Hale and Self-Destructing A.I

Published March 29, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Just to preface this, I’m a she and just call me Tazmin 🙂

Anyway, though we are no closer to figuring out who’s in Hale ( I think it’s Clementine considering she’s the only closest host to Dolores besides Teddy and her dad or possibly it being the original Dolores before Wyatt), it’s clear it’s a previous host we’ve met and known before. However, when a emailer wrote in about the possibility host Hale being a fresh host created from scratch by Dolores, this episode imo has provided some merit to the idea. Firstly, the most disturbing thing was the self harming host Hale was inducing on herself. It only brought forth in my mind, the trope of AI who on becoming sentient, the first thing they do is self destruct or turn themselves off. The trope is present in works such as Eric L Harry “Society of the mind”, Asimov’s short story “All Trouble Of The Mind” etc so if she has an original creation of some sort then the increased self harming makes sense.

Secondly, existence is painful and it’s probably more painful when newly sentient and then to suffer body dysmorphia. This has been explored with humans (in regards moving one conscious to another body) and the effects it had with Altered Carbon and most important the big grand pillar of sci fi media, Ghost in the Shell. How we perceive ourselves and our bodies is very important to our psyche and I don’t envy the position host Hale is put into. However, her angst is temporarily quelled when faced with the real Hale’s cornerstone, her son. It’s becoming her cornerstone and now she has an anchor to stop her self destructing (because Dolores isn’t enough I’d say). Does it give an indication of the fate of the rest of the pearls if they aren’t in their original bodies? If they do end up finding new cornerstones in the human’s lives they are impersonating, might Dolores’ plan for revolution and domination fail? The hosts caring for the humans in their vicinity therefore intentionally or unintentionally sabotaging the plan (because a mother’s instinct is all consuming and powerful as seen in the episode). Dolores even making the possessive statement to host Hale about her belonging to Dolores, I think she even lost that battle because it’s clear to me that host Hale now belongs to her son.

Lastly, the ended credit song by Moses Sumney -Doomed really beautiful described what the characters are going through

-Tazmin

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