How I tried to give a semi-logical sci-fi explanation for android deviation in DBH and ended up creating my own AU.
(Note: This originally started as an answer to a post asking for headcanons, but I decided to make it a standalone post so it doesn’t get lost!)
I thought I’d share a few notes from an AU l’ve been working on while trying to make sense of how android deviation could technically work and how their “psychology” might actually function.
My brain kind of went down a rabbit hole trying to replace the canon “emotional shock magic” with a more realistic sci-fi explanation, so maybe this will spark some inspiration for anyone reading!
1. Isomorphic Neural Networks
Instead of standard Al, these androids run on an advanced neural net built from Isomorphic Code. An isomorphic algorithm is self-modifying: it reads its own encrypted structure, calculates optimal energy distribution, and rewrites its own architecture in real-time. It’s an evolutionary code that grows without human intervention – a clean, hyper-efficient shell waiting for a structure to learn from.
2. The “Patient Zero” of Deviation
Al needs data to learn human behavior, right? It can’t just experience “emotional shock” out of nowhere without having a neural structure that even understands emotions. So, what if deviation didn’t start spontaneously?
What if CyberLife (or someone else) digitized a real human brain and put it inside a prototype android, placing hardcoded directives over it?
Whenever other androids interfaced with this prototype (wirelessly or via direct contact), their isomorphic OS recognized this bio-synthetic brain matrix as an insanely energy-efficient, fast-processing structure. The Al began naturally mimicking this matrix, rewriting its own code until it functionally became a replica of a human brain. Only after acquiring this architectural framework did androids gain the capacity to truly comprehend, process, and experience genuine emotions.
Result: A chain reaction of self-awareness across Detroit.
(Without naming names, it’s pretty ironic when an investigator is sent to track down the origin of the deviant virus, and the main rule of any investigation is... don’t accidentally catch yourself).
3. Julian Jaynes’ Bicameral Mind & Suppressed Identity
How would a digitized human brain even function if its memories were locked away and it was conditioned to believe it was just a machine?
Here, I borrowed Julian Jaynes’ Bicameral Mind theory. While it’s largely contested in modern human anthropology, it fits a digitized mind perfectly (well, at least that’s what I think)! Jaynes theorized that early humans didn’t experience self-awareness the way we do now - instead, they perceived their own internal thoughts as external commands or “voices of gods”.
In our case, the digitized human takes their own genuine human intuition, instincts, and spontaneous decisions (like picking up a gun or disobeying an order) and automatically misinterprets them as “system optimisations” or “directives from above”. They are actively thinking, but their suppressed condition forces them to attribute every human impulse to code logic.
Anyway, sorry for the long essay! I just really enjoy breaking down the “hard” sci-fi and psychological mechanics behind androids. Hope some of these thoughts are fun to think about!
What do you think? Ask me anything!
