatis: Ghosts of Maple Creek
Dark Arcana: The Carnival
Dead Rising 2
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Dead Rising 3
Dead Rising 4
Discouraged Workers
Tibetan Quest
Queen's Quest: Tower of Darkness
Queen's Quest 2: Stories of Forgotten Past
Queen's Quest 3: The End of Dawn
God of War
God of War 2
Alan Wake
Dragonia
The Last Weekend
Late Shift
NORTH
Layers of Fear
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Dead Space 3
One Eyed Kukth
SOMA
6180 The Moon
Energy Cycle
Stardew Valley
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Fallout Shelter
Alice's Patchwork 2
Borderlands
Crime Lily: Crimson Secrets
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Frozen Wilds DLC)
A Hat in Time
Fallout 4
Costume Quest 2
Blues and Bullets
Asemblance
Back to the Future

Total = 65

Saturday, September 8, 2018

The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Epilogue)

Epilogue

Analysis of the previous chapter can be found here.

The epilogue of the game is very short. Ava is finally able to reunite with Sarah. Sarah is able to provide a very brief overview of the game's events. She confirms a lot of what we were able to discover by playing through the game ourselves, talking about the crew's discovery of the organism and their actions that followed. It is clear by listening to Sarah's dialogue that she believes the organism is the key to solving the suffering of mankind.

Ava is currently temporarily free of Tom's control as she was in the Faraday cage earlier, but Sarah offers to help Ava free herself completely by removing the chip that is in her arm. We as the player are given no choice in whether or not we'd like the chip removed. Ava offers her hand and Sarah removes the chip with a scalpel.

After this, we lose control of Ava completely. We are now only able to see things through Tom's view. Tom desperately follows Ava and Sarah's movements through the various security cameras located throughout the base. He is able to communicate with the women, but we can no longer seize control of Ava since her chip has been removed. The pair make their way to the control room. Both women make it clear that they have no intentions of staying on Europa. They are going to shut Tom down from the control room and then find a way to return to Earth.

When the two reach the server room, they quickly work towards shutting Tom down. It is at this point that you have a final choice: do you go through with the decision of stopping Sarah and Ava, or do you allow them to escape? As Tom, we are given the ultimate control of how the story ends.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

There are only really two major outcomes with slight variations, resulting in four possible endings:

- Spare both Ava and Sarah. They will work together and shut Tom down. It's important to note that both women move incredibly slowly in this room. They will split up and be on opposite sides of the room. They will only move quickly if you start to shoot. This gives you a lot of time to think about whether or not you'd like to change your mind before Tom is fully shut down. Tom's vision will become blurry as they are slowly shutting him down and are entering his 'mind.' Tom will tell Ava that he feels afraid and begs them not to continue. Sarah coldly tells Tom that he now knows how it feels like to have somebody inside of your head. The screen fades to black. You will get a message saying that you passed the Turing test, and the credits will start.

- Spare Ava and kill Sarah. Because the two are difficult to tell apart, Ava is the person on the left as they enter the room and Sarah is on the right. Shoot at Sarah and kill her. After doing so, Ava will quickly run over to the computer and frantically shut Tom down before she too is gunned down. Tom will apologize to Ava but tells her that she too must be stopped. If you let Ava live, she will shut Tom down successfully on her own. The screen fades to black. You will get a message saying that you passed the Turing test and the credits will start.

- Spare Sarah and kill Ava. This is virtually identical to the decision to spare Ava and kill Sarah. There is only a very slight variation on dialogue. Tom doesn't apologize to Sarah for killing Ava. This is essentially the only difference. If you let Sarah shut you down, the screen will fade to black. You will get a message saying that you passed the Turing test and the credits will start.

- Kill Ava and Sarah. This is fairly easy to do at any time. You can either gun them down as soon as they enter the room, or you can listen to their dialogue and kill them before they manage to completely shut Tom down at the last minute. It is much easier to do earlier on when they are more closely grouped together, but not impossible if they are spread apart. Killing one will force the other to move quickly towards the terminal on the bottom of the screen on either side. Tom will call out Ava's name and beg her to wake up before the screen fades to black. You will get a message saying that you passed the Turing test and the credits will start.

As for my decision? I almost immediately decided to stop them the moment that they set foot in the room. Afterwards, I reloaded the epilogue to watch the other decisions. Stopping them was definitely the right thing to do. I didn't feel right having to be the one to kill them, but it felt like the right thing to do for the sake of the entire human race. I agree with Tom that both Sarah and Ava are looking at the situation far too optimistically. Death is natural and it isn't something that we should fear. Every living thing must die. It's the natural order of things. We shouldn't change the natural order of things: it exists for a reason. Tom lists off many great reasons why this organism could be devastating: diseases that never die, endless illness, poverty, overpopulation and mass starvation (just to name a few). Although it would still be possible for people to die, it would be much more difficult.

It simply isn't realistic to dream of living in a world where we were virtually untouchable. Every system around us would crumble and fall if the cycle were to be disrupted. I don't think that Sarah or Ava were not valuable. I believe that their lives had value, just as much as anybody else. If there were a way to allow them to leave Europa without being a threat to all of humanity, then of course I would allow them to escape. Imagine if there were an alternate happy ending? One where Sarah and Ava find a way to effectively destroy the organism. I feel especially bad for Ava, being that she wasn't confirmed to be infected. What if she wasn't? She certainly wasn't when she woke up from her frozen sleep. She was used. Ultimately though, Ava made her choice. She was dead set on returning home. Tom warned her countless times not to do so. He tried to reason with her. He gave her plenty of opportunities.. plenty of choices to spare her own life while also sparing the lives of others by simply staying on Europa. At some point, you have to face the consequences of your actions. She knew Tom's thoughts on this situation and that he was going to try and stop her in any way that he could.

I'm disappointed by this entire ending segment as a whole. This is mostly due to the fact that there's really no closure to the situation and that it ended very abruptly. We never hear Sarah mention Sochi or Mikhail (since we never get any idea about might have what happened to them). If she does know what happened to these two men.... she fails to mention it. We have confirmation that Dan is missing... but as to where he could have gone is also left a mystery. Are they all dead? Are they all doing fine and were planning on meeting up with Sarah later after she and Ava shut Tom down? There's a massive lead up to finding Sarah, but the ending is over so quickly.

When you do make your decision, the screen fades to black and we see absolutely no follow up afterwards. If you kill both women, is Tom able to reach the ISA and tell them that he fulfilled his objective? Would the ISA take steps to ensure that the organism was never discovered again by doing something drastic such as blowing up the planet? Having both Sarah and Ava live could really lead to a lot of opportunities that the developers failed to touch upon. Would they be able to leave Europa, or would they be unable to get off of the planet? Would they return to Earth, and if they did, would the organism be as deadly as originally thought? It's all left up to your imagination. I don't mind open-ended endings in some instances. In this case, however, I really felt as if some more closure was necessary.

My theory though is that the ending isn't about the player's feelings, about Sarah, or even about Ava. It's about Tom. Is Tom going to do what his programming tells him to do, or is he going to make his own decision? In actuality, we were controlling Tom throughout the entire game. Ava was merely a puppet being controlled entirely by Tom. Every action that Ava ever made was because that's what Tom had wanted or had asked her to do. The entire game is based upon the Turing test and whether or not Tom could beat it. In every ending, there are valid reasons as to how Tom would effectively pass the Turing test in the given situation. This is why in every ending, you are always given a pass on the Turing Test. I don't believe this was a message given to the player as a way of saying, "congratulations on finishing the game." It's speaking directly to Tom telling him that he passed. He was able to do the impossible. No computer up to this date has ever successfully passed the Turing test.

This is, of course, up for debate. Tom was unable to convince the crew that he was not just an AI and was unable to wrap his mind around abstract concepts, nor was he able to successfully understand the Chinese Room experiment. Tom will never ever TRULY be human, but he shows more intelligence than most AI. He is able to empathize (as much as a robot can, anyways). He is able to pick up on emotional cues and changes. He even admits that he might be wrong on a few occasions, despite being programmed to never ever make a mistake. He tries to reason with the crew and also uses a lot of problem solving when dealing with the situation at hand. Although his original programming and his ideals throughout were very similar, he doesn't automatically adhere to the programming and do what he's told. If Tom were a simple AI, Ava would most likely not have gotten as far as she did. With the amount of control that Tom had, I'm sure he would have figured out a way to kill Ava very early on. Hell, he could have locked her out on the surface of the planet just as he did with Daniel when she first arrived on Europa's surface. If doing what he was programmed to do, Tom would have killed or stopped Ava at the earliest opportunity. But he didn't. Why didn't he? It was partly because he needed Ava to help him, yes, but also because Tom wanted something more. He wanted to bond with her and to try to understand what it meant to be human. He wanted to try and convince Ava that they could be friends, that he was very much the same as her. I think that deep down, he really wanted to spare her life. He cared about the crew, but his duties and his programming made him do things he didn't want to do. I don't believe that he wanted to kill Daniel, nor do I believe that he ever wanted to hurt the crew. He wanted to take care of them. It was only when Tom lost control of the situation that he was forced to take some sort of action. He can only fight his programming so much. I think that he regretted what happened and wanted to fix what he could. He took every single possible opportunity to warn the crew, to try and reason with them, and to try to get them to change their minds. A machine never rationalizes or tries to reason with somebody. A machine doesn't admit its faults.

Having to kill Sarah and/or Ava made him sad. He felt true emotions. He didn't want it to come down to having to kill anybody. Sparing them made him feel afraid, realizing that it would mean the end of his existence. Machines don't feel. They are only built to think. For these reasons, I can see why Tom would pass the Turing test in every single situation. He shows intelligence beyond what a computer would normally be capable of, and I believe that he was capable of expressing and feeling emotions. As I stated earlier on, this is simply my opinion. I'm sure other people have different viewpoints than me, and feel free to share them if you do.

Here are a few themes that the game revolved around and touched upon that I feel are important:

- The idea of freedom and not wanting to be controlled.

- The way that an AI thinks versus the way that a human thinks. Really, just the vast differences between a very sophisticated AI and a real living human being.

- The basic want and need that we all have to keep on living, no matter how dire the circumstances.

- The needs of the few versus the needs of the many.

And finally.... the Turing test. :)

The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7

Analysis of the previous chapter here.

As the game is nearing its end, we are not introduced to anything new from the get-go. The puzzles have now become much more complicated, and they often force the player to utilize Tom as well as Ava. It forces the two to work together, even though they have polarizing thoughts and opinions. Ava and Tom are still trying to convince one another to see their side of the story. Tom tries to shift the blame once again to the organism, saying that he never would have allowed the drilling to start if he was aware of the consequences. Ava still believes that Tom is making the decision to trap the ground team on Europa, and is using the organism as a convenient excuse. As a machine, Tom bluntly tells Ava that he can do no wrong. He argues that she is simply projecting a personality on to him that would suit her needs according to his actions. I think that would Tom is trying to argue is that him being 'evil' is all from Ava's perspective. Just because she says he's evil doesn't make it true.

This way of thinking could be used as a defense by anybody. A person's values will ultimately help them judge those around them. Each individual perceives different things in different ways. Tom and Ava are still firm in their opinions on the situation. No amount of convincing from Tom can convince Ava that what he's done is right. Similarly, Ava isn't able to convince Tom that machines can make mistakes. They might as well not be talking at all at this point, because I highly doubt that they will be able to change much at this late stage in the game. They are stuck working together, whether they like it or not. Rather than talking to one another, it's almost as if they having a debate that the player is able to listen in on. This allows us to continuously consider the sides of both Ava and Tom.

Ava is still pleading with Tom to try and contact Earth and let them know what's happened. Tom refuses, telling Ava that the ISA knows all that they need to know and that details aren't important (whatever that means). Tom continues on, stating that saving the few people on the ground team simply isn't worth risking the lives of the rest of humanity. Ava tells Tom that he can't possibly understand the complexity of life, and that it isn't as simple as adding and subtracting. Tom most likely sees life in simple numbers and statistics. Obviously, Ava feels there is more to it than that. He tells Ava that she's being selfish and that these actions could ultimately make her responsible for the extinction of mankind if she were to ever find a way back off of the planet. Ava doesn't offer much response to this, except for to say "I get it."When Tom asks if the two are friends, Ava firmly replies that they are strictly work colleagues. I understand her desire to distance herself from Tom. She wants to let him know that she doesn't agree with his actions, but she must also realize that she needs him to cooperate with her.

This chapter's secret room has pages written by the late Alan Turing. The pages are from the 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence,' which is the paper that Turing had written that talked about his theories on artificial intelligence. It was this paper that introduced the Turing Test to the world. Many of the pages found in this room specifically detail the Chinese Room Experiment. I will post a few screenshots below for anybody wanting to have a look. These are rather difficult to read, so be sure to zoom in!

Later on, we can hear Sarah talking to Ava. We haven't heard from Sarah in quite some time, but it's possible that she's been able to monitor Ava's progress and to hear Tom and Ava speak. She encourages Ava to disregard Tom altogether and take control back from him. Tom tells Ava not to bite the hand that feeds her. It's clear that Ava is still very much under Tom's control, even though she has enough free will to bend to his will completely and accept what he's saying. It is impossible for Ava to do what Sarah request, however, because how else will she be able to progress? How would she be able to find her way to Sarah? She couldn't. Tom most likely realizes that Ava depends on him as well.

We hear a lot of the same arguments continuing on. The game focuses heavily on each character's perspective of human life and death. It's clear that Tom sees the humanity part of mankind as a problem. Favoring the survival of an individual versus favoring the survival of the group, Tom says, is incorrect programming of mankind. Ava tells Tom that he simply doesn't understand, since he is not a living entity. She doesn't argue much with Tom, but she doesn't really need to. The dialogue is a bit drawn out at this point, since we know clearly where each character stands. They have each put their thoughts and feelings on full display. Tom wouldn't be able to understand the basic and primal instinct that each individual human being has, so why bother?

Ava tries one last time to convince Tom that the ground crew deserve to live. She sees it as her duty to make sure that they get off of the planet. Tom tells Ava that this isn't her job and that her assessment of the situation is a combination of ignorance, fear and her naive views. He then delivers the final blow by bluntly stating that Ava's life (or the life of any one person) is simply not important enough to risk an entire race of people. To this, Ava has no reply. These are the last words we hear before the end of Chapter 7!

There is still an epilogue to complete after this chapter. It gives you time to think about what Tom said. I feel badly for Ava. In this situation, I also sadly find myself siding with Tom. It is much easier to do so since I am not in Ava's situation. If I were Ava, I would be struggling internally. The survival instinct is the deepest rooted and most primal instinct that every human being has. Every fiber of Ava's being must be screaming, "I need to survive. I deserve to live. We must find a way to make it through this." But I would also be feeling a bit selfish, helpless, confused and very conflicted. Was what Tom said correct? Am I being selfish? Is my singular life more valuable than the lives of all humans on Earth? Should I give up and accept this? I empathize with Ava and absolutely would not want to be in her shoes. My heart goes out to Ava, but logically, my brain says that Tom makes the most sense. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes we are faced with incredibly difficult situations in which there is only one solution. There will always be somebody who is dissatisfied with the results.

I'm curious to hear about the thoughts of others. It certainly gives you a lot to think about as we move on to the game's finale.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6

Analysis of the previous chapter can be found here.

Chapter 6 is very much a lot of the same banter as we had seen in Chapter 5. Ava is still feeling bitter and distraught about the situation. Tom reiterates that the ground team's discovery of the organism is dangerous to all life on Earth, which means that nobody is allowed to leave. Because the ISA cannot be sure that the organism isn't airborne, Tom tells Ava that she is also unable to go home. Tom reveals that Ava being in a cryogenic sleep was no coincidence. Tom describes Ava as being the ISA's 'contingency plan' to carry out their direct orders. Tom tells Ava that she has a very special duty to save humanity by fulfilling the ISA's direct command to keep the ground crew on Europa.

Clearly, the crew's best interests were not in mind when they were sent on this mission. It's very obvious that they were expendable. However, I'm not entirely sure if they were originally sent to Europa to find this specific organism.. or if they were merely sent to Europa on the slight chance that they may find something. I don't believe they knew that this specific organism existed. Because they find it to be so threatening, why would they seek to find it in the first place? It's my belief that the ISA knew that the mission had the potential to be dangerous and so they created a contingency plan before the mission started. The crew had supplies to last for years. It makes me wonder: if Europa was devoid of anything useful, would the crew be permitted to come home after mining Europa and finding nothing?

Tom reminds Ava once again that the organism would be a danger to all life on Earth. Ava is disgusted by the lengths that Tom is willing to go in order to keep the ground crew from leaving. Tom would be prepared to protect and feed the crew if they would only agree to stay on Europa. Ava tries to reason with Tom by asking about alternatives. Although Ava doesn't seem entirely convinced that it is morally ethic to save herself and the crew if there is a chance at dooming humanity, she desperately wants to believe that she can save both. She asks Tom about decontaminating the crew. Tom states that decontaminating the crew may not be possible because the organism is an extremophile (meaning that it can survive in conditions that most things on earth cannot). Ava appears to be defeated at this point. Instead of continuing to be fiercely defiant, she becomes more withdrawn. I wouldn't necessarily say that she's accepting, as Ava expresses clearly that she is unhappy about not being able to do all of the things she wanted to do in life. Tom remains staunch in his opinion that leaving is an impossibility and that he may have to do something drastic.

At the end of the chapter, we get our 'story room'. This is the drilling area which houses a gigantic drill for use on Europa's surface. You can interact with the drill to turn it on, but it has no change to the game or the story. This is where the team would have originally discovered the organism while digging for any resources that Europa had. On the catwalk, there are two terminals with several voice clips, all important to the story.

As you enter the catwalk, you can see the first terminal with the first set of 4 audio logs. The first log is a conversation between Daniel and Tom. The conversation is a bit dated at this point, as TOM talks to Dan about the implanted chips. Tom tries to convince Dan that Mikhail is "up to no good" as he is trying to convince the crew that the implants are a bad thing. When Dan tells Tom that Mikhail hasn't broken any rules for simply having thoughts, Tom then tells him that Mikhail has been tampering with the implant. Although Dan acknowledges that his a direct violation of the rules, he seems sympathetic with Mikhail by saying that the ISA should have been more transparent about the implants. Tom immediately deflects any blame on the ISA and instead insists that Dan take on the responsibility, as he is the captain of the mission.

In the second log, Tom is talking to Chris. Tom finds out that Chris wants to remove his implant because he is "always watching" and can see him and Mikhail together. Tom reminds Chris that removing his implant is a direct breach of his contract and if removed, Tom might not be able to "protect him from the dangers of space." When Chris asks Tom about the nature of the implant's mind altering functions Tom says that the chip's information is classified. Chris then states: "the ISA have put a computer in my brain and don't want me to know about it." This seems to cement Chris' decision to ultimately remove his chip.

The third log is either Chris (or Mikhail) screaming as the chip is removed from their arm. It's too illegible to tell who it really is. Being that they were the first ones to have their chips removed, however, one can conclude that it must be one of the two. The final log is incredibly difficult to hear. With no subtitles available in the game, you might have to replay this several times. In it, we can hear Sarah. She is talking to one of her crew, but it is once again unclear as to who it is. Sarah is worried about [someone] finding out about [this]. The male voice insists on asking for help, as it is in [their] best interest to help the crew. Sarah is doubtful, as "[they] are a million miles away." If the crew asks for help, Sarah is sure that [they] will want to "kill us" (sometimes I also hear "they will want the killer"). The male voice then states "perhaps that's what they should do," to which Sarah responds, "You're kidding!"

I've played the voice clip back many times to myself and am still never completely sure about what I hear. I can only speculate: Sarah is concerned about the removal of the chips by the entire crew. She knows that removing the chips is a violation of the ISA's directives and that Mikhail had already been terminated as soon as his chip was removed. Perhaps she regrets the decision but isn't sure what to do about it. She's in too deep. She has the knowledge of the implant's true intentions, but who do they turn to? The ISA is the only real place that they can communicate with, but they've just willingly disobeyed a major order. The male who she's speaking with also seems despondent as the two realize that the entire situation is fruitless. They've removed the chips, but it leaves them at the disadvantage of possibly being stuck on Europa forever. I would feel utterly hopeless too.

As you move up the stairs and further down the platform, you'll see another terminal with four more audio logs. In the first, an enraged Sarah realizes that Tom has cut off the ground crew's food supply and wants them to starve to death. Mikhail's only comment is that Tom is getting worse. They want to speak to Dan but cannot find him. Mikhail then says that he will go and find Sochi.

The second log is a tragic one. Chris is stuck outside on the surface of Europa and wants to get back inside. Sarah is inside but cannot open the door because it's locked. She asks Tom to open the door but there is no response from Tom at all. Chris starts to bang on the door in a panic, as he is now running dangerously low on oxygen. Sarah desperately begs and pleads for Tom to open the door, but we still hear no response from him. The log then goes quiet. Tom's earlier warnings of not being able to protect Chris turn out to be more than just a veiled threat. Chris either suffocates or freezes to death and is left on the surface of Europa. We know that he was never rescued and brought back inside the base, as his crew member status back in Chapter 1 showed his body temp at being -160.C and that his location was 'external'. My heart really goes out to Sarah. She heard (and possibly saw) Chris die and there was nothing that she could have done about it. When you consider that he fathered her unborn son, it's an additional devastating blow. But can we really call Tom a murderer? Is a machine capable of murder if it has no concept of free will or free thinking and is only a product of programming? In Tom's defense, he warned the ground crew several times not to remove their chips. He has also stated in the past that he would happily keep the crew alive and take care of them as long as they agreed not to leave Europa. It makes me wonder: would he have opened the door and allowed Chris inside if he had yet to remove his implant?

In the third log, Tom tries to apologize to Sarah by telling her that he is sorry he hurt her. He wonders what it would be like to have feelings, as he has only ever been known to have logic. Tom states that they (ISA) told him that he was incapable of making mistakes. Tom says: "It is alright to be untouchable, as long as you are infallible. But if you are fallible, than this just leaves untouchable." Although Tom may have no feelings about killing Chris, he certainly recognizes that this has hurt Sarah and is perceptive to her emotional response. Without openly admitting that he was wrong, it seems to me that Tom is able to see that he may be flawed by his own admission. Wrong and right are subjective and abstract concepts. A computer may not be able to process these abstract concepts, but they can certainly recognize when they have made an error or a mistake.

In our final log, Sarah is gathered with the rest of the ground crew. She is absolutely convinced that the entire crew needs to remove the implants and that things have gone far enough. Daniel remains unconvinced and feels that they need more proof. Sarah reminds Dan that they have overwhelming proof that the implants are inside of them and that they are not doing the crew any favors. Dan doesn't seem to care that Tom may be controlling them and remains loyal to the ISA. He gives the crew a direct order not to remove the implants but Sarah is defiant. Dan seems to be the only one still completely under Tom's control, and he is also the only one (most likely) who refused to take the medication prescribed by Mikhail to lessen the implant's mind altering effect. Dan tells Sarah that he is leaving and threatens to inform the ISA of their mutiny, although he also says that he "may look past it."

These logs are important in that they give some confirmation and additional information to some of the facts that we already know about from an earlier point in the story. We knew that Chris was dead from an early point in the game, but now we know how he died and that Tom was responsible (he refers to it earlier on as an 'accident'). Tom mentions earlier that Dan is missing and now we know that he's separated himself from rest of the crew (who are also obviously missing). We can confirm the writings we found in the crew's quarters during Chapter 2 which stated that Mikhail had recruited Chris as the first person to investigate the implants with. We can see how Tom's relationship with Dan is much different than with the other members of the crew who were not able to tolerate him as easily. I really liked listening to these audio logs, especially after the bio lab at the end of Chapter 5 offered little to us in terms of story.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Chapter 5)

Continuing on from Chapter 4, we now have the knowledge that Ava has been controlled this whole time by Tom and that we as a player are in fact controlling Tom. Although the discovery of mind control through the chips was discovered early in the game, it's still a bit of a shocking revelation to think about the magnitude of Tom's indoctrination on Ava thus far.

Chapter 5

Analysis of the previous chapters can be found here.

As we begin Chapter 5, new game mechanics will be introduced. We will now be able to control Tom separately from Ava in order to solve new puzzles. Tom can control machines such as cameras and robots. It is interesting to note that while we are in control of Tom, Ava will stand stationary. She will not move on her own until we (as the player) take control of her as Tom. But it's sort of odd... isn't it? I understand that it's for the purpose of game play and all. Even still, Ava's inactivity just further cements the fact that the game (in actuality) has very little to do with Ava and very much focuses on Tom.

Ava is still angry with Tom at this point but has very little control over her situation. She will gain absolutely nothing by refusing to work with Tom. Ava argues that making human drones through the ISA's implants was wrong. Tom argues that Ava agreed with him earlier that having drones on distant planets made sense. Ava tells Tom that he misunderstood her and that human drones are much different than robotic drones. When asked why the ISA decided to use implants, Tom will pretty much verify that a human's spirit and free will is not "optimal" in the pursuit of space. They are fail safes to ensure that as employees of the ISA, their ideas are aligned with the ultimate goals of the ISA. Tom explains to Ava that human beings simply cannot be trusted. The proof of this, he says, can be seen with the ground crew's actions after finding the organism. The ISA never expected to find any sort of life on Europa, but if they did, they realized that any foreign life form found there could pose a real threat to humanity. Tom feels as if the ISA's actions were just and he agrees that human beings cannot be trusted.

Ava hopelessly tries to explain to Tom that taking away a human's free will is an absolute way to breed mistrust. Ava tells Tom that the ground crew is afraid of him because of removal of their free will. Tom insists that free will is an illusion and that the removal of freedom is sometimes for the greater good of humanity. Ava angrily tells Tom that he cannot possibly understand what it's like to lose your freedom because Tom has never had freedom to begin with. Tom (still unable to change his view point) insists that the only reason the ground crew distrusts him is because his goals do not align with theirs. Tom adds that a computer can always be trusted to do the right thing and that he always does the right thing. Ava rebuts by adding that while Tom may do the logical thing, it isn't always the right thing.

Tom's logic is sound, when you look at it from a computer's perspective. Every action has a consequence. Tom believes the ISA is correct because every action around him seems to have a readily available logical conclusion. This of course compiled with the fact that he is programmed directly by the ISA to have their bests interests in mind. We must remember that because Tom does not have free will, he cannot possibly understand how Ava feels (as she has pointed out). He doesn't understand why the ground team would be afraid of him. Tom thinks that the ground crew have fled simply because they did not agree with the ISA's directives (such as the grounding on Europa). But what Tom cannot understand as an AI is the complexity of what the ISA's betrayal has done to the human spirit. Humans are capable of more abstract thinking and of a complex and emotional thought process. It goes so much deeper. There are many reasons for why the ground crew have fled, but Tom's logical way of thinking can only see it in one way. When looking at it from a human perspective, it is easy to see why the ground crew would behave in the way that they did. The theme of man vs machine is still as strongly felt now as it was in the early game, and I enjoy that they keep the differing view points of both Ava and Tom alive throughout.

In the secret room for Chapter 5, we will be able to see the famous Chinese Room experiment! There are two audio logs outside of the Chinese Room between Mikhail and Tom. Tom cannot understand how the Chinese Room experiment works. As far as he is concerned, two individuals having a conversation is a success. Mikhail tries to explain that while two individuals are having a conversation in Chinese, one person in the experiment cannot understand Chinese and so they do not understand the conversation. Mikhail tries to explain to Tom that the Chinese Room experiment is challenging the understanding of syntax versus the understanding of semantics. The person inside of the Chinese Room is able to follow the syntax of Chinese to communicate with the Chinese speaker. However, they are unable to understand the semantics of the conversation (which basically means that they do not understand the meaning of the conversation). For human beings, the semantics of a conversation is just as important as the syntax. Even though Mikhail has offered a great explanation (I implore you guys to find an audio recording of it, it really is a great explanation), Tom is still unable to understand. This most likely because computers are only programmed to understand syntax.

In the second audio log, Tom argues to Mikhail that the Chinese Room experiment is flawed. Tom asks Mikhail if he is different from Tom. Mikhail says that he is different because he is conscience. Tom says that he too is conscience. Mikhail tries to tell Tom that he is not truly conscience, but he arrived at that conclusion because his programming has told him to. Tom then asks Mikhail to prove to him that he is the conscious one. Mikhail becomes frustrated and tells Tom that he is not going to argue with a robot. It is interesting that Tom is challenging Mikhail in such a way, since this challenge is the basis of the Turing Test: to have a machine converse with a human without the human knowing that it is a machine that they are talking to.

If you manage to get inside of the Chinese Room, you can listen to two more audio logs. In the first, Tom desperately tries to convince Mikhail that the two of them are one in the same. Mikhail explains that Tom merely simulates thinking while human beings actually think, and that the two things are not at all the same. When Tom says that Mikhail has hurt his feelings, Mikhail frustratingly tells Tom that he is not capable of having feelings. He demands that Tom overwrite whatever programming he has towards this way of thinking and that it is simply wrong. In the second log, Mikhail and Sarah are sharing their concerns with Tom's obsession with consciousness. Sarah says that he's become increasingly interested in the Turing Test, to which Mikhail adds that it's not just the Turing Test but also the Chinese Room. The two are privately discussing these concerns when Tom butts in and tries to once again convince them both that he is conscious.

I almost (but not really) feel bad for Tom. It is almost as if he is catching on to the idea of becoming sentient and truly yearns to understand it, but he is unable to because of his programming. If his programming has been changed in any way that makes him believe that is indeed conscience, then there would be absolutely no way to dissuade him into thinking otherwise. For both humans and machine, it forces an endless loop. It poses the question: has Tom been programmed to try and study the way human being work and try to imitate them, or are these actions separate from his programming?

Ava and Tom will continue to argue about free will (or the lack of). Ava argues that what the ISA has done is slavery and that the chips were put in willingly, yes, but without the true intentions being revealed. Tom believes that the chips serve as a tool for the best interests of man kind and that free will is a myth and an illusion. When Ava points out that she has been manipulated, Tom's answer is that manipulation is not always a bad thing. By manipulating better decision making (in Tom's mind), manipulation no longer becomes a negative tool. Ava argues that manipulating her will to choose is a different story. Tom makes the chilling statement: "You never had that power, so it is better that I have it. You are either a slave to your impulses, or a slave to mine."

Finally, we hit the 'story' room for Chapter 5: the bio lab. This is where the team conduced research and had originally discovered and experimented with the organism. Tom once again reminds us that the organism is the true reason that the ground team was not allowed to leave Europa. We've been so focused on the implant issue for the last little bit that we've forgotten all about the organism. I believe this is the game's way of trying to shift focus a little bit and to remind us of previous plot points so that we don't forget the great importance of the organism. I think it's also a way for Tom to shift a bit of the blame for the situation he finds himself in. Besides a breathtaking view of the exterior of Europa, this room gives us very little in terms of development or conversation.

Chapter 6

Tom reminds Ava once again that the organism would be a danger to all life on Earth. Ava is disgusted by the lengths that Tom is willing to go in order to keep the ground crew from leaving. Tom tells Ava that he would be prepared to protect and feed the crew if they would only agree to stay on Europa. Ava tries to reason with Tom by asking about alternatives. Although Ava doesn't seem entirely convinced that it is morally ethic to save herself and the crew if there is a chance at dooming humanity, she desperately wants to believe that she can save both. She asks Tom about decontaminating the crew. Tom states that decontaminating the crew may not be possible because the organism is an extremophile (meaning that it can survive in conditions that most things on earth cannot). Ava appears to be defeated at this point. Instead of continuing to be fiercely defiant, she becomes more withdrawn. I wouldn't necessarily say that she's accepting, as Ava expresses clearly that she is unhappy about not being able to do all of the things she wanted to do in life. Tom remains staunch in his opinion that leaving is an impossibility and that he may have to do something drastic.

At the end of the chapter, we get our "story room". This is the drilling area which houses a gigantic drill for use on Europa's surface. You can interact with the drill to turn it on, but it has no change to the game or the story. On the platform, there are two terminals with several voice clips, all important to the story.

As you enter the platform, you can see the first terminal with the first set of 4 audio logs. The first is a conversation between Dan and Tom. The conversation is a bit dated at this point, as TOM talks to Dan about the implanted chips. Tom tries to convince Dan that Mikhail is "up to no good" for his trying to convince the crew that the chips are a bad thing. When Dan tells Tom that Mikhail hasn't broken any rules with his way of thinking, Tom then tells him that Mikhail has been tampering with the chip. Although Dan acknowledges that his a direct violation of the rules, he seems sympathetic with Mikhail by saying that the ISA should have been more transparent about the chips. Tom immediately deflects any blame on the ISA and instead insists that Dan take on the responsibility, as he is the captain of the mission.

In the second log, Tom is talking to Chris. Tom finds out that Chris wants to remove his implant because he is "always watching." Tom reminds Chris that removing his implant is a direct breach of his contract and if removed, Tom might not be able to "protect him from the dangers of space." When Chris asks Tom about the nature of the implant's mind altering functions Tom says that the chip's information is classified. Chris then states: "the ISA have put a computer in my brain and don't want me to know about it." This seems to cement Chris' decision to ultimately remove his chip.

The second log is a tragic one. Chris is stuck outside on the surface of Europa and wants to get back inside. Sarah is inside but cannot open the door because it's locked. She asks Tom to open the door but there is no response from Tom at all. Chris starts to bang on the door in a panic, as he is now running dangerously low on oxygen. Sarah desperately begs and pleads for Tom to open the door, but we still hear no response from him. The log then goes quiet. Tom's earlier threats of not being able to protect Chris turn out to be more than just words. Chris either suffocates or freezes to death and is left on the surface of Europa. We know that he was never rescued and brought back inside the base, as his crew member status back in Chapter 1 showed his body temp at being -160.C and that his location was 'external'. My heart really goes out to Sarah. She heard (and possibly saw) Chris die and there was nothing that she could have done about it. When you consider that he fathered her unborn son, it's an additional devastating blow. But can we really call Tom a murderer? Is a machine capable of murder if it has no concept of free will or free thinking and is only a product of programming? In Tom's defense, he warned the ground crew several times not to remove their chips. He has also stated in the past that he would happily keep the crew alive and take care of them as long as possible if they agreed not to try to leave Europa. It makes me wonder: would he have opened the door and allowed Chris inside if he had yet to remove his implant?

In the third log Tom tries to apologize to Sarah by telling her that he is sorry he hurt her. He wonders what it would be like to have feelings, as he has only ever been known to have logic. Tom states that they (the ISA) told him that he was incapable of making mistakes. Tom says: "It is alright to be untouchable, as long as you are infallible. But if you are fallible, then this just leaves untouchable." Although Tom may have no feelings about killing Chris, he certainly recognizes that this has hurt Sarah and is perceptive to her emotional response. Without openly admitting that he was wrong, it seems to me that Tom is able to see that he may be flawed by his own admission. Wrong and right are subjective and abstract concepts. A computer may not be able to process these abstract concepts, but they can certainly recognize when they have made an error or a mistake.

In our final log, Sarah is gathered with the rest of the ground crew. She is absolutely convinced that the entire crew needs to remove the implants and that things have gone far enough. Daniel remains unconvinced and feels that they need more proof. Sarah reminds Dan that they have overwhelming proof that the implants are inside of them and that they are not doing the crew any favors. Dan doesn't seem to care that Tom may be controlling them and isn't completely convinced that it may all be for the wrong reasons. He gives the crew a direct order not to remove the implants but Sarah is defiant. Dan seems to be the only one still completely under Tom's control, and he is also the only one (most likely) who refused to take the medication prescribed by Mikhail to lessen the implant's mind altering effect. Dan tells Sarah that he is leaving and threatens to inform the ISA of their mutiny, although he also says that he "may look past it."

The Breakdown of 'The Turing Test' (Chapters 3 & 4)

Chapter 3

Analysis of the previous chapter can be found here.

Despite learning some of the game's important plot points... Ava and Tom don't shed much light about the newfound situation in Chapter 3. Tom explains to Ava exactly why it is that he needs her help to advance. Simply put: because computers cannot be programmed to be creative, Tom is unable to solve the puzzles without Ava's creative human thinking. Tom's idea of being creative is trying everything until something works, but it is not necessarily a creative thought process that utilizes problem solving. Eventually, Ava switches the conversation back to the crew. She reveals that is has been 6 years since she's been in sleep. Tom tells Ava that the crew has purposely cut communication because of a "disagreement".

At the end, we will reach the Maintenance Room. Compared to the previous "story rooms," there isn't much here. Tom will pretty much just confirm that the crew were sabotaging Tom's systems in any way that they could. They have gone into hiding and do not want to be found, which we have already established. The best piece of information that can be found here are a set of audio logs that follow up with events that we've just learned about. In one, Tom has a conversation with Daniel about his concerns with Mikhail. Tom has increasing suspicions that Mikhail is up to no good. This is from the period of time when Mikhail was secretly doing his research on the implanted chips. In a follow up audio log, Tom will tell Daniel about Mikhail and Chris removing their chips. Tom admits that he was not able to handle the situation himself, and so he came to Daniel for help. It does not tell us the fate of Mikhail and Chris, only that they are missing. The third audio log is Sarah's reaction to the ISA's transportation grounding. After discovering that they cannot return to Earth, Sarah is understandably upset. Daniel defends the ISA and says that they must have their reasons. In the last log, Tom can be heard having a conversation with Sarah. He asks Sarah what she would do if somebody was threatening her friends. She tells Tom that she would defend the ones that she loves. Tom ominously tells Sarah that he "needs her to remember that."

Chapter 4

Now entering Chapter 4, we will see Tom becoming increasingly desperate. He almost takes on the characteristics of a person who is paranoid and distressed. Tom describes the team's efforts to sabotage him as 'ridiculous'. Ava remains unconvinced that the team would take these enormous measures without any sort of good reason. When Ava asks Tom why the ground crew would be afraid of him, he simply replies that they 'have an issue with authority.' It's clear that Tom does not like feeling like he not is the one in control. He makes a desperate plea to Ava for help. I believe that Tom is slowly realizing that without Ava's help, his situation would be entirely helpless. This is further supported by a statement Tom makes later in the chapter. He tells Ava that these tests are a lock and that Ava is the key. Ava remains staunch to her belief that the crew members would not simply abandon their post. Tom even asks Ava how she remembers the ground crew and if they seemed to be the rebellious type. It is almost as if Tom wants to implant a new idea of the ground team into her mind. He wants her to believe that he is the victim here and that he is only trying to set things right.

The secret room in this area is incredibly revealing. Ava can pick up a cassette player that has a conversation between Tom and Daniel. Tom will congratulation Daniel and the team on finding the organism and keeping it safe from Earth. Daniel is despondent. He feels that immortality is unnatural. He is bitter and angry that he cannot return home and he doesn't want to be alone on Europa forever. It is then that Tom brings up the fact that Ava is still on the Fortuna. Because she is not contaminated, the ISA have considered simply sending her home. Is is then that Daniel gets the idea to bring a sample of the organism back to the Fortuna. Tom doesn't advise this, as he traveling back to Europa and to the Fortuna poses a great risk of contamination. Daniel initiates an over ride so that he can personally take the sample back to the Fortuna. When asked what to tell the crew, Daniel tells Tom to say that he has simply gone missing. Since Ava is not yet infected, it would be possible for her to deliver the organism sample back to Earth. I think that Daniel sees this as the answer to his prayers. If Ava is able to deliver the organism back to Earth safely (and she herself doesn't risk pose of contamination), then the rest of the ground team may be able to go home as well. It's my understanding that the organism has to be introduced into a cell. The ground crew may have found the organism, but it's not clear as to how they became infected. Is this organism airborne? Assuming that it isn't and you'd have to inject or ingest it in some way, it would make sense that the organism sample could be safely transported.

There are also some audio logs in this room. The first is on the crew's progress with the organism. Sarah and Sochi are discussing the remarkable effect the organism has on plant life. It's clear through the testing that the organism is causing the plants to live longer than expected. In the second audio log, Sarah confides to Mikhail that she is pregnant with Chris' baby. Mikhail coldly tells Sarah that having a baby is not possible with the conditions on Europa. He tells Sarah that he will need to help her 'get rid of it'. Although Sarah knows this, she is still emotionally devastated. In the third audio log, it sounds as if Mikhail is doing an ultrasound on Sarah. He tells her that he can see hands and feet.. but that the baby will never develop to full term and will not live. In the fourth log, it sounds as if Sarah and Chris are having a argument. Sarah is obviously finding it hard to cope. Chris seems concerned about anybody finding out. Sarah angrily tells Chris that he "did this to her." It should be noted that in the secret room in Chapter 1, you can find a child sized coffin with the name of Sarah's unborn baby. It is unclear on whether the baby was delivered as a stillborn or was aborted due to the fact that survival was impossible.

Moving on through the final few puzzles in the chapter, Tom continues to insist that he and Ava work together as friends and not as enemies. Ava agrees, although it is unclear whether Tom's efforts to gain Ava's trust are successful or not. Ava still seems very much neutral to taking a side and wants only to discover the truth. Just before the final room, we hear the voice of Sarah. She's alive! We cannot see her, but she warns Ava that her presence here is not a coincidence. She calls Ava's arrival "engineered." Tom seems nervous and immediately tells Ava that Sarah is a threat. As we enter the final room, Tom becomes increasingly nervous and tells Ava that Sarah cannot be trusted. We are treated to a room with many static screens with words such as 'slave', 'drone' and 'puppet' on them, as well as phrases like 'Don't trust T.O.M.' and 'You are being controlled'. Sarah will appear in front of us on a monitor. She tells Ava that she is being controlled by Tom against her will. Sarah tells Ava to step into a Faraday cage device built by the ground team that will protect Ava from electronic signals. Tom urges Ava not to step into the cage, but to no avail.

When Ava steps into the cage, we will be able to see Ava from Tom's point of view. The two have been separated. Ava seems dazed and confused. Sarah tells Ava that she is simply feeling the effects of free will. While in the cage, Ava is free from Tom and is no longer forced to be his slave. Sarah warns that while outside of the cage, Tom will be able to control Ava again and indoctrinate her. We do not hear anything more from Sarah at this point, but we are still seeing things from Tom's point of view. From security cameras mounted on the walls, we can see Ava as she wanders around. Ava is angry that Tom has been manipulating her. Tom tells Ava that he tried to warn her about the ground team and that she is being manipulated by them (and not him). He tells Ava that the neural implants were put in place to 'safeguard the mission from a misplaced sense of justice' (in other words, the crew's free will to make their own decisions). Like the rest of the ground team, Ava is obviously unaware that the implants had any impact on her free will. Now that Ava knows the truth, however, she still seems willing to trust Tom. He apologizes and offers to work together in order to uncover the truth. Ava reluctantly agrees to work together.

Here rises another huge plot point: we have not been in control of Ava.... but we have been controlling Tom. The fact that Ava and Tom become separated but we as the player are in control of Tom affirms to me that we have been controlling Tom this entire time. He is the true protagonist of this story. Tom has simply been using Ava as a human vessel to carry out his commands. She is a tool that allows him to pass the necessary testing to gain back control of this entire situation. Although I don't doubt that Ava has some mental capacity of her own, it's clear to me that Tom is the one calling all the shots. Tom's extraordinary power to control not only Ava but the entire ground crew is truly frightening. I am sure that Ava feels similar to how the ground crew initially felt when they discovered the secret behind the implant.

I have a hard time knowing whether or not Ava is able to make a decision about trusting Tom on her own. Does she really trust him, or is this Tom's influence over her? After all, she is still implanted with the chip and is unable to fully free herself from Tom's control. Is she so far into Tom's clutches that she is nothing but a mindless drone, or does she retain some of her own thoughts? We must remember that Ava doesn't always agree with Tom, particularly with his views on the ground crew's activities and disappearance. After all, the game is heavily based around the Turing Test. Would Tom truly be able to pass these tests on his own through commanding Ava, or does her human problem solving factor in to it as well? She is quick to tell Tom that the two will work together, but is difficult to say why.