The Biology of Westworld Hosts

Published December 1, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2022

Love the show. Great commentary. I come out of computer science and biology with no experience in literature, film, or theater. I find those areas of your show to be the most thought provoking.

Regarding the biology of the hosts and fact that they can live without oxygen and seem to tolerate the loss of blood: I would suggest that an explanation for the host’s ability can be found be extending the the pool of what is possible beyond humans. For example, you could ask “how long can a human live without oxygen?” (About 12 minutes without using supplemental O2). Or “How long an a human live without water?” (About three days).

I would suggest a different question. Given this is the future and the hosts are built, I would suggest we look at the entire animal kingdom when asking what is possible. For example, there are bacteria that live without any oxygen and there are desert animals that never drink water.

Humans evolved and do not represent the the best that nature has to offer. We are a product of random chance. There are other animals that do what we do better (faster, live longer, can regrow appendages). It is reasonable to think that Ford spliced in the genes of other animals when creating the hosts.

My two cents 🙂 – Scott

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