I had this theory too at one point but I couldn't justify it, their imitation of humans is too janky on the vast majority of the robots. I think that if any of them are formerly humans then it's the Outsiders group and only that group, I need to go and investigate some of the other pods for clues to who the owners of the pods were. I personally lean towards the idea that some humans attempted to do consciousness uploading but it went wrong and didn't work, then the cat came along and found this consciousness trapped inside the PC screaming for help and we uploaded it to B12. I think the rest of the humans in that project for consciousness upload probably died otherwise they would have helped B12 themselves.
I think another analysis here is that the humans that died on the lower levels left behind a human society, with human entertainment and shit. The robots over time changed because of the environmental influence of their surroundings (human class society) and then slowly but surely became these imitators we see now over millions of years (this is 5million years in the future according to a note I found in game). I find this analysis the most compelling because the robots on the highest level, the control level for the rulers of the city, are not human at all. They are in the most sterile environment, with no influence around them, and they have had nothing of human culture or influence to copy or change them over time. I think this is a commentary on the middle-income and destitute classes of society being the most human, that the highest level of society is the least human. It's worth noting that there is a memory file in the game to find that specifically states that the robots started imitating the humans before the humans were gone which I think adds to this theory.
Also with theories about the worldbuilding I think everyone is overlooking
spoiler
the lifeform that the Zurks spawns from. The hundreds of giant terrifying eyeballs we saw is one giant lifeform and uhhhhh something more is going on with that beyond just "bacteria made to eat stuff", feels sort of gravemind-like. This lifeform is presumably not dead and has just been released from the city by us escaping which concerns me.
it would make sense for the outsiders. i never played it but just watched a letsplay with my partner so some things were missed. i know we saw 2 or 3 mind upload pods are there more?
spoiler
and unlike the little bacteria/waterbear zurks the eldritch superorganism seems utterly unfazed by UV radiation!
I think I definitely saw 2, possibly saw 3 pods, really not sure if there were more though and need to pay more attention. I'm not necessarily sure they should be considered "mind upload pods" though, they could just be longterm cryo for a body too and the only mindupload place may have been at B12's.
spoiler
utterly unfazed by UV radiation!
Yeah this was very noticeable. It isn't going to be affected by the sun. The small ones that spawn might be but it can clearly spread elsewhere. This opens the door for a sequel where the cats and other things in the world are affected by a spreading biological terror.
In the very beginning of the game you see a pod connected to a robot body, so it's clear that the pods are actually mind upload pods. Presumably the upload failed and
spoiler
that person instead got stuck in the network and inhabited B12
I had this theory too at one point but I couldn't justify it, their imitation of humans is too janky on the vast majority of the robots. I think that if any of them are formerly humans then it's the Outsiders group and only that group, I need to go and investigate some of the other pods for clues to who the owners of the pods were. I personally lean towards the idea that some humans attempted to do consciousness uploading but it went wrong and didn't work, then the cat came along and found this consciousness trapped inside the PC screaming for help and we uploaded it to B12. I think the rest of the humans in that project for consciousness upload probably died otherwise they would have helped B12 themselves.
I think another analysis here is that the humans that died on the lower levels left behind a human society, with human entertainment and shit. The robots over time changed because of the environmental influence of their surroundings (human class society) and then slowly but surely became these imitators we see now over millions of years (this is 5million years in the future according to a note I found in game). I find this analysis the most compelling because the robots on the highest level, the control level for the rulers of the city, are not human at all. They are in the most sterile environment, with no influence around them, and they have had nothing of human culture or influence to copy or change them over time. I think this is a commentary on the middle-income and destitute classes of society being the most human, that the highest level of society is the least human. It's worth noting that there is a memory file in the game to find that specifically states that the robots started imitating the humans before the humans were gone which I think adds to this theory.
Also with theories about the worldbuilding I think everyone is overlooking
spoiler
the lifeform that the Zurks spawns from. The hundreds of giant terrifying eyeballs we saw is one giant lifeform and uhhhhh something more is going on with that beyond just "bacteria made to eat stuff", feels sort of gravemind-like. This lifeform is presumably not dead and has just been released from the city by us escaping which concerns me.
it would make sense for the outsiders. i never played it but just watched a letsplay with my partner so some things were missed. i know we saw 2 or 3 mind upload pods are there more?
spoiler
and unlike the little bacteria/waterbear zurks the eldritch superorganism seems utterly unfazed by UV radiation!
I think I definitely saw 2, possibly saw 3 pods, really not sure if there were more though and need to pay more attention. I'm not necessarily sure they should be considered "mind upload pods" though, they could just be longterm cryo for a body too and the only mindupload place may have been at B12's.
spoiler
Yeah this was very noticeable. It isn't going to be affected by the sun. The small ones that spawn might be but it can clearly spread elsewhere. This opens the door for a sequel where the cats and other things in the world are affected by a spreading biological terror.
In the very beginning of the game you see a pod connected to a robot body, so it's clear that the pods are actually mind upload pods. Presumably the upload failed and
spoiler
that person instead got stuck in the network and inhabited B12