TADC Rambling
you know what I find really interesting?
Caine very specifically refers to the real world as the Macroverse instead of the "real world" or anything remotely similar.
If you know anything about Stephen King's stories or theories on the universe, you would know that the Macroverse Theory is that there is a "greater universe container" our universe exists within, and within that vast void exists a vast amount of other universes that contain their own galaxies, worlds, life, and universal laws. Essentially, the macroverse is the foundation of any version of the multiverse or multidimensional theory.
Caine seemingly refers to the outside world as the macroverse, as if he doesn't know what the real world is. Yet, at the same time, he seems to know what the macroverse is, and is just terming it after a pre-existing phrase, just like how he models most other things after pre-existing media.
Now, this particular word choice is interesting because of the existence of The Void. The vast emptiness that exists around the bubble of the Circus. A void of space, which is exactly what a macroverse is. A vast void of space in which multiple universes exist.
Caine's adventures seemingly exist within little glass balls in his office. Except they appear more like trophies, the maps I assume exist somewhere in the void out of view. The ACTUAL method of entering the worlds of his adventures is through the quote "fractal noise" portals Caine summons. Brightly colored portals, mind you.
In the brief trip we saw Pomni go on in The Void in Ep1, we see that she starts seeing flashes of colorful light, and she seemingly starts to enter a REM like state (that or epilepsy). At the end of the Ep, we go so far through the void, we end up in what appears to be the real world.
Just as Caine's modelled version, the desk featured has the okd computer and the headset put beside it. And important thing of note is that the headset is set neatly off to the side facing towards us. The desk is set neatly. The chair is also pulled out slightly to the side, as if someone had been sitting in it and got out.
I personally, strongly subscribe to the SOMA Theory. Those of you who don't know what that is, its the theory that TADC is modelled after the game SOMA. It's a game about huamns who get digitized into code and can be transferred around with the goal of being put onto an Ark to escape the dying Earth. A digital paradise that is going to be sent out into space. Except, it does so through copying that digitized file from that moment into the new body, essentially creating 2 versions of that person. There are othet things of course, but no spoilers. If you don't want to play the game, go watch the Jacksepticeye playthrough, he explains it in a much more digestible way.
But essentially, the game tackles the questions about what makes you human, what is a human soul, morality, human vs code and function, existentialism. Sound a little to TADC, no?
Interestingly enough, mind files are mentioned in TADC. Ep8, Caine mentions creating a program that creates bodies matching the players mind files. This can be referring to a mind file, coding term (not an expert, dont quote me) for what is essentially a coding mind map for figuring out algorithms or software. OR it can be referring to a MIND file, a digital file of brain scans of the players, translated into behavioural code which produces the characters we know now.
It would especially explain why Caine can add modifiers and changes to each person so easily, since their brains are just codes within the programs files. Something Caine has free access to. It would also explain abstraction being a literal code abstraction/corruption.
Additionally, Pomni and now Ragatha's reactions to entering the Circus adds further context and support to the SOMA theory. Spoilers for SOMA.
They both express shock and confusion at their inability to remove the headset, and in Ep8, we see that Ragatha was with other people who she was calling for help from.
Now in SOMA, the individual is not transferred, but copied. This creates a double, one who has the experience of the "transfer" working, and the other who has the experience that it failed or didn't work.
This is an important note, since in SOMA, the one time the doubles do not exist in the same space is when they transfer one onto the Ark. So one is on the Ark thinking they succeeded, while the other is stuck on literal Hell on Earth thinking they failed. All alone. At the bottom of the ocean. Stuck in the body of a robot.
The initial scans are dome similarly, with the file running dormant until activated or placed within a program or robot. For the person themselves, they put on a headset, take it off, end of story.
For the digitized copy, they put on that headset, and then suddenly theyre in a diffeten time, a different place. And worse is that, even those stuck in robot bodies sees not metal or wire, but human bodies.
And just like in SOMA, TADC character pyt on a headset, and suddenly they were stuck in a digital world in digital bodies, with no way out even if they had people around them who could easily take off the headset.
Ramble over, goodnight.
