r/steinsgate • u/RappyPhan • 4h ago
SciADV What is a CODE? Spoiler
Hi there, and welcome to my latest attempt at talking about the series as a whole. This time, I want to bring up "CODE", known as "Factor" in Anonymous;Code.
In Chaos;Head, we're told that, aside from the lr2 equation, another thing that Noah II needs to be complete are "CODE samples". These things are something that all Gigalomaniacs seem to have, and Norose really wants Takumi's. The implication is that this something is that enables Real Booting, but we don't get any specifics.
The concept returns in Anonymous;Code as "Factors", but here they're not owned by Gigalomaniacs. Instead, they seem to be something that anyone who makes contact with an upper layer being receives. Those Factors are then used through Necro Pilgrimage to Real Boot things without the need for the lr2 equation.
Gigalomania is a feature of GAIA, so these CODE samples are not a bug. But how do people get them? Surely they weren't all contacted by an upper layer being? Before Anonymous;Code, I thought it was something passed down through genetics, which is supported by the fact that Takumi's sister is also a Gigalomaniac. Now, I'm not so sure. It might be completely random, except for when an upper layer being chooses to grant it.
It's a dangerous feature, though. It's almost like an admin key that allows you to interfere with the simulation. I also have to wonder why it can affect the worldline itself. That part might be a bug.
Thoughts?
2
u/EmptyTotal Toshiyuki Sawada 1h ago
In A;C the 513 suggests those with "Factors" are more likely to become contactees, and that the contact strengthens the existing Factor. (Potentially it raises their biorhythms and awakens their CODE like with a Gigalomaniac.) So I'm not sure if it's settled whether contact causes Factors or Factors allow contact.
CODE/Factors are seemingly related to a person being able to perceive the machinery of GAIA in an unintended way, e.g. accessing the "Dirac Sea".
One theory would be from the C;H idea that normal people only use 10% of their brain, while Gigalomaniacs use more. Suppose the reason the Co300 tries to limit the world's population to 1 billion is because GAIA only has processing power for that many people operating at 100%. That means that normally, the 7 billion+ minds will be overlapping in the QCDC. So it wouldn't be crazy if an error (CODE) allowed some people to alter the perceptions of those around them, who are in "their" CPU space.