- Traxus 04
- |
- Honorable Member
I posted this theory years ago when Halo 3 came out, but now there's a little bit more evidence for it. Note that the origins of the Flood and their exact biology etc. is largely unknown at this point.
What we do know about the Flood is that
- they consider themselves the next stage of evolution, on a universal scale
(see gravemind's dialogue in the Halo 3 terminals)
- once they infect a host (biological, sentient life), they control its mind
- they can communicate/coordinate telepathically
- the initial infection in our galaxy came from non-organic, inanimate material. a sort of white powder which had an effect on the behaviour of household pets (see Halo: Cryptum)
One new clue that we got towards the end of the Halo:Reach datapads was that somebody had worked out how to 'reverse the path' of mapping a human brain onto a computer network: by mapping an AI back onto a human brain.
The human brain is a 'neural network.' We can build neural networks with computer chips and programs, but the ones in our head are trillions of times more complicated, we could probably never build a computer that complicated. With technology we could only achieve a tiny fraction of the inter-connectivity present in our brains. This is scientific fact.
Therefore the 'Holy Grail' of computer/AI research, if you will, is using the human brain as a computing platform. The thing is, all human brains are in use by, like, people. And even if you could get some spare, working brains, we wouldn't know how to install a computer program onto them (yet).
But in Halo: Reach someone DID work out how to make such an installation. Which is cool and all, but instantly raises two questions:
- what happens to whatever individual was already using that brain?
- what's now to stop 'computer viruses' spreading from person to person?
And the answer to both: the Flood. Taking over someone's mind? Check. Spreading to more minds? Check.
The Flood are basically a computer virus that transferred to biologicals. Their origin from inanimate matter is even reminiscent of how viruses/trojans are planted as seemingly harmless code inside other packages, but wreak havoc once they get unwittingly executed.
This also ties up with one other new piece of information, from Cryptum: the Domain. The Domain was a sort of wireless universal data-warehouse that the Forerunner's accessed with their AIs and used to share knowledge - a form of telepathy, just like the Flood.
In this light, when you consider the Assembly, if their story is not going to lead anywhere (and I don't see why it should, the war is over after Halo 3, so I'm not expecting any sequels set among the UNSC planets), then it must mean something else. Perhaps the Assembly/datapads story is basically Bungie's whispered explanation of what the Flood is and where they came from.
I leave you with this exert from the Halo 3 terminals to ponder:
LF.Xx.3273.> They repurposed {~}
into a weapon to use against {~} -
they sought to create something
superior to themselves. Something
capable of making decisions more
swiftly, more capably than they {~}
what form did they choose? You need
look no further than your own
topology to {~}
MB.05-032.> {~} distributed network?
That would confirm the independent
evolution of {~} in this galaxy!
LF.Xx.3273.> That is, unfortunately,
not the {~} similar to us {~} but
where you are a single intelligence
inhabiting multiple [instances], we
are a compound {~} consisting of
[a thousand billion] coordinated
minds inhabiting as many bodies as
circumstance require.
MB.05-032.> But doesn't it seem odd
that {~} coalesce; perhaps even to
contract {~}
LF.Xx.3273.> {~} complexity {~}
spread {~} our appearance ushered in
the beginning of the third great
stage of evolution. The first {~}
condensation of particles was the
result of the inevitable action of
strong nuclear force and the
creation of stars {~} inevitable
action of gravity; so to the
self-replicating chemical processes
that dictate all disparate {~} In
time, we too shall affect change on
a universal scale.