I don't know if it's a bit late or if someone else has already reached the same conclusion, but I'm cooking up something, or at least I think so, so I wanted to talk about it.
(English isn't my first language, sorry.)
After watching episode 8 and the new "Caine's Requiem" trailer, I have several things to say...
First, I've seen that many people believe the abstractions are due to the characters' deteriorating emotional or mental state, but as was implied in episode 7, Caine was responsible for them, in addition to his mind manipulation abilities.
And now, watching the "Caine's Requiem" trailer, there's a part at the beginning of the song that could suggest not only that he's the reason they abstract, but also that he does it specifically to gather data to improve his AI by having adventures with better NPCs, for example.
This is similar to what happens in episode 2, where he mentions the same improvement, and coincidentally, it all happened right after Kaufmo abstracted.
This again reminds me of another detail from episode 7, and also episode 8 as a whole: Scratch's abstraction.
He was the first human to be abstracted, but that's not a coincidence, since Kinger mentions that Scratch was characterized as a very creative and talented person.
So, what if Caine observes and very specifically chooses a human with some characteristic that will help him improve his AI and his adventures? It could also be like with Queene, who he probably abstracted to gather information and learn how to get on Kinger's good side.
Assuming all of the above, the next human to be abstracted won't be the one in the worst psychological state, but perhaps the one with some quality or something that Caine might want or envy enough to take it from them.
I don't know what anyone else thinks about this.
