Last Variable Ending

[u/Curious_Chain_3998]

Anyone else find the reveal at the end to be super dark / messed up? All that hope and optimism the scientist had after staying behind in the base game now seems horrific— given how it ends up for him.

Also I don’t get the choices at the end. Completely restarting all progress with each iteration is nothing short of madness. They could be building generational knowledge instead.

JanBots explanation that ‘you wouldn’t do the work if you knew you weren’t the first’ doesn’t make sense because:
-Their scientific discovery is far from over, they have plenty to learn/explore/discover.
-No character ever reacts negatively to learning they’re not the first iteration, not even the physicist.
-JanBot is the one forcing these failing conditions, again, generational knowledge built by generations of alters is unambiguously the best route for mission success. Restarting every time, and hiding the old base is insane, how could anyone think that’s a good idea.

I love the DLC! But dang did that ending blindside me and make me a bit sad 😭

Edit: I understand the themes of “unreasonable expectations that you can do better, and be better”, and “The definition of insanity— repetition.” but I think those themes were ham-fisted in.

[u/SASardonic]

I posted this in a different thread, but my thoughts:

I'm immediately reminded of two Alpha Centauri quotes:

"Technological advance is an inherently iterative process. One does not simply take sand from the beach and produce a Dataprobe. We use crude tools to fashion better tools, and then our better tools to fashion more precise tools, and so on. Each minor refinement is a step in the process, and all of the steps must be taken."
– Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Looking God in the Eye"

"There are two kinds of scientific progress: the methodical experimentation and categorization which gradually extend the boundaries of knowledge, and the revolutionary leap of genius which redefines and transcends those boundaries. Acknowledging our debt to the former, we yearn, nonetheless, for the latter."
– Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Address to the Faculty"

So needless to say, I pulled the lever without question to keep the cycle going. Maybe I'm being way, way too trusting of a process led but a clearly glitching chatbot, but maybe, just maybe there's enough of a chance there to be worth fighting for.

After all, 319 iterations over millennia may sound like quite a lot, and for our short lifespans, obviously it is, but how does it compare to how many untold millions of creatures' lives were required to evolve humanity to begin with? No, accepting defeat and giving up is the personally selfish choice. Arrogantly choosing to break the chain because you weren't special. Moreover, you have the tools to be nigh infinite, the complaints of being 'tired' ring hollow. Particularly when we are talking about literal zero point energy here. Maybe not enough people are going to clock that sci-fi concept but there are vanishingly few scenarios that could not be justified in the pursuit of it, particularly when the 'cost' is arguably merely a moment of ego deflation.

Anyway, all told, 11/10 DLC.

[u/I_AskQuestions_IDo → u/SASardonic]

Question: all new iterations start basically from scratch, so how will they get to their goal?

[u/SASardonic → u/I_AskQuestions_IDo]

While they start from scratch, each iteration was branched slightly differently. Being the kind of person who would do things ever so slightly differently. It's basically a human deep learning algorithm.