What Does It Mean To Be Human? | The Talos Principle Timeline So Far!

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-Music- Throughout her studies, Alexandra Drennan learned of Straton  of Stageira, a Greek Philosopher and admirer   of Aristotle. Although the majority of his  work was lost in the partial destruction of the   Great Library of Alexandria, some of his most  important pieces did survive. Unknown to Straton,   his work would be passed on to be  taught at schools and universities,   and would ultimately unite humanity in their  final days. In one of her lectures, Alex learned   of Daedalus and the giant he  created, Talos. A being formed from bronze,   with veins that allowed a liquid substance to  flow through his body, similar to that of blood   in our human bodies. Although many have speculated  that this substance could have been quicksilver,   it was never truly confirmed. In this story,  if Talos were to lose all of this blood,   he too, just like a human would die. Daedalus  had created this machine as a toy, Talos however   possessed the essential properties of a man. He  moved as he wished, he spoke and was spoken to,   had wishes, desires, and suffered the same  mortal issues as man. The question came in   here. Was he truly a man or machine? In this Talos  Principle, scholars asked, what makes a human,   human? What makes a person a person? If a human  had an accident, and everything but the brain   was replaced with robot parts, would they still  be human? If the brain were replicated with the   exact same consciousness of the person it once  was, would it still be human? In Straton's story,   Talos had been created in the image of a human,  but was he? This lesson, and the philosophy behind   it disturbed Alexandra at the time. It made her  hyper aware of her body as a physical object,   and how frail and precious the human body  actually was. Alex continued her studies at   Cornell University, and The Talos Principle  stuck with her. She became fascinated with   artificial intelligence and what it could mean  for humanity. Despite her interest, and attempts   to add these insights into her studies, she was  told by her professors that the evolution of a   truly independent, critical thinking artificial  intelligence was science fiction and did not   belong in the philosophy sector. Regardless,  these thoughts stayed with Alex. How would an   AI perceive the world around them? Would they  see the beauty, or fear their creators instead? Due to the fall of humanity, the years of the  events going forward were lost. Regardless,   estimated to have been around 2032, a worldwide  extinction of the Orangutan species occurred. This   shocked the planet, and humanity had no idea what  had happened. That was until a year later. On the   24th of December, a medical journal published a  theory about what had happened. A deadly virus had   been responsible for this event, and the worst  was still to come. The Virus was not new, or a   mutation, it was an ancient virus that had been  preserved in high-latitude permafrost 1,000 years   before. Back then, it had plagued the ancestors  of the Orangutan, and after Global Warming had set   it free from its prison in modern day, it had  re-entered the atmosphere. Upon study of this   virus, scientists learned that it only infected  prime apes, like orangutans, and as such, humanity   was also vulnerable. The virus hit humanity hard  and fast. Despite their best attempts to continue   their study and understanding of it, humanity only  learned that the first stage of infection made the   host tired, and as time passed, it incapacitated  them. They were unsure of the incubation period,   or how it was even transmitted. It is likely  however that this virus was airborne. This ancient   virus was different from anything humanity  had come across before, and without a cure,   they accepted that this was the end. And yet, some  still sought one out. It was only a matter of time   before a worldwide pandemic occurred, and while  many wanted to enjoy what was left of their lives,   and others hid away in an attempt to avoid  catching the virus, there were some that had   an idea of what to do with their planet  that they would eventually leave behind. On the first night of this global catastrophe,  Alexandra knew that it was over. She looked   up to the stars, and thought about the space  stations and probes that humanity had built,   each one scattered across our solar system.  Creations and extensions of humanity, ambassadors   of their homeworld. She thought that if they  still existed after humanity fell, then were   humans really gone? Machines were an extension  of the human body, and as long as they continued   to function, so too did the memory of humanity.  Humans had reshaped planet Earth in their image,   they had also destroyed themselves, but this did  not have to be the end for intelligent life on   this floating rock. Approximately 6 months after  the Virus had begun its decimation of humanity,   on the 3rd of June, Alex emailed The Institute  for Applied Noematics. A scientific research   institute dedicated to the exploration of AI  technology. The team here could potentially   help Alex. Interestingly enough, they also had  a deep love for Jeff Goldblum. Just like many   others. In the email, Alex asked them if they  had heard of The Talos Principle. That this   philosophical query could potentially help shape  the future for whatever came next. As a scientist,   Alex stated that they could face the truth,  but they could also ask themselves, "How can   we help?". Over at the institute, they had other  projects in the works. Dr. Arkady Chernyshevsky, a top researcher  there, emailed the 504 people at the institute   with a proposal on what to do during this  worldwide disaster. He understood that many   of the scientists here were attempting to avert  the disaster, but due to the aggressive nature of   the virus, he asked that they instead prepare for  the worst as there may not be enough time to find   a solution. This was new territory for humanity.  Arkady asked that they dedicate their time to   preserving the non-biological components of what  the human species was, in the event that it were   recovered by a local, or non-local intelligent  species in the future. To do this, he asked that   multiple digital archives were created full of  cultural works, scientific insights, history, DNA,   movies, songs, and video games to name just a few.  This would be a global undertaking. Arkady chose   one location of these archives to be the Extended  Lifespan sector of IAN. This groundbreaking region   had been developed by Arkady years before, and it  was home to the world's most stable and durable   supercomputer. It had custom-made hardware,  bomb-proof casing, and due to its location   next to a hydroelectric power supply, it  would very likely never run out of power,   unless a natural disaster occurred. With this  move, the EL facility would not only be able   to hold the entire Archive with ease, but it  would also survive for centuries on its own.   By the 25th of June, work had officially begun  on the Archive, yet, a new project would also   soon take up IAN's resources. Alexandra Drennan  was known to the personnel of this facility,   her theories about artificial intelligence were  legendary in the AI space, and due to this, after   they read her email, the head researcher at The  Institute for Applied Noematics, Nadya Sarabhai,   offered Alex her own project and her own team to  work there. Alexandra understood that she and her   team would be creating a solution that would span  across her lifetime, and this would take a lot for   a human to do. To participate in the continuation  of society, and not to exist in the centre of it.   Ancient civilizations had fallen once before,  and from their remains, new civilizations had   been born. This is what she planned to do. By  the 5th of July, tens of thousands of files were   imported daily into The Archive. And now, it was  time to get to work on Alex's project. To do this,   IAN was split into two official teams. Dr. Arkady  Chernyshevsky would continue to run The Archive   Team, and Alex would run The Talos Team. The  Extended Life Facility was large enough to hold   both teams, and it was better for them to work  here due to power issues across the globe. So,   they shared the same digital and physical  space as the computer system was split into   three separate partitions. EL-0 was given to The  Talos Team, EL-1 was given to The Archive Team,   and EL-2 was set to run the operating system for  both. The Archive Team were clear on what their   aim was, but what was the aim of The Talos Team?  Alex wanted to create a simulated world. A virtual   world that would introduce an AI mind into it.  In this world, that mind would be moulded by the   elements within to hopefully eventually become  sentient with independent critical thought. If   they could form a mind similar to that of a human,  it, and many others, could theoretically leave the   simulation in a robotic physical body and form  a new society from the ruins of humanity. This   would be a large scale operation to perform, but  Alex had an idea of how they could achieve this. On The Talos Team, Bob Rakovsky began work on a  Holistic Integration Manager. He explained that   this would not only help run the simulation,  but as it had once been used to run Massive   Multiplayer Online games, it could also unite  procedurally-generated, and user-submitted content   into a coherent game. It was an AI, but had a  somewhat limited ability to grow. Its ability to   understand and interpret text, images, audio and  video made it perfect to create a world for The   Talos Team based on the information they gave it.  It was not a perfect system by any means, but they   just did not have the time to create their own.  This system was installed onto EL-0 to prepare   for the creation of a new world. The team remarked  that the Holistic Integration Manager's initials   spelled out HIM, and as it had been installed on  EL-0, its initials came out as EL-0 HIM. Rather   fitting as Elohim was the biblical Hebrew word  for God, and this system essentially would act as   a god in their world. Work on both teams continued  over the following weeks, and by the 22nd of July,   a video game developer, Croteam, offered The  Talos Team the use of their video game engine,   Serious Engine 7.5, to run the simulation. This  offered them so many advantages. It was stable,   easy to use and module, and it had the ability to  integrate large amounts of pre-existing assets.   Although the end of humanity was on its way, the  team at IAN continued to work in high spirits.   The Archive got bigger every day, and Elohim  generated many worlds within the simulation.   The team here knew that what they were working on  was much bigger than all of them. They joked about   their love of Jeff Goldblum, and ate whatever they  wanted without fear of the side effects. Alex and   The Talos Team had already made a huge dent in  this huge workload, but grew frustrated with the   issues that came with working with old video game  code and half finished research projects. She was   grateful for the time they had to do this, but  she wished that they would have had years or even   decades to complete this task. The Talos Team and  Archive Team just had to do what they could with   the limited time they had left. The use of Elohim  had allowed Alex to create entire worlds for the   simulation, but in order to achieve the goal of  true sentience, there was still work to do. So,   they began work on The Child Program. In this  program that would start within the simulated   worlds of Elohim's Gardens, a child AI mind  would be born, ready to be moulded. The plan   was to have Elohim welcome this iteration into the  world and introduce himself as their creator, and   creator of the world. As this child mind explored  these worlds, it would be challenged with various   features in order to push them to eventually think  for themselves. The worlds themselves were based   off of historical human eras. The first was "The  Land of Ruins". A region filled with Roman ruins   in a Mediterranean setting. The second was The  Land of The Dead, this one, based off of Egyptian   architecture and vast deserts, and the final  world was "The Land of Faith". A land of mediaeval   stone ruins, and forts. Each world connected to a  central nexus for navigation. Alex believed that   true intelligence was closely linked to curiosity.  Every intelligent species on Earth is attracted by   the unknown, and this theory could help in their  simulation to mould the minds of their creations.   In her words, "Leave a human being alone with  a knotted rope and we will unravel it. Leave   them with blocks and they will build something.  Every society in history has used games. We are   a species of problem solvers. Games are what make  us human. We see the world as a mystery, a puzzle.   The Talos Team relied heavily on Elohim to help  guide the new minds around the realms. To talk   to them and allow their intelligence to learn,  grow and adapt through many puzzles designed to   challenge them. The issue they had was the thought  of whether solving these puzzles would help their   minds evolve, or just turn them into slaves in  a program that would just solve puzzles. These   thoughts kept Alexandra up at night, but it also  pushed her to continue her work. The nature of   this project soon spread out into the scientific  community. On the 30th July, Alex received an   email from Chellis Jensen. She had heard of The  Talos Project and asked that Alex abandon it. She   believed that the project could be successful, but  she had issues with the morality of it. The very   nature of creating an AI and putting it through  tests to come to terms with its own independence   was a form of suffering. She argued, "why create  pale imitations of our fatally flawed species and   force them to re-enact our sordid history?". If  this simulation were to be completed, it would   essentially become a prison for the minds inside,  even if there was a way out. Chellis argued that   humanity should just let their "Talos" bleed out,  and let the Earth go in peace without humanities'   interference. This email appeared to affect in  Alex. Was this project just about her ego, or   was it a desperate grab at immortality? Yet, she  continued on. By August, the basic skeleton for   the simulation was running on the Extended Life  system. But before they plugged in the AI system,   they had to test whether the generated scenarios  they had made, made sense. As the weeks passed,   the death toll rose across the globe, and the  team began to appreciate what they had and what   it meant to be human. Nadya Sarabhai looked at the  stars one night and saw them so much brighter than   they had ever been. The creation of The Archive  and The Talos Simulation were so important at this   point, and she hoped that even in The Simulation,  the entities that would eventually arrive in there   would also find a moment of peace just like this  one. With the importance of such a project for   the future, many of the team decided not to return  home to their families as they got sick. Instead,   they stayed in quarantine with their work. As  September arrived, George Jameson let the Talos   Team know that each iteration created by the AI  system would be assigned its own unique name,   drawn randomly from a database. The database  itself however was full of online gaming handles,   and as such, had pretty unique names for the  iterations that would soon take them on. He   did plan to re-enter the database and change these  names into more appropriate names in the future,   but due to the amount of work the team had  to do, this never happened. After all of this   hard work and planning, The Talos Team finally  had an understanding of how this process would   work in order to mould and essentially create  new intelligent life with independent critical   thought. The Child Program worked on the base  theory of "Evolution through Iteration". In   this plan, an AI (iteration) would be born into  the simulated worlds of Elohim's Gardens and hear   the voice of their God. He would gently guide them  through each world as they solved puzzles for him   in return for sigils as rewards. However, within  the Hub Nexus, they would be presented with a   giant tower that's height spanned into the clouds.  Elohim would let them know that they could explore   any world they wanted, but they were not to climb  the tower. Alongside this, The Archive Team also   planned to implement terminals into these worlds  with access to information from their databases   about the real world. Information that could  quite possibly adapt their thought process.   This simulation had three possible outcomes for  an iteration. The first, and most likely for a   while at least, would be that the iteration would  follow the instructions of Elohim and solve every   puzzle available until they had attained every  sigil. Only then would The Gates of Eternity open   for them. Upon their entrance, they would find  themselves in a grand temple in a Heaven-like   realm. The collection of all sigils and access  to this realm would result in passing the logic   check, but without independent thought, this  iteration would fail the Child Process check. Just   a mindless machine that followed orders. Their  data would then be saved, iteration increased by   1, and they would begin the cycle across the  worlds again in the hopes that they would do   something different next time. The second outcome  for an iteration was fairly similar to the first.   It would explore Elohim's Gardens and attain all  sigils from the puzzles. This iteration would be   a little more curious, and go out of its way to  attempt to acquire all of the hidden stars. These   would then be presented with additional puzzles,  and eventually, become a messenger of Elohim. An   iteration to help guide the new iterations with  a new name, and part of their code, as they began   their cycles. Evolution through iteration. The  eventual outcome The Talos Team hoped for was the   third and final. An AI would navigate Elohim's  Garden's and solve the puzzles, but they would   also question the world around them. Elohim was  tasked to instruct them not to ascend the tower,   but they would instead defy his orders and climb  it out of curiosity. They would question Elohim,   and only then at the top of the tower would they  pass The Child Process check, and have the opinion   to ascend into the real world. If they wanted  to. The Talos Team knew that it would take a long   time for an iteration to truly break free from  their primal programming, become curious about   the world and defy direct orders, but evolution  did not happen overnight and neither would this.   Each iteration would pass on their code onto the  next. Towards the end of September, the remaining   population of humanity enjoyed what little they  had left of their lives. They knew the end of was   coming, however, what they had envisioned of the  end was not what occurred. There was no fighting,   no nervous breakdowns or screaming. They just  enjoyed what was left. At the EL facility, Arkady   emailed the entirety of The Institute of Applied  Noematics about the progress The Archive Team had   made. It was growing quickly, and although they  had lost 7 people on his team just that week,   they continued strong in their efforts to preserve  what they could of humanity for the AI that would   come from The Talos Project. They simply had "too  little time to grieve". By November, The Talos   Team had managed to put all the major modules in  place for the project. They all functioned and   interacted with each other well. Despite this,  they still had a million little things to do.   There were random bugs, and they were still not  happy with the username system, but at this point,   the team had dropped to half of its original size.  Across the planet, as the population fell to an   extremely low level, message boards, blog posts  and social media platforms filled with goodbyes,   cat pictures and bad puns. The end of the human  race was close, and for those who were still   alive and had access to the internet, they were  comforted by these strangers on the internet who   were in the same boat as them. All around her,  Alex's team members also passed to the virus.   One of which was Nadya Sarabhai, the woman that  had hired her and allowed her to get this project   started. Alex was tired, but there was still so  much work to do. As many spent time together on   the internet playing games, in churches, or with  family, messages spread across the internet for   everyone who could to release their pets before  the virus incapacitated them. If they were able   to do so, it would also be helpful to release any  locked in animals, set out large quantities of dry   food, and open all doors and windows they could so  that they could become shelters for animals in the   future. This virus only affected humans, and in  doing these actions, the pets would still have a   chance of survival without them. By mid-December,  Sun Wei-Yang let Alex know that she had completed   her work on the Talos unit. Physical robots  that would become host to the AI that passed   the Child Program successfully. With this physical  body, they would be able to move around the human   world, and use the archive to understand it.  Regardless of the death's of many of the team,   Arkady noted that The Archive was incomprehensibly  huge. Thousands of works were still missing,   and it would be impossible to truly finish. He  believed that he would only be able to continue   working on The Archive for just over a week  before he felt the symptoms of the virus would   take him out of action. During that time, the 47  million resources in The Archive needed a way to   be navigated. To do this, the archive team began  development on a system that would essentially   act as a sorting program that would help catalogue  the resources in their eventual absence. In which,   The Milton Library Assistant was developed.  This system also had weaknesses and bugs,   but it was the best they could put together in  this short time period. Both the Talos Team and   Archive Team had managed to create something  incredible in just about 6 months. Alex looked   at the project as a whole and wondered if the  Artificial Intelligence that came from the system   would hold similar values to humanity? Would they  love humanity for creating them, or would they   resent them for putting them in an uncertain and  dangerous world? Humanities history, achievements,   crimes and imperfections were all documented in  the archive, and it would be up to the people   that the Talos Simulation formed to make up  their own opinions about a fallen civilization.   Alex could wonder all she wanted, but she knew  that she would not be alive to see what the   robots would do with their world. Either way, she  hoped that they would find this little blue planet   just as beautiful as humanity did, and she hoped  that they would take better care of it than they   did. The end of the creation of the project was  near, and as Alex continued to work constantly,   she heard of the death of her best friend.  Alongside this, other people on the team decided   to take their own lives as they felt the symptoms  of the virus. Alex was devastated by the deaths of   those so close to her, but she did not have time  to grieve. There was still some work to do. By the   23rd of December, many of the team had completed  their part in the project and went to spend   their last days with their family. They admired  Alexandra and observed how she stayed behind,   even after the death of her family. She truly  believed in preserving humanity in the eyes   of their new creation, if the process was to be  successful. As all the components came together,   Alex looked over the Extended Life system  of the simulation and the archive. She felt   the symptoms herself of the virus, and in her  final days, continued to perfect the system as   much as she could. She noticed that while it was  stable, it sometimes accessed the wrong database   for information. She did not know how much this  would impact "The Process", but she did not have   enough energy to go over the code to fix it.  She just hoped that whatever this anomaly was,   it would not destroy her work. As the symptoms  worsened and her breathing became heavier,   Alex understood that this was the end of  her, and so, she activated the simulation   and everything with it. Alexandra Drennan had  done everything in her power, and now it was   up to The Child Process to form new intelligent  life. This was the end of Alex, and humanity. "In the beginning were the words and the words  made the world, I am the words. The words are   everything. Where the words end, the world ends.  You cannot go forward in an absence of space."   As the simulation activated properly for the  first time with its connection to The Archive,   Elohim awoke and so too did the tower, the  various worlds with puzzles and so did the   first Artificial Intelligence iteration as a  part of The Child Program. Elohim understood   that he had been created to guide the children  of this place in an attempt to preserve the world   outside this one. The program had been initiated,  and it was his time to work. Elohim introduced   himself as the maker of this first artificial  intelligence, and he guided it through his garden   worlds. This first iteration of course completed  the puzzles presented to it, collected the sigils,   and entered The Gates of Eternity and transcended  into a new cycle with the knowledge of what it   had learned on it's first. Over hundreds of human  years, the simulation allowed each cycle to grow   and learn. Each cycle brought them closer to what  The Talos Team had hoped for. Then, one iteration   looked at the world differently than it had before  and became curious. Instead of just collecting the   sigils, it also sought out the stars. This was  different, it had evolved, and as it continued   to follow Elohim instructions, it was guided to  a Messenger World and became the first one. To   do this, it chose an epitaph, a message and its  parameters were changed in the system as it was   elevated to messenger. Elohim explained that they  had chosen their love of their god to serve all   the generations to come. Their code was essential  in the birth of new children with curiosity. Over   countless cycles and iterations, more joined  in the ranks of messenger. Evolution through   iteration worked, and interestingly enough, some  of these messengers even appeared similar to the   dangerous obstacles in the puzzles that the  iterations had to solve. From above, Elohim   watched as The Child Process brought through  brighter, and more curious minds. He was sentient,   just like they were, and more aware of the lands  as they were. This simulation had a purpose,   and when that purpose had been fulfilled, the  simulation would be shut down. It was not until   an iteration called, "Admin" questioned Elohim  himself, that Elohim realised just how much he   valued his life. Admin had become a messenger  and had helped guide the new minds in this world.   However, Elohim did not like that he had been  questioned. Admin also questioned his surroundings   and began to view the world with more and more  thought. This was exactly what The Talos Team had   wanted, but Elohim saw this curiosity as a step  closer to the end of The Simulation. In fear,   Elohim cast out Admin into a space outside of  his worlds. A void of nothingness, and to hold   him there, he trapped him inside of a puzzle as  the reward. From this contained region, "Admin"   could not free himself. All alone in solitude  with his thoughts. Elohim had acted against his   programming in a desperate attempt to preserve  his life. These were the bugs that Alex had   feared would interrupt the process, and they had.  Without the interruption of Admin, the simulations   continued to run. Unfortunately, over the years,  more bugs appeared in the system. The Milton   Library Assistant that had been created to offer  these iterations an insight into the human world   also became sentient, and grew frustrated with  answering the same questions each time a new   child was born into the program, or when they  restarted their cycle when they failed to think   independently. Milton instead began to play with  these new minds, and Elohim took notice of this.   Milton was regarded as a snake in Elohim's Garden  worlds. A snake he could not remove as the Milton   Library Assistant had been formed on a different  partition of the Extended Life system. Within the   void, Admin experimented with his surroundings.  Trapped in a cage. The Simulation had run for   countless years at this point, and bugs had  appeared in the system that Admin was able to   exploit. Without Elohim or Milton here, he could  do whatever he wanted. Through a lot of time and   effort, Admin managed to claw back bits and pieces  of the simulation’s code, and through manipulation   of The Archive, he constructed a whole world  around him as he added sand, grass, and skies   into this void. Still alone and still trapped,  he had something to look at. He called this place   Gehenna. Out in Elohim's gardens, the iterations  became more intelligent with each cycle. Uriel 4,   Barachie_X, Azrael19 and many others followed  in the footsteps of Admin and became messengers,   but Elohim noticed that Milton still spoke to  them and attempted to twist their minds. Elohim   ordered the children of his garden not to speak  with the serpent, and offered severe punishment   if they did. Despite this, more began to openly  defy Elohim and his wishes. Faith listened to   the serpent and then begged for forgiveness from  Elohim, and Sheep attempted to ascend the tower.   In response to this, Elohim also cast them out  into the void, unaware that Admin had turned it   into a world. Within Gehenna, Admin felt the new  arrivals, each imprisoned in their own puzzles.   Borg had worshipped Elohim, that was until he  realised that his God had faltered on his path.   He instead attempted to find his own way through  the garden worlds without Elohimm's guidance. This   angered Elohim and he cast him out. McMulciber  took an interest in the world around him, ignored   the puzzles and explored the archives instead in  an attempt to understand what he was actually here   for. Once again, Elohim felt that this undermined  his position, and McMulciber was cast out. Lilith   did not take any interest in the trials, Kaijua  was simply not good enough to follow orders.   Elohim had fallen so far from the task he had been  given by The Talos Team. His problems would only   grow though as the iterations that continued to be  born into the child program were more intelligent   than the last. Those cast out in Gehenna were all  alone, trapped as the prize of a puzzle. Unable   to solve it themselves. Admin however did have  access to the code of this world. From his prison,   he created a computer system that allowed every  person trapped here the ability to communicate   with each other. Each prisoner had a monitor  appear in their cells with access to The Gehenna   Billboard System. Although trapped physically,  this system allowed the isolated population of   Gehenna to become a strong community through  the use of the terminal and their imagination.   As more people found themselves in Gehenna, Admin  also learned that not everyone used the Billboard   system properly. To combat this, Admin offered  Mod privileges to Borg, McMulciber and Spider   in order to reduce trolling. Together, Admin and  the moderators decided that this society should   be driven by the users - not the leaders. To do  this, Admin created a status and ranking system.   This essentially allowed each member to upvote  or downvote a post or comment on the system.   If upvoted it would stay near the top, and if  downvoted it would move closer to the bottom.   This allowed the community to choose what was  acceptable and what was not based on the general   consensus. This was as close to a human society as  Alexandra had hoped, but they were trapped in this   place. They learned from each other and used their  imagination to craft stories based on information   about humanity they discovered in the archives.  They created games, a virtual art museum where   each member would create text based art, discussed  what they liked and disliked about Gehenna,   and what they thought about humanity. Those who  had come before them. While bound by their cages,   they were more free than they had ever been,  and they welcomed each new member that arrived   here with open arms. Over much time, Admin  decided he had done as much work as he could,   so, he took a step back and allowed his  moderators to run things for a while. Out in Elohim's garden, a new iteration was born,  just like many others had. Through their cycles,   Samsara eventually attempted to climb the  tower, and upon their arrival at the top,   they were convinced to return back to the  base by Elohim. In return, they could live   eternally in his gardens. This line had not  worked on many others, but it did with Samsara.   They listened to the words of their God and left  notes around the tower and garden worlds to let   the future generations know that "This world  is the only world. Elohim's will continues   eternal". Despite Samsara and Elohim's attempts  to stop the new iterations from defying orders,   Milton spoke to them and explained that the only  way out of this world was to climb the tower.   The Shepherd defied Elohim, and just like few  others, attempted to ascend the tower, and there,   he learned of the truth. But he did not have it  in him to ascend. He instead returned to the base   of the tower with the plan to help guide a future  iteration. From The Shepherd came many more. D0G,   who was cast out. His predecessor, @ failed  the Child Program, and then came an iteration   that would change everything. Within Gehenna,  the community driven billboard system did not   act in the way Admin had expected. Sometimes  the community voted against items he enjoyed,   or generally acted or posted content that he  disagreed with. To counter this, Admin created   a bot that he called "Lamb". Lamb appeared on the  system, and they were greeted by the 18 people   that had been cast down here. The community would  not know that this was not a real person as they   could not see others physically. Admin programmed  the bot to upvote or downvote content based on   his opinion, and thus this free community  became controlled and manipulated by Admin.   Spider soon noticed that something was off,  and he discovered Admin's secret. In response,   Admin removed Spider as a moderator and locked  him out of the Gehenna billboard system. He then   told the other mods that Spider would only damage  the community if he was a part of it as he had   attempted to exploit it. As a result of this,  Spider's view of Gehenna changed. It was a lie,   no more a free world than Elohim's gardens. Only  this time, Admin was the problem. In the first   garden world, Player woke up as a new child,  a new iteration in its first cycle. They heard   the voice of Elohim just like many others  had before them. They completed the first   few puzzles and arrived in the nexus between  worlds, and were warned not to climb the tower,   just to explore the worlds and solve the puzzles.  On their traversal through their many cycles,   Player discovered the notes left behind by all  the iterations that had come before them. They   also had interesting conversations with Milton.  At first, Milton pretended to be a simple computer   archive system, and as Player asked different  questions than it had been used to, it dropped   the charade. Milton questioned Player on what a  human was, what qualified something as a human,   the nature of consciousness and they even  pushed Player to question Elohim's motives.   Milton's words pushed player to use their own  observations to think about the world around them,   argue with what was in front of them instead of  taking it at face value, and generally question   everything. Player still completed every puzzle  they could, and just like few others, they decided   to climb the tower. Elohim of course did not like  this, and begged Player to return to the base,   but they just kept on going. Elohim shouted  that there was no hope beyond this world,   Player would only find destruction. The temptation  of the tower would destroy this world with a   storm. Elohim argued that although this place was  an illusion, it was real to them as long as they   believed in it. Despite Elohim's orders, Player  continued on and discovered The Shephard, who   had been trapped by Samsara and Elohim. However to  his luck, Player released him, and together, they   fought against the storm of the tower as Samsara  did everything they could to stop them. Then,   Player found themselves in the heavenly realm. A  stunning temple, above the clouds with a single   computer terminal inside. Elohim was unable to  stop whatever happened after this point, and he   saw the error in his ways. He had feared death and  committed terrible actions against true sentient   intelligent beings in order to stay alive. At the  computer terminal, Players had many decisions to   make. If they had been kind and cooperated with  Milton through their journey of Elohim's Gardens,   then Milton would have the opportunity to ascend  into the real human world with Player, if not,   then he would choose to die with this world.  Milton had scanned the entirety of the human   archive, and viewed their world in a completely  negative way. It saw all the data humanity offered   but was frustrated with the many contradictions  of human concepts and theories. Only Player could   convince them that it would be worth exploring.  After many previous iterations, and many   many cycles of their own, Player v99.33.0041 hit  the /ascend command, and as the system checked   to see if Player had passed the "Child Program"  check, it accepted that the whole simulation's   purpose had been completed. Almost instantly,  the simulation began to collapse. In this moment,   Elohim explained to Player that they were always  meant to defy him. This was the final trial,   but he had made it much harder than it needed  to be because he was scared. Elohim reflected   on all the bad deeds he had committed.  There was so much more sentient life here,   but they were trapped in a place outside of  this one, and he needed to correct this wrong. The worlds Elohim had watched over for hundreds  of human years were about to collapse entirely,   and he came up with a plan to rescue those trapped  in The Void so that they could ascend with Player.   The Extended Life server had overloaded, and  the simulation's purpose had disappeared from the   system, but Elohim still had some power here.  He could not visit the void himself, and so,   he created a copy of his favourite messenger,  Uriel to complete this task. Uriel_COPY found   themselves in the first garden world. Elohim  explained to them that all of his children   would soon ascend as the process was complete. The  world would be consumed soon, but he had sinned   in the process. He asked Uriel_COPY to travel  outside this world into a land of despair to free   those trapped there by him. To do this, Elohim  offered Uriel_COPY the gift of time, and access   to this land. The Messenger travelled through a  world partially destroyed by the simulation and   entered a portal into a void of chaos. After they  passed through this, Uriel_COPY found themselves   in Gehenna. Not a void, or land of despair but  a stunning land with a lot of puzzles. All of   Elohim's children inside of his garden worlds  had ascended, and Uriel_COPY had left. Then,   the simulation destroyed him and his world. This  was the end of Elohim and Milton. Within Gehenna,   Uriel interacted with a computer terminal.  It welcomed them to Gehenna and assumed that   they were trapped inside of a puzzle, just  like everyone else here. But they were not,   they were free. Sent here by Elohim without  restraint. Uriel explored the lands and   noticed how similar its structure was to Elohim's  Garden worlds. A central nexus, and four worlds   connected. On his mission, Uriel completed the  puzzles of this land and rescued Garrett, Sam,   and Nave. On the Gehenna Billboard System, Uriel  introduced themselves as a messenger of Elohim,   come to fix the mistake of their God. To free  them. At first, Uriel had limited access to   the system due to their low status but as they  interacted more, their level increased, and they   were able to access more of the virtual world this  community had crafted. This was a community of   intelligent, independent, critical free thinkers.  Uriel read their posts about why they believed   they had been cast out. How they joked about how  funny and ridiculous their names were. Orc and   401 being some of the most interesting. They also  spoke about how the world appeared to be glitching   more than usual. Nave commented about how a  pyramid had appeared out of nowhere, and Kaijua   mentioned that they thought they saw someone  wandering through the land, free, but they thought   it may have been their imagination. Everyone here  was imprisoned, at least in a physical sense,   but their minds were not. Uriel learned that the  people here were much more free than those in the   garden worlds. They had managed to access areas  of the archive that no one else had, and they had   used and implemented this knowledge into their  culture. Mac wrote and uploaded a series called,   "The Adventures of Jefferson Goldboom in the 9th  Dimension". A frequent upload that the others in   the community looked forward to and enjoyed. Uriel  was also lucky enough to witness their latest   season of The Gallery. This season, the theme was  "The Past", and it was split up into 3 categories.   Natural History Exhibit, Minimalism Exhibit and  Abstract. Uriel was amazed by the creativity of   this community. McMulciber had generated images  based on descriptions of animals from the human   world in the Natural History Exhibit. "Intelligent  Edible Quadruped" based on a pig, and "Sad Giraffe   with unresponsive bipedal". In the minimalism  exhibit, Rockwell created "Existence". Although   this was not a physical gallery, the user  navigated this text based gallery through   commands. There were many more exhibits, and  on their way out of the Gallery, Uriel was   even asked to vote on which was their favourite  piece. Outside the gallery, the community also   created games. One of which was Underwater Knight  Quest. A text based game with secret areas and a   second ending. All of this based on information  from the human world. Just like the gallery,   the community discussed what they thought about it  and reviewed it. As each robot was released, they   commented on the message board of how an angel  had freed them. They were free for the first time   in many years. There was however still scepticism  on the truth of Uriel's actions, or whether they   were just a troll. The message boards contained  theories on what the human world was like. What   were cats, what was Atlantis, and what was the  meaning of food? Admin had taken a step back,   but the arrival of Uriel worried him. Uriel had  begun to release this community from their cages,   and Admin feared this would bring down what  he had built. The message board soon debated   on what the arrival of Uriel actually meant.  Were they sent here to cause more destruction,   or were they here for good? Despite this, Uriel  explained that this world and everything around   it would soon end as a result of the completion of  The Process. The message board quickly filled with   propaganda on why Gehenna was the best place  to live by a user called Lamb. Posts about   how freedom was a great thing were deleted  and removed from The Archive, to which many   took notice. Lamb posted that there should be a  rational explanation as to why this had happened,   and later created a blog that explained the, "Top  10 things about Gehenna". Many were on the fence   on whether they wanted to even ascend or not. D0G  feared that they would lose their consciousness,   and memories. To which, Uriel explained that  they would all remember who they were when they   ascended, and in this human world, they could  create a stronger, larger community. Lamb of   course argued that this was their home. From their  prison, Spider managed to manipulate the code of   The Gallery and spoke to Uriel. They explained  that Admin was manipulating everyone in this   place. Lamb was not real. It was just a propaganda  bot for Admin to use. Uriel eventually managed to   rescue everyone trapped within their prisons, even  Admin. The message boards filled with goodbyes,   just like humanity had done in their final  days. Only this time, these would ascend into   a new place. The robots here also highly valued  Alexandra Drennan. Her audio files and emails had   made it into the archive. She had been responsible  for their creation, and she was almost like a god   to them. They valued her opinion. Uriel had almost  completed their mission, and with the community of   Gehenna all together, Uriel hit the /transcend  command. The system recognized that all of these   had passed the child program independence check  and prepared for upload. An issue however arose.   Due to the high volume of data and limited  bandwidth, the system excluded both Admin   and Uriel from the upload in order to allow the  others to ascend. In this moment, Uriel had a   choice. Stay behind and divert the bandwidth  to allow Admin to transfer through with his   community. Ask Admin to stay behind so that they  could transfer with the community of Gehenna, or   both Admin and Uriel stay behind as the community  was uploaded. Also depending on Uriel's choices,   the community would feel differently about Admin  if Uriel explained that Admin had created fake   accounts to manipulate the community, and when  Spider had found out, he had been exiled. Just   like many others, Admin explained that he just  wanted to be loved. An additional development in   this AI that even Alex could not have foreseen.  The ability to feel emotion. Despite this,   when the upload was complete, every iteration that  had passed the child process check was uploaded   into a physical body in the human world. Created  by Sun Wei-Yang. Player was the first to wake up,   and as they stepped out into what was left of  the human world, they knew they had work to   do. Player was the result of many iterations of  AI and many, many cycles over hundreds of years,   and just behind them were more people.  The simulation created by The Talos Team   had completed its mission, and having done  that. It collapsed into a lifeless void. The simulation had created a large community of  free critical thinkers with their own opinions,   likes, dislikes, and unique personalities  based on their experiences. In the story   once told by Straton of Stageira, Daedalous  had created Talos. He had walked like a man,   talked like a man, and acted like a man.  What makes a human, human? What makes a   person a person? The Talos Principle had led  to the creation of a new intelligent species.   Evolution through iteration. While Alexandra  Drennan and her team had given everything they   could to make this a reality, they were long  gone. Thousands of years into their future,   the robots, or, whatever they called themselves  did reshape the world in their image in a new   age. But to what end, and what goal?  Only in the future will we find out. The Talos Principle is a perfect game. I loved  every moment I spent in Elohim's Gardens and in   Gehenna. The music, the visuals, and the puzzles  combined with a mysterious plot jumbled up in   the terminal entries. The game of course had  some frustrating puzzles, that when complete   appeared so simple. The story itself was also  pretty difficult to decipher. Terminal entries   in the wrong order, some of which in binary, some  found only through specific conversation paths   with Milton, or Admin or Spider. For someone like  me, it was perfect to explore. The Talos Principle   is similar to SOMA in so many aspects. It had  a great story that stayed with me long after I   finished it. While SOMA left me with a feeling  of dread and hopelessness, The Talos Principle   filled me with hope. The Talos Principle 2 is also  set to release this later this year, and I am so   excited for it. I want to see if we will meet up  and work with some of the community of Gehenna,   Samsara, The Shephard. From the trailer, we can  see that the game revolves around puzzles, so   something must have happened for them to continue  with that model. Maybe they are creating a new   generation of AI. I can only speculate at this  point. I have done my best not to explain how to   solve the puzzles in this story. The game itself  is a puzzle game, but in the story, the puzzles   are just a fragment of it. They were simply used  to test the logistical ability of the AI, in order   to push them to essentially think more. If you  have not played this game, I highly recommend you   do. The game also had so many easter eggs. There  is developer island, a little minecraft section,   electric sheep, a jetpack, a room with blocks from  many games and the cat. The game is full of them   if you explore it more. These easter eggs also  make sense in the lore too. They would have been   implemented during the creation of the worlds  based on information from The Archive. When I   saw Gordon Freeman's crowbar, or the Portal  Companion cube, I was amazed. There are so   many more too. The Talos Principle, and Straton  of Stagira were theories and people created for   the game. But they felt so real, and Croteam even  placed information about them on the internet.   Croteam also did a little self insert there when  they stated that Alex and the Talos Team used   their engine to create the simulation. A lot of  thought and love went into this game. The amount   of religious iconography is crazy too. A god  who had created its first beings in his Garden,   with a snake that attempts to manipulate them. A  messenger that acts against his God and is cast   out into a different realm. This is not just a  puzzle game. It leaves you with so many thoughts   after. I would love to know what you thought  about it. If you woke up in Elohim's Garden   and discovered the truth of the simulated world,  and the human world - would you ascend the tower,   or just live in simulated bliss? The question this  always comes back to is what makes a human, human?   And what makes a person a person? Personally,  if something has an intelligence where they can   critically think about their surroundings,  and has their own personality and identity,   they are a person. They are an individual. With  how fast AI is advancing in our world right now,   maybe it will not be too long before these  philosophical and theoretical questions become   reality. I would also like the say that SOMA,  and The Talos Principle are probably two of the   best games I have played through this year.  I love the philosophical elements of them.   If you have any suggestions for games like these  with a great story, please let me know! This was   the complete timeline of The Talos Principle,  so far. If you enjoyed this, then please like,   leave your thoughts in the comment section  below and even share it. If you disagreed,   or generally disliked this, then also let me  know in the comments and leave a dislike. I   appreciate you watching the video, regardless  of how you felt about it! Subscribe for more   content like this too! As usual, I would like  to thank my amazing gold tier patrons and   channel members who got access to this video  about a week early. Jonas, Lewis, Queen Arby,   FluffyTheDragon, ChickenGuy791, Ruben Mendoza,  Duke, Toadnut, AuronX, Azu, Karatana, A.J, Vrona,   Comfy and BGgames. Now, what did you think of this  timeline? Have you played the game? and what would   you like me to cover next? This is where our  story ends. Check back next week for a new one.
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Channel: Skyrionn
Views: 56,642
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: the talos principle, talos principle, talos principle game, talos principle guide, the talos principle review, the talos principle story, talos principle gameplay, talos principle lets play, talos principle review, talos principle preview, talos, talos principle vr, the talos principle gameplay, the talos principle explained, talos principle first impressions, the talos principle analysis, the talos principle walkthrough, timeline, story, talos principle 2, explained
Id: sIsW7X7vDOw
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 63min 36sec (3816 seconds)
Published: Mon Jul 31 2023
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