EDIT: Because of the events of Episode 8 I no longer believe the below theory post. A friend of mine who disagreed with this post after I made it was right all along.
SPOILERS FOR THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS EPISODE 7
I think we were all wrong about abstraction. Abstraction is not caused by humans losing their minds. Abstraction happens when Caine manipulates the humans minds too much.
Kaufmo's room was filled with crazy scribbling about an exit, then got abstracted. The only question is what Caine's intentions were. Either Caine was trying to alter Kaufmo's mind so he would believe there wasn't a way out, and staying in the circus was a good thing (only to accidentally abstract Kaufmo.)
Or, a more concerning possibility. He intentionally abstracted Kaufmo, because he was close to finding a way out.
I'm less sure of the second possibility, but when I finished the episode this was my first and only thought.
The ironic thing is this doesn't really change who I thought was at risk of Abstraction. Abstraction candidates are less people who are near a mental breaking point and more people who could be a problem for Caine. Jax literally almost abstracted, and Caine basically made him press the shut off button. Just keep altering Jax so he's less of a problem and well, Abstraction.
With Zooble on the other hand. They're well put together, but Caine clearly hates them. Before this episode, I was thinking Caine might snap and throw Zooble into the torment nexus to force them to Abstract. But now... If he wanted too he could instantly abstract them with a snap of his finger.
This only leads to one other question, what caused Ribbit to abstract? Like, Jax clearly believes it's his fault. But we now know abstractions are caused by Caine.
Did Caine try to convince Jax that he drove Ribbit to abstraction?
Anyway TADC has never filled me with so much dread until today. 10/10 I'm going back to editing Deltarune video essay.
Episode 8 spoilers below the keep reading line.
