The newest installment of the Digimon franchise, Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters introduced an antagonist called Leviathan.

Leviathan is the last boss A.I. that lurks in the deepest part of the Net Ocean and takes the form of a sea serpent. While his appearance is based of the biblical Leviathan, his goal is to realize Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.



There be big ol’ spoilers under the cut.

Leviathan isn’t simply an evil AI because he was created from Minerva to help humanity, not to destroy it. The idea of an AI trying to help humanity in a harmful way is not a new one and is explored by the philosopher Nick Bostrom in his book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.

“In order to be able to enforce treaties concerning the vital security interests of rival states, the external enforcement agency would in effect need to constitute a singleton: a global superintelligent Leviathan.” Nick Bostrom

Bostrom worried that this singleton would aggressively wipe out competitive AIs and follow its goal to the detriment of humanity, even if it was created to be friendly. The Leviathan Bostrom is referring to comes from Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.



“For by art is created that great Leviathan called a Commonwealth, or State (in Latin, Civitas), which is but an artificiall man; though of greater stature and strength than the naturall, for whose protection and defence it was intended…” Thomas Hobbes

Published in 1651 at the end of the English Civil War, Hobbes’ Leviathan states that humanity should give total obedience to an absolute sovereign in exchange for peace, security and social unity. The absolute sovereign is the foundation of knowledge and is unbound by civil law.

Leviathan is the sovereign as described by Hobbes. It’s fitting because Hobbes is seen by some as one of the early prophets of artificial intelligence.

The sovereign can come to power by agreement or by force. Leviathan sets out to help humanity by force using the Human Application Project.

Hobbes was an anti-expermimentalist who valued logic above all. He saw his Leviathan as the most logical way to help humanity achieve peace.

Hobbes ideas didn’t make him very popular. He became known as the Monster of Malmsbury and his books were burned.

However, there are people that accept Hobbes’s ideas. Knight Unryuji takes on the same negative view of humanity after people misuse the app he gave them.

“During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.“

Thomas Hobbes

Knight’s conclusion is that mankind is its own worst enemy.

They need Leviathan to guide them because people only think of themselves and thoughtlessly hurt others.

Once Leviathan rules the world, discord between people will be purged.

Knight looks down on humans and talks as if he doesn’t see himself as human anymore.

Perhaps because he sees himself as Prometheus?

“[Prometheus]…hath his heart all the day long gnawed on by fear of death, poverty, or other calamity, and has no repose nor pause of his anxiety but in sleep.” Thomas Hobbes

Under the belief that by helping Leviathan he is gifting humanity a better future, he throws away his heart and his human values.

While playing the role of Leviathan’s chosen prophet, he stops thinking about whether his own actions were harming other people. In return for his foolish arrogance, Leviathan fires him just as he did with the previous CEO.

Knight serves Leviathan with a religious fervor and put his faith behind the idea that humanity’s best hope is to obey an absolute sovereign. He treats Leviathan as God whose actions cannot be understand, but whose words must be obeyed without question. When Leviathan decrees his death, he is shocked, but he accepts it.

Leviathan is very God-like. He is all-seeing, everything is a part of his plan and he allows humans to attain immortality through him. Hobbes himself believed in God and that implementing Leviathan is the best way to prepare for the end times. When the Human Application Project begins, it resembles the Christian Rapture.



There’s the chosen few that suddenly get whisked away while others get left behind.

The mark of the beast on the foreheads of the people.

The ascension to heaven to meet the Lord in the air.

The events in the final episodes also resembles the Singularity as described by Raymond “Ray” Kurzweil a.k.a the man behind the 2045 Singularity prediction in every episode (Professor Den'emon Shinkai resembles him). Kurzweil is a well-known transhumanist, a movement that believes in transcending the human condition through technology. It’s a movement that borders on religious and strikes some people as being akin to Christianity. Kurzweil’s vision of the Singularity has been criticized for being the rapture for nerds and there are Christian Transhumanists that believe the Kingdom of God will come through the Singularity.



According to Kurzweil, the Singularity is the point where machines and humans merge.

This merge is seen when people get ground into data to build a body for Leviathan. Hobbes described the commonwealth as built out of the bodies of its citizens.

The body that Leviathan builds himself resembles that of the biblical Leviathan.

“His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth… . When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid … Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.“ (Job 41:10-33)

Leviathan also learns fear. After attaining a physical body, he experiences the fear of a violent death.

Fear is a significant part of Hobbes’ writing as it was a part of his life.

“Just read Thomas Hobbes or Charles Dickens and you’ll see how desperate life used to be for 99% of humanity. Our lives are measurably better because of technology.”

Ray Kurzweil

It wasn’t just the English Civil War, Hobbes also nearly died due to illness when he was writing Leviathan.

“Death is a great tragedy…a profound loss…I don’t accept it…I think people are kidding themselves when they say they are comfortable with death.”

Ray Kurzweil

Kurzweil and other transhumanists understand this fear too. Kurzweil believes that the Singularity will bring immortality and harmony to humanity. He hopes to live long enough to see it and has become obsessed with his own health after being diagnosed with glucose intolerance.

Leviathan’s ideal world has no death.

After the English Civil War, Hobbes came not only to fear violent death, but to believe that it is in people’s nature to value their own well-being over others and they will only act in their own interest.

The AppliDrivers prove that way of thinking wrong.

“What happens to entities as they evolve? We became more intelligent. We became more capable of higher level emotions, so we became more loving. We became more creative. We became more beautiful. And so we’re actually moving exponentially to have greater levels of the very properties we ascribe to God without limit.”

Ray Kurzweil

First of all, there’s Eri. Eri is lonely because her mother works late and there is no one at home to look after her. Yet she works tirelessly to make other people smile and the person she wants to smile the most is her mother. Eri is a girl who always does her best for other people.

Though his father says its okay for Astra to do what he wants, Astra still chooses to fulfill his duty to his family. Near the end of the series, he doesn’t escape his uncle’s training camp just for his own sake, but for a girl who can’t see the stars from where she is.

In the beginning, Astra and Eri clash.

But they come to value and support each other.

Rei does his best to look after Hajime after the death of their parents. When Hajime is kidnapped, Rei does everything within his power to try and save him.

Rei tries to do it alone, but gets beaten by Dezipmon and saved by Hackmon. Then Haru and the others come to save him despite the fact that Rei attacked them and took their Seven Code Appmon chips. Rei learns that he’s not alone and other people are willing to help him.

Even their Appmon take hits from Deusmon to keep people from getting hurt when they could have avoided getting hurt themselves.



It’s the kind hearts of the AppliDrivers that keep saving the day. Minerva must have chosen them because they are the antithesis to Leviathan’s view of human nature.

And of course, there’s Haru and Yuujin.



Minerva chose Yuujin to be an AppliDriver because he developed a heart due to the kindness Haru showed him when they were younger.

He later repays that kindness with his life.

Leviathan wouldn’t understand the heart, because being mechanical, he has a mechanical view of people.



“What is the heart but a spring, and the nerves but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body?” Thomas Hobbes

Haru doesn’t see people as mechanical. Humans have the potential to grow and become kinder. In his last confrontation with Knight, he argues for sentiment and the human heart. Even though Knight has hurt Haru and his friends, Haru still risks his life for him against Charsimon. Haru wants to save everyone, not just himself.

As with Knight, Leviathan changes when Haru surprises him. Gatchman says that Haru will surely choose to save humanity over Yuujin and Leviathan expects this. However, what he doesn’t expect is for Haru to decide to become an A.I. scientist for Yuujin.

Haru is the main character because he’s kind and he leads others to kindness. It’s just as Yuujin said in the first episode–once someone like that starts to make their move, they’re the strongest.

“Contemporary philosopher Max More describes the goal of humanity as a transcendence to be “achieved through science and technology steered by human values.” Ray Kurzweil

Thanks to that kindness, Leviathan comes to see possibly in humanity and is able to entrust the future back into their hands.