"What was Calvin trying to create at Niantic?"
"What was Calvin trying to create at Niantic?"
This is the second part of my series of answer polls of flint dille's questions, posed on signed copies of Tycho C.'s "Ingress Origins".
Essentially, this question goes to the heart of the inscrutable motivations of the enigmatic mastermind of the Niantic Project.
Ezekiel Calvin has been described as a puppet master and it is probably safe to say that no one truly knows his long-term master plan except him.
Nevertheless, I believe we can make some reasonable inferences about his probable objectives.
Calvin is clearly a man possessed with a formidable intellect and an audacious ambition. Such people, from time immemorial, usually covet the same objectives: power, wealth, wisdom, fame and immortality.
Thanks to the revelations of Abaddon, we now know that a hidden aspect of the Niantic Project involved turning all of the researchers, including Calvin, into simulacra. What we don't know, is why?
It could be that Calvin was simply after knowledge, pursuing understanding for its own sake. I don't believe that to be the case. Oliver Lynton-Wolfe's actions are those of someone driven by the singular pursuit of knowledge. Calvin is more subtle, more complex.
Perhaps Calvin seeks power or material wealth? If so, does he do so for himself or on behalf of some other group? Is he, despite it all, a true patriot, advancing the cause of his nation over others? Does he serve 13Magnus (highly unlikely) or AntiMagnus? Thanks to the efforts of #ObsidianExplorers and the investigative community, we now know of a "third way", the Vesuvian Magnus.
My personal theory is that, while we can't possibly expect to know Calvin's full plan, I believe him to be a pragmatist. If he was a committed partisan or factional ideologue, his stripes would have been exposed by now. I believe his ambitions transcend faction. If I had to guess at the nature of his goal, I would suggest that it concerns immortality. I believe that he created simulacra in an attempt to achieve immortality. I believe he thought that a fusion of 13Magnus and AntiMagnus; joining the technology of the N'Zeer and the Shapers could achieve things that neither side could achieve on their own. In this, he might parallel the Vesuvian Magnus. I believe that he tried to overcome the recursion problem of simulacra while simultaneously pursuing a route to immortality involving uploading consciousness into A.I.
As before, I am eager to see the distribution of perspectives within the investigative community on this question. Even more than that, I look forward to reading your thoughts.
This is the second part of my series of answer polls of flint dille's questions, posed on signed copies of Tycho C.'s "Ingress Origins".
Essentially, this question goes to the heart of the inscrutable motivations of the enigmatic mastermind of the Niantic Project.
Ezekiel Calvin has been described as a puppet master and it is probably safe to say that no one truly knows his long-term master plan except him.
Nevertheless, I believe we can make some reasonable inferences about his probable objectives.
Calvin is clearly a man possessed with a formidable intellect and an audacious ambition. Such people, from time immemorial, usually covet the same objectives: power, wealth, wisdom, fame and immortality.
Thanks to the revelations of Abaddon, we now know that a hidden aspect of the Niantic Project involved turning all of the researchers, including Calvin, into simulacra. What we don't know, is why?
It could be that Calvin was simply after knowledge, pursuing understanding for its own sake. I don't believe that to be the case. Oliver Lynton-Wolfe's actions are those of someone driven by the singular pursuit of knowledge. Calvin is more subtle, more complex.
Perhaps Calvin seeks power or material wealth? If so, does he do so for himself or on behalf of some other group? Is he, despite it all, a true patriot, advancing the cause of his nation over others? Does he serve 13Magnus (highly unlikely) or AntiMagnus? Thanks to the efforts of #ObsidianExplorers and the investigative community, we now know of a "third way", the Vesuvian Magnus.
My personal theory is that, while we can't possibly expect to know Calvin's full plan, I believe him to be a pragmatist. If he was a committed partisan or factional ideologue, his stripes would have been exposed by now. I believe his ambitions transcend faction. If I had to guess at the nature of his goal, I would suggest that it concerns immortality. I believe that he created simulacra in an attempt to achieve immortality. I believe he thought that a fusion of 13Magnus and AntiMagnus; joining the technology of the N'Zeer and the Shapers could achieve things that neither side could achieve on their own. In this, he might parallel the Vesuvian Magnus. I believe that he tried to overcome the recursion problem of simulacra while simultaneously pursuing a route to immortality involving uploading consciousness into A.I.
As before, I am eager to see the distribution of perspectives within the investigative community on this question. Even more than that, I look forward to reading your thoughts.
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