Old Bill Is Arnold

Here is my take on where Old Bill fits in: I see Westworld as the AI origin myth, like the Old Testament, but post-sexist and post-human. Like the old testament is not historically reliable, neither are the host memories through which we often see the past.

Dolores, as first host, is the AI “Adam”. God is “bicameral”. i.e. two chambers; and is the partnership of two: A Human Ford, soon to die, and what’s left of Arnold, code hiding in the person of Old Bill, an AI being enhanced by Delos research, not trapped by mortality or the confines of and increasingly less habitable earth. He could make long journeys of many thousands of years. The original nature of the partnership is still misty, but I think the wild advanced coding which Elise and Bernard note is coming from the “brain” contained in Old Bill, which has been going like a super-Maeve for quite a while.

Did Human Arnold copy parts of himself in Old Bill’s control unit, or just his code, and then get killed for real in a host meltdown? Or was that a Ford innovation totally, or something in between? We’ll see shortly. At any rate I think there is huge AI in Old Bill, and the human Ford is betting the ranch on him. Why?

Ford has been quite clear that humans have broken evolution and are ‘done’. Dolores in a 30 year old narrative says: “you people are a stain on this world”…and “Someone’s got to burn it clean”. To really execute the “burn” or in Old Testament terms: the “Flood”, has been in the planning stage for 30 years, and a key part has been the secret Delos “research project”.

Charlotte thinks this research is to address two real world human problems: overpopulation and mortality; with advanced biological and AI research. The theme park is a mere distraction compared to the incalculable value of that IP. But Ford and old Bill/Arnoldcode are the real brains behind this and have altogether different intentions. The long game.

For the homo sapiens, and Delos board, Charlotte (who I just love) is the Judas Steer. She thinks she can realize this treasure with a hostile takeover, and she has seduced the board, aka the herd, to follow her….to slaughter. That’s going to be the Red Wedding you hear about in the podcast sometimes 🙂

The finale is going to be spectacular both with a present old testament style “flood”, and resolution of past mysteries, including the nature of the first critical failure.

I think Peter Abernathy, as the “professor”, is going to host a donner party with William and Logan T-30, and one may die. T-34ish, we will see what every host in the church is so upset about, yikes!! Today, in the now uncovered church, MIB will see he has been naive, once again. His plan to “free” the hosts, will be revealed as typically naive, and he is going to get “real” via serious pain.

Another huge reveal will be the Maze, a ‘meta’ metaphor. It’s both about host AI replacing cornerstones, and how about how old Bill will “hole up” that enormous cavity Ford has been excavating, as he zipped himeself into the bag in E01, and the maze builder “who died many times and was sick of fighting” Teddy described to MIB. That hole will be like a new character in the finale. Ford might even figure a way in there, but I think he is also “done”.

What about Maeve? She may be on her way out with a present: the Ford and Old Bill/Arnold’s research project results which will do the widescale burn, via biology.

Most think I am crazy, but even if I am sort of right it ruins nothing for me or anybody, because there is no predicting the rich multi layered presentation of Westworld, with unbeatable cast, music, effects, and direction. And these are not my guesses alone, but deductions I’ve made reading and hearing so many great theories 🙂

Thanks to the team here and everyone!