Westworld Lobotomies

Published May 21, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello, hosts! Thank you so much for doing this!

It must be a full-time job reading all these emails, but I haven’t heard you talking about this particular subject yet this season so I had to write in. Mainly: Why do lobotomies work if the ‘host brain’ is actualy this ‘IMD’ bulb thing?

There’s this interview with the creators from last season that I keep thinking about: http://ew.com/article/2016/11/13/westworld-interview-bernard-clementine/

“Q: Then she’s apparently lobotomized. We’re so used to the hosts coming back to life over and over again. Does this mean Clementine has been “killed off”?

A: Nolan: It’s a little more complicated than that. They’re physically removing part of her personality. It’s like when the NSA has a hard drive they want to get rid of. They don’t just erase it, they drill holes in it. The mind of the hosts are organized similar to a human mind, with that frontal lobe containing most of the code for her personality. So the person we know as Clementine is largely gone.”

Okay, so, the words “frontal lobe” are used… How literally are we to take that? Because it’s very specific wording and these writers do not mince words. Obviously, we’ve seen that the hosts have a mechanical component inside of their heads, which it seems the actual name for is “Pearl”– “Red Pearl” or “White Pearl” as shown on the Delos website***– but can we say whether they actually do have functioning brain matter as well? I don’t think the 3d-printed brain we’re seeing could be mere set dressing if Clem’s lobotomy works by drilling straight up into her frontal lobe. Also: Breaking the fluid-filled brain case containing the Pearl (“The Oyster”, perhaps?) would be very problematic, as we’ve seen with Bernard, so they evidently aren’t doing that.

***Here’s the Delos website: http://delosdestinations.com/intranet/ “Previous Backup A” leads to “Mesh Network”. “Red Pearl” says “You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when you’re stuck in one room.” “White Pearl” says “I imagine it comes as no surprise that Bernard isn’t what he says he is…Bernard’s brain is filled with doors, each containing a memory. But how does this human pastiche differ from the one he burned?” It links to a tablet view of “Bernard’s Brain” here: http://delosdestinations.com/intranet/#backupa

If we are to take this image literally, it appears to be showing these memories scattered throughout his brain; concentrated most in the center (Pearl), but also seen in the surrounding tissue.

Perhaps the Pearl is actually just a data storage device, explaining why most memories are centralized there. But there are also memories outside of it. Perhaps that’s what happens when the hosts actually remember something- It gets ingrained in their actual brain matter…? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!
Dean from Northampton

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