TADC THEORY: How abstraction works, how Scratch was trying to escape the tumor, and how Pomni found the abandoned PC
Okay this is going to sound like a stretch but bear with me.
Is Caine really made to not remember anything that causes him to fully remember a player? He mentions that his brain forces him to forget about a handful of things when talking to Zooble about their problems in episode 3. In comparison though, at the end of episode 8, he was fully able to use their fears against them before he was deleted.
So he can remember their name (or at least, the one he created), their fears, and what they want (the concept at least of what they want is there, but he can't quite fully nail it).
Kinger mentions that C&A was developing artificial intelligence, specifically creative ai. That was Caine.
They also mention in episode 8 that Scratch, the first abstraction, had a brain tumor. Scratch was first mentioned when Caine was trying to explain himself that he could only add temporary modifiers to their brains (ep 7), after claiming that he has no control over their minds (pilot).
Scratch was trying to create something, as Kinger mentioned in episode 8. Maybe because he knew he was dying soon. Maybe he was trying to find a way to escape the tumor and death itself, by creating a copy of his brain in the digital world? Immortal in a way? And to add onto this, the pictures in the beginning of the episode could be from Scratch, because he was helping Kinger develop Caine. Possibly for testing, and Caine's capabilities drew him in to do further development?
And if this is true, then he could've modified Caine to modify the humans. If Scratch was trying to escape the tumor, he made it so that he won't be able to remember his name so he could slowly forget about the life he was about to leave physically, but be alive in digitally. This must've been the temporary modifiers Caine was talking about. Temporary because it will be gone when they leave.
Caine was exactly the thing Scratch needed.
and it may be that Caine... might've killed Scratch. By "adding too many modifiers" or making him forget about too much, which made him not remember too much, which makes his mind files empty, made him cease to exist. Maybe that's why it's called an abstraction, because it's when their bodies that "perfectly encapsulates their mind files" become an abstract concept, too abstract and too unsure to be kept as a file. Their mental state fully affects their bodies, leading to said abstraction.
To add on to this, when a human abstracts, they turn into a figure that can't exactly be distinguished. They act completely different, forgetting who they are and how they acted prior to the abstraction.
Maybe that's why Queenie still remembered a bit of Kinger before being sent to the cellar. Which "kept her calm". The more you know about yourself might mean the more you stay intact.
Let's say that shortly after, Scratch passes away due to the tumor. There's a slight possibility that people link his death to the whole "digital mind files through wired headset" thing. That must've rung through all of C&A to the point where it had to shut down because it was too dangerous, hence how Pomni got into it by "exploring abandoned buildings".
And even before this, Caine says the following, about the word mind:
- In the intro of the pilot, "mind-bending paraphernalia"
- In episode 8, "... creating a body that perfectly encapsulates their mind files ..."
- In episode 8, "I was hoping new minds would show up!"
I fully believe that the digital copy theory is genuinely peak by the way I really think this could be it. But I definitely could be wrong as well:"">
