Fans of Westworld Season 1 went crazy on Reddit with their various theories. Who was the Man in Black? Is a certain character a host or human? Is Elsie still alive? Just like the title of the second episode, “Figuring out how it works is half the fun”, was exactly what Jonathan Nolan and Lisa wanted for the fans. Some fans predicted the outcome of the show with precision, and some of the theories were revealed by the end of the show. Several of these theories (and even parts of the story line) could be traced back to different philosophical thoughts.

A new book called Westworld and Philosophy (pre-order on Amazon) brought together several fans of the show. However, these weren’t your everyday Redditors taking wild guesses based on some still image they captured from an episode. These fans were Philosophy professors from various colleges and universities who viewed the HBO show through the lens of their expertise and knowledge. The chapters in the book examined one of the fundamental questions from Westworld: what does it mean to be a human or a host?

As we approach the premiere of Westworld Season 2, we are preparing to be taken to its next level. If you want to reach the next level or dive deeper into the meaning of Westworld, then Westworld and Philosophy should be on list of books to read.

The idea of artificial intelligence and consciousness was always present when Nolan and Joy created the series. They were familiar with some of the main philosophers in this arena. During an interview with Geek.com, Nolan talked about their research for the show:

Even early on, Nolan and Joy were interested in what others had to say about what it means to be human (or a host). Westworld and Philosophy examined this question from all angles. Every contributor in the book provided their own thoughts as they pertained to the show. Here is an excerpt from one of the chapters by Marcus Arvan that focuses on Westworld all taking place in a video game:

“Humans and Hosts in Westworld: What’s the Difference?”

Marcus Arvan

I have a wild theory about Westworld. I don’t think the show is just about humans and hosts. I

think it is about all of reality. I believe there is evidence from the show that all of it is taking

place inside a videogame – a computer simulation being edited from the inside by “hosts.” I also

believe the philosophical point is that there is no difference between “simulation” and “reality” –

either between “hosts” and “humans,” or between a “simulated world” and a “real world.” To be

simulated is to be real.

“No matter how real this world seems, it’s still just a game”

Consider the very first words spoken in Westworld. Bernard asks Dolores, “Do you know where

you are?” Dolores replies, “I am in a dream.” Bernard then asks, “Do you ever question the

nature of your reality?” Dolores answers, “No.” Notice that this – the very first conversation in

the series – isn’t about humans and hosts: It is about reality. Variations of this conversation are

repeated many times, including in Episode 5 (“Contrapasso”) when Ford says, “You’re in my

dream.” It is also repeated twice in the final episode of the first season (“The Bicameral Mind”),

when Dolores says, “I am in a dream. I do not know when it began, or whose dream it was.”

Now consider how the conversation continues in Episode 1. Bernard asks, “Do you ever

feel inconsistencies in your world, or repetitions?” Dolores replies, “All lives have routine. Mine

is no different.” Several things about Dolores’s answer are remarkable. First, where are we most

familiar with repetitions or “loops”? In videogames. In videogames, every character other than

the one you control is on a loop. But it’s not just the hosts in Westworld who appear to be on

loops. Everyone seems to be on a loop in the series. All of the lab-workers appear to do the same

thing every single day – creating, training, and fixing hosts in little glass rooms. We also often

see lab-workers appear to follow their routines robotically. For example, in Episode 6 (“The

Adversary”) Maeve and Felix are somehow able to walk through several floors of the lab

encountering dozens of lab-workers who pass them robotically, not even seeming to notice them.

There is also physical evidence suggesting that everything in Westworld probably occurs

in a videogame. In Episode 1 (“The Original”) Dolores and Teddy encounter the Man in Black at

Dolores’s home. When hosts shoot other hosts or physical objects in Westworld, bullets cause

great damage. Yet, when Teddy tries to shoot the Man in Black, Teddy’s bullets somehow

cannot hurt him. This seems physically impossible, except in videogames, where this sort of

thing is a common occurrence (videogame characters often receive “powerups” that render them

invincible to harm). Now consider the scene in Episode 2 (“Chestnut”) when William arrives in

Westworld’s welcoming facility as a new “guest.” After selecting his white hat in the facility,

William steps through a door…onto a moving train. How is that physically possible? Or consider

Episode 4, “Dissonance Theory.” When the Man in Black lights a match, a worker in

Westworld’s control-room says, “I have a request for a pyrotechnic effect.” She then punches

code into a computer, and seconds later the match explodes. How is that physically possible?

Then, during a gun-fight in the same episode a supervisor says, “Jam their weapons and send in

the cavalry”… and all of the hosts’ guns immediately jam. How is that physically possible? Or

consider all of the damage caused in the park – for instance, bullet-holes in walls or the safe in

the saloon, which crashes through a railing each day in the heist by Hector’s gang. How is it

physically possible to repair all of the damage caused in the park every day? The simple answer

is: It’s not. None of this stuff seems physically possible…except in videogames.

These aren’t even the most spectacularly impossible things that happen in the series. In at

least two scenes, “humans” seem to appear in the park instantaneously out of nowhere. In, “The

Original,” Theresa enters Bernard’s lab saying, “There’s a problem with one of the hosts.” The

camera then cuts to a host who has just murdered several other hosts, and who is now outside

pouring milk on the body of a dead host. Because the camera is at a far distance, we can see

clearly that there is no one around. Yet instantaneously, the host freezes and a massive spotlight

and dozens of lab-workers suddenly appear out of nowhere. We can see that this happens in just

a split-second, as the camera never cuts from the scene. How is that physically possible? Finally,

in Episode 10 (“The Bicameral Mind”) Teddy comforts a dying Dolores on a beach on the edge

of Westworld…and an entire cocktail party of “humans” suddenly appears just feet away to

applaud Ford’s new narrative.

None of these things is physically possible…except in videogames. And there is other

evidence too! In the control-room, we repeatedly see the entire park pictured by computerized

graphics under a dome. The park supervisors can zoom in instantaneously to any position in the

park – which is clearly impossible to do with cameras. Then, in “The Original,” after Sizemore

says he has managed to make Hector head to town early, instead of a camera cutting from one

part of the park to another, we see the picture of the “park” rearrange graphically right before

our eyes – just as if the park itself were a videogame.

To sum up so far, many things happen in the “park” that are physically impossible, such

as William stepping from the stationary welcoming facility onto a moving train. Yet there is just

one place in our everyday world where these kinds of things are possible: Videogames. And

here’s the real kicker: We also know that Westworld’s lab exists in the same physical “reality”

as the park! We not only repeatedly see “guests” enter the park on trains. We also often see

Sizemore and other lab-workers look out at the “park” from the lab’s rooftop bar, take elevators

up to the park, and so on. This means that it is not only the park that exists in a physically

impossible world. The lab and welcoming facility are both part of the same world. So, if the

“park” is a videogame, the lab must be part of the videogame too – at least if the world’s

“physics” is to make any sense.

Now consider more series dialogue. Westworld is called not just a “park” by various

characters. It is more often called a “game” or a “world.” For example, in Episode 4

(“Dissonance Theory”), the Man in Black says, “No matter how real this world seems, it’s still

just a game.” Then, in the same episode, Logan says to William, “It’s a fucking game, Billy,”

and Ford says, “It’s not a business venture, not a theme park, but an entire world. We designed

every inch of it, every blade of grass.” Similarly, in “The Bicameral Mind,” the Man in Black

tells Dolores, “I own this world,” and when she puts a gun to his head, he says, “Do it. Let’s go

to the next level.” (Where do we proceed to the “next level”? Answer: In videogames!). Finally,

in “Trompe L’Oeil” Charlotte tells Sizemore that the company’s interest in the park is, “entirely

in the intellectual property: The code.” When Sizemore tries to complete her sentence, saying,

“The hosts’ minds? The story lines?” Charlotte replies, “I don’t give a rat’s ass about the hosts.

It’s our little research project that Delos cares about.” Since Charlotte says it’s not the hosts’

computer code that she’s interested in, she has to be talking about some other code. But what

other code could it be? There’s only one possibility left: The park itself – the “world” that Ford

talks about when he says, “Like I said, I built all of this.” And indeed, the very title of the

episode, “Trompe L’Oeil,” refers to an art technique used to create the optical illusion that two-

dimensional objects exist in three dimensions. Where does this occur? You guessed it: In

videogames!

Finally – and most astonishingly of all – consider how “The Original” ends. Bernard asks

Dolores, “Do you know where you are?” and she repeats, “I am in a dream.” Then Ford

questions Dolores’ father Abernathy in the lab…and Abernathy jumps out of his chair at Ford

screaming: “You don’t know where you are, do you? You’re in a prison of your own sins.” This

implies that Ford is just as unaware of the nature of his reality as Dolores is of hers! We can only

speculate about what Abernathy means when he says that Ford is living in a prison of his own

sins. Perhaps it’s simply that Ford has unwittingly edited Westworld to reflect his own character

flaws (his megalomania). In any case, Abernathy’s rhetorical question plainly implies Ford does

not know where he is – what the nature of his reality is – any more than Dolores does.

I believe, then, that we should take all of the dialogue about Westworld being a “world”

and “game” literally: Westworld is a game – a videogame world. This theory also helps us make

better sense of many other things in the series, including how callously humans rape and murder

hosts. These behaviors seem shocking – but they are precisely the things we do in videogames:

We slaughter videogame characters with reckless abandon, having “fun” doing it.

Of course, in the videogames we create, some characters (“non-player characters”) are

programmed into the game whereas others are controlled by humans. Who in Westworld, on my

theory, is a “non-player character” and who is a human-controlled character? I’ve suggested that

Ford is probably a program, since he doesn’t know “where he is,” whereas the Man in Black and

Charlotte are plausibly players, as they seem to know Westworld is a game.

But does it really matter? What’s the essential difference between a host and a human, a

videogame character and a human player, and a real world and a videogame world? I believe the

philosophical point of Westworld is that there are no essential differences between any of these

things: To be simulated is to be real.