This is where they failed - they failed to save Derek Turnbow.
not in rescuing him from Vecna in the end, in 5x8 - they managed to get all the kids out, if we take that episode as real (which I don't anyway), but that was already too late. They failed in protecting him from becoming part of the hivemind, in giving in and betraying himself.
Derek helped Holly and Max, but it put target on him, and Henry noticed that. He threatened his whole family,
Obviously Derek did what he hoped was for the best, to protect himself and his family - but in the process he gave up other parts of his promise- he couldn't help Holly anymore. He was drawn in into the Elder brain's vat.
[Ross]: [x]
Alright, we got one more monster. This is it, this is the final boss. You might want to hold onto your caps, because - spoiler alert - this baddie is a CR (challenge rating) of 14 and it’s getting stronger every day. It’s called the Elder Brain.
It’s basically a giant brain floating in a vat of liquid, it’s pretty gross, but it’s not super intimidating at first. But here’s the thing: it’s not a single brain, it’s actually a soup made of hundreds of brains, liquified together into a single consciousness.
Every mind that has ever lived in this world has been absorbed into it. The individuals are gone. What remains is an average. It’s the annihilation of the self.
[Matt]:
All we wanted to do was fit in. We wanted to be just like everybody else. We wanted to join the Elder Brain.
[Ross]:
It took us a long time to realize that the parts of us we wanted to erase were in fact the most important parts to preserve.
Because they allowed us to experience the world in a different way than other people. To develop into unique individuals, it allowed us to tell stories specific to us and share this with the world.
So the more we leaned into what made us different, the more we rejected the call of the Elder Brain, the more successful and happier we became.
Holly tried to ask Derek for help in this moment, but he was already in the brain vat, he couldn't help her without going against the whole soup.
He repeated the lies - the lies from the single consciousness. There was no going back for him, he joined the brain vat - something the other kids saw as a friend, that was trying to help them--
Something that appeared as a friend, wanting to gain people's trust, but in the end it's not friend-shaped at all. (It only uses people for data. To further its own power and reach). The dangerous thing is when you give up on searching the truth for yourself, and blindly believe everything it says.
[Ross]:
And now there’s something else that all this is getting mapped onto - that dreaded two-letter acronym that’s getting boo-ed at every commencement speech across the country, AI.
[Matt]:
This area is where our generation really and truly screwed things up for you, because the machines, the feeds and the algorithms and the models control what you see and hear, feeding you the same crap that you guys call the slop.
Anything that’s weird or different or challenging or that, god forbid, might take a little bit of time to sink in, that surprising stuff that helped shape you into a unique individual, that goes out the window.
Your brains, our brains, are all being liquified and fed into the vat and it sucks.
You’ll be challenged in every possible way. You’ll be bitten, you’ll be misled, you’ll see some of your friends get brain-liquified.
So, how do you avoid brain liquification?
The truth is: we’re not sure. (...) Honestly a lot of this is gonna fall on you to figure out, which is not fair, but it’s just the truth.
