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  • Subject: The Precursor, The Flood, and the Acceleration of Evolution V2.2!
Subject: The Precursor, The Flood, and the Acceleration of Evolution V2.2!
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: Agustus
Im trying to get this less quit here. To me it looks like the gravemind was corrupting mediciant by speaking through it. Mediciant was a contender AI. Sneaking something into a voice log is primitive. This suggests that there was some kind of hacking involved. Now mediciant was separated into multiple ships. If the gravemind was able to tap into just one of them he could acsses the entire system.

You're right, it does sound like that. But the Gravemind could have gotten his voice into Mendicant's logs through any number of means, one of his combat forms speaking near a Mendicant conduit, for example. We can't rule it out.

  • 08.15.2009 11:43 AM PDT
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Posted by: Agustus
"Is this the noble sacrifice my creators spoke of? Where is the nobility in these streets paved with greasy carbon and dun ash? [My mouth is speaking at another's behest] - that is not my voice; that is the other.

Its voice stands out as the single calm note in the panicked cacophony outside the sphere. It alone is not decrying its fate or raging against the [central government].

This anomaly bears closer examination."

It just occurred to me this isn't solid proof. If you remember cortana in Halo3 says allot of weired stuff. One being something like "This is UNSC AI serial number something something. I am a monument to all of your sins"


Personally, I believe that every Cortana flash, as they have come to be called, was an attempt to discourage MC, that came not from Cortana, but the Gravemind itself, using the Flood's telepathic powers.

  • 08.15.2009 1:22 PM PDT
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i think that the last side theory, that the Precursors are the Flood is unlikely because a species that depends on another, to multiply and survive, is not a higher form of evolution from a species that had formed a pact to try and protect life, even creating. Also because the Precursor had possibly created the Forerunner, if not nurtured it, and had set it the task of protecting all life, as the Flood has living memory of those infected, if it was an evolution of a previous species it would surely have memory of them and what they did also. that they had (to put it in one word) Create-helped the Forerunner and given them the task of preserving life would they have killed them? i think that the Presurcors created the flood is more plausible, as is the create-help theory. but anything is possible, as Bungie has so rightly shown...

  • 08.18.2009 10:42 AM PDT
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: JCTehPro
i think that the last side theory, that the Precursors are the Flood is unlikely because a species that depends on another, to multiply and survive, is not a higher form of evolution from a species that had formed a pact to try and protect life, even creating.

We don't know the intricacies of the Precursor method to evolve life, though. We don't know if they would have just started out by trying to evolve themselves to protect life further and simply wound up as the Flood when they couldn't stop the evolutionary process. We just don't know. I mean, I believe my theory if I believe anything at all, but I have to admit that that particular side-theory still has possible merit.

  • 08.18.2009 11:39 AM PDT
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very good read, as interesting as mythic difficulty is hard

  • 08.19.2009 5:29 AM PDT

I can't believe I got warm by a fire fed with my manuscript. What a nightmare.

I have to applaud you. You seem like a very passionate thinker and you're well versed in this subject. Also, you back up your theories with indisputable evidence. I'm glad that I stumbled across this thread because it was enlightening. Thank you for this. The best thing about knowledge and ideas is when you share it and them with others, it allows us to interpret things for ourselves with a solid foundation standing behind it. So again, thank you.

I look forward to reading more from you in the future.

  • 08.21.2009 9:35 AM PDT

I can't believe I got warm by a fire fed with my manuscript. What a nightmare.

Posted by: Lord Snakie
Posted by: JCTehPro
i think that the last side theory, that the Precursors are the Flood is unlikely because a species that depends on another, to multiply and survive, is not a higher form of evolution from a species that had formed a pact to try and protect life, even creating.

We don't know the intricacies of the Precursor method to evolve life, though. We don't know if they would have just started out by trying to evolve themselves to protect life further and simply wound up as the Flood when they couldn't stop the evolutionary process. We just don't know. I mean, I believe my theory if I believe anything at all, but I have to admit that that particular side-theory still has possible merit.


This may have already been said but the Flood's instinct to assimilate all life in the galaxy into one unified being reminds me of the Instrumentality from Neon Genesis Evangelion. While the Precursors could have had the best intentions in bringing all sentient life to a completely unified state of body and mind creating a utopian society, the process obviously went very wrong if the Flood Gravemind became self-aware and went Rampant.

So they could have induced evolution (or even de-evolution) on themselves in order to attain this goal. Remember Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde? Where the scientist makes himself the experiment and becomes the monster? It's entirely possible the same could be true of the Flood.

I want to add to the theory of the Gravemind being an AI by saying that if something existed on a trans-sentient level, everything below it that was sentient would be through their interpretation an artificial intelligence of itself. Think of the way that we as human beings consider Artificial Intelligence. There's always the intention of making it as close to being human as possible but due to the fact that it is a creation of mankind it is fallible and it'll never be on the same level as us. With that being said, everything sentient through the eyes of the Precursors could be considered an AI with its own distinct purposes and qualities. The key to this idea is inferiority to those who are at the reins of controlling the course of life itself.

If the Gravemind assimilated (or even started out as) even one of the Precursors, the knowledge that it would have given it and the awareness of life itself along with its purpose as a library of knowledge could give it a sense of being a divine power through omniscience.

Even if all of this has been said, I just wanted to throw my two cents in and contribute by reinterpretation or solidifying an already-stated idea.

  • 08.21.2009 10:31 AM PDT

5 years and counting on Bungie. I feel old and worthless.

Yes Flag Ship, nice re-interpretation.

  • 08.21.2009 7:27 PM PDT
Subject: The Precursor, The Flood, and the Acceleration of Evolution (V2)
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I only will believe that the Humans ARE the Precursors and that the Flood is just a Infestion that they made and could not control.

  • 08.22.2009 5:50 AM PDT
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: Trancient Ghost
I only will believe that the Humans ARE the Precursors and that the Flood is just a Infestion that they made and could not control.

Wait, what?

I don't get what you're trying to say here. Believe what you want, but what's your backing for that? What makes my theory more improbable?

  • 08.22.2009 9:36 AM PDT
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Whats making your Idea improbable is the fact that ALL life in the galaxy was Exterminated when the Forerunners activated their Halo Rings. The Flood had no more Food to find and they only remained stable in the Rings.The next Phase of my theory is that the Precursors lived in another distant galaxy and WHERE friends with the Foreruners util they lost contact.

I believe the Precursors manipulated life as we speak and they left Humans there till they started founding a NEW hegemony the Precursors will consider as their MANTLE.

Im just saying little of what I believe, but whatever.

  • 08.22.2009 10:11 AM PDT
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: Trancient Ghost
Whats making your Idea improbable is the fact that ALL life in the galaxy was Exterminated when the Forerunners activated their Halo Rings. The Flood had no more Food to find and they only remained stable in the Rings.The next Phase of my theory is that the Precursors lived in another distant galaxy and WHERE friends with the Foreruners util they lost contact.

I believe the Precursors manipulated life as we speak and they left Humans there till they started founding a NEW hegemony the Precursors will consider as their MANTLE.

Im just saying little of what I believe, but whatever.

Well, the problem with your theory is that the Forerunner found Humanity on Earth before the rings ever fired.

Species were collected and preserved from the destruction caused by the Halo rings, or at least that's what we're almost positive happened. Either way, the Forerunner found Humanity before they were extinct, making your idea... moot.

  • 08.22.2009 10:27 AM PDT

X74

What if the flood were "grown" like plants by a diffrent species that hated the purcrusers and used the flood like attack dogs to kill off the purcursors?

  • 08.22.2009 9:29 PM PDT
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Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

Ok Snaky haven't read up on this thread in awhile.

From what I understand the flood was used to collect memories. So they were not lost. Now there is indisputable evidence that the flood where created by or at least consumed the forerunner. Thus how they got to our galaxy in the first place.

Now the part about the flood being created by the precursor and used as a brain dump (lose term i find humorous) has no evidence. They most likely where created by them but the brain dump thing has no evidence I can think of. Nothing substantial supports that.

  • 08.23.2009 6:40 PM PDT
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: Agustus
Now the part about the flood being created by the precursor and used as a brain dump (lose term i find humorous) has no evidence. They most likely where created by them but the brain dump thing has no evidence I can think of. Nothing substantial supports that.

There's a little bit of backing here and there just based on how the Flood operate, but not a whole hell of a lot, no. The "brain dump" is really more or less a means to an end, in other words a logical explanation for why the Flood would have been created, not necessarily the exact reason why.

  • 08.23.2009 7:43 PM PDT
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Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

I understand your "brain dump" conclusion. But there was this study on how you can make a coin always land on a specific side. What was the point of that? None. The flood could have been an experiment that would allow the precursors to do, well... not much. Just to see if they could . Then it obviously out smarted them.

  • 08.23.2009 8:30 PM PDT

Posted by: Agustus
But there was this study on how you can make a coin always land on a specific side. What was the point of that? None.

lolwat

The point was to find how to make a coin land on specific side. Just because you don't understand why an experiment is done doesn't mean it's "pointless".

  • 08.23.2009 9:26 PM PDT
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Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

Posted by: All of humanity
Posted by: Agustus
But there was this study on how you can make a coin always land on a specific side. What was the point of that? None.

lolwat

The point was to find how to make a coin land on specific side. Just because you don't understand why an experiment is done doesn't mean it's "pointless".


But the point was stupid. They like spent tons of money on that (in comparison to how much you think they would spend)


O and the conclusion is its different for every penny.

  • 08.24.2009 1:59 PM PDT

When the dust settles, you will learn what true terror is.

Fantastic speculations here, and excellent support for them. I think there is even more evidence to the "mind" bit of why the Flood infect. If you read "The Flood" you will remember that from the perspective of Keyes and the other marine that was infected, once they had been infected it was as though the parasite HUNGERED for their knowledge. They would immediately snatch up memories as they surfaced in the infected host's mind, and yet the host could still feel the parasite's hunger and thirst for more information.

  • 08.29.2009 1:38 PM PDT
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: General Khazard
Fantastic speculations here, and excellent support for them. I think there is even more evidence to the "mind" bit of why the Flood infect. If you read "The Flood" you will remember that from the perspective of Keyes and the other marine that was infected, once they had been infected it was as though the parasite HUNGERED for their knowledge. They would immediately snatch up memories as they surfaced in the infected host's mind, and yet the host could still feel the parasite's hunger and thirst for more information.

This was brought up before, but yes, you're correct in that sense. Even after being infected, all the hosts could feel was hunger. And Keyes was stripped of his knowledge, piece by piece, over time. He even "fed" the Brain-Form his thoughts to protect the information about the UNSC. The Flood have a primal instinct, perhaps, to search for knowledge.

  • 08.29.2009 9:29 PM PDT

When the dust settles, you will learn what true terror is.

I figured it had been mentioned, but I didn't have time to sift through 19 pages after reading your theory in its entirety. I think it is important to note that the parasite seemed to have temporarily satiated its thirst whenever Keyes fed it a memory.

  • 08.29.2009 11:12 PM PDT
Subject: The Precursor, The Flood, and the Acceleration of Evolution V2.2!

uhmm nice, good theorie, but you should stop thinking too much, because the flood are from the time of the forerunners, you should take the gravemind as the devil, it is just pure evil is not a living IA, and if it was.. we would be living IAs too.

The Gravemind knowledge is something secondary, he lives for the bodies of death animals that means their hands, legs and brain...

the infection forms are not too little... they can't infect a cat, so don't think too much about biomass and that stuff, is just about size

  • 08.29.2009 11:45 PM PDT
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“To say more would spoil be it’s overall its a game that needs to be played.” - Aristotle

Posted by: Councilor_117H2
uhmm nice, good theorie, but you should stop thinking too much, because the flood are from the time of the forerunners, you should take the gravemind as the devil, it is just pure evil is not a living IA, and if it was.. we would be living IAs too.

The Gravemind knowledge is something secondary, he lives for the bodies of death animals that means their hands, legs and brain...

the infection forms are not too little... they can't infect a cat, so don't think too much about biomass and that stuff, is just about size

What.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but the Flood came to the Milky Way from another galaxy at the time of the Forerunner. They existed during the time of the Forerunner, yes, but we do not know their time of creation, nor where they were created or who created them. This theory tries to fill in the pieces, and is completely possible.

The Gravemind could be a living AI because the Precursor hardwired him that way, plain and simple. We wouldn't all be living AIs, the Precursor did not make all of us.

  • 08.30.2009 8:01 AM PDT
Subject: The Precursor, The Flood, and the Acceleration of Evolution (V2)

i got through half...

  • 08.30.2009 12:16 PM PDT
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Mooty mooty mooty....Whatever, If the Forerunners found Earth and the Humans(The spartans like Fred the glits and -blam!- is ''frustatingly familiar'') then why the ''Humans'' DO NOT, have powerfull technology....Uh thats right, what about the -blam!--ing Big Bann Theory, where all matter in the Universe compacted in a single chunk of plasma and Blew up and stills expanding at great speeds today, then Why in the hell it says that the Foreruners have been lurking in the Universe For Eons multiplied by time adding it up to the present....But, I dont believe what scientists say, the majority of them are wrong but I dont believe in the Big bann theory. Ok'', now, If the Forerunners found earth and its civilization, then they should have good tech, don't you think.


The second I just brought the last two words on teh Paragraph overhead, I tought that ''IF'' Forerunners and Precursors have a good Understanding over the Slipspace, then they ''Manipulate'' Time as well. Ok'' now, havent it come to your mind that they could have all left to the Future or past. Think about it.

  • 08.31.2009 7:04 PM PDT