| This is just a thread for you to post your theories/facts about specific events/themes in the show. I will post my thoughts and opinions below; feel free to agree or disagree but if you disagree make sure to give evidence of your opinion. I personally think Lane never actually 'physically' exists in the real world. She can manipulate memories so I think she makes it seem that she exists by manipulating the memories of people around her, unknowingly. However, there are also a lot of things that prove otherwise, so I'm not 100% sure on this. Guess it's just a theory. The show also pokes at Religion. Would god still exist if no one believed in him? Think about it. As a figure who only exists because people believe in him, then what would happen when no one believed in him? Would he simply fade from existence? Can you exist after death? Some character believed that. But did they mean it literally? Could they actually stay alive in the 'Wired' after dying in the real world. Or are the only alive in the wired because of there presence and logged history? Because unlike in real life, in the wired you don't decay. Every post you made a forum for example would still be a capture of you and your personality. So in the wired they could live forever, unlike in real life where they'd decay and fade away and once everyone forgets about them they no longer existed. Did Aliens help us build our technology? The show also seems to think that. They point out that a Alien spacecraft landed on Earth and Aliens helped Humans created 'the wired'. Was Lain programmed by the Alien? How could humans program such a diverse program that can literally form into it's own personalty and it's own being. It must have been the Alien who created Lain. The dude who got hit by the train(The fake god) claimed he did, but was determined not to be the real 'god'/'creator'. The real creators were most likely the aliens. In one of the episodes you see Lain with a Aliens body; I think this is the biggest hint that she is linked to the Aliens and this is the only way I could think of. |
| I just thought of it like this: isn't the whole alien business included to further empathise that if one believes in it, it exists? For me, that was generally what this anime seemed to tell us. Furthermore, the alien symbolises Lain's alienation from her friends and the world around her. Just my two cents. |
Nyr said: I just thought of it like this: isn't the whole alien business included to further empathise that if one believes in it, it exists? For me, that was generally what this anime seemed to tell us. Furthermore, the alien symbolises Lain's alienation from her friends and the world around her. Just my two cents. That was also about the same vibe I got from those scenes. The writers and producers knew that aliens are a commonly disputed theory between people, just like religion, so I assumed they included it to further reinforce the idea that some things will only ever exist if people choose to believe it does. This show gave me a lot to chew over, and I look forward to watching it again in the future so I can better pick up on a few things. |
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| The main headache I get is, who is Lain? How did she come into existence? Was she ever physically real as a human, or simply a "hologram" as Eiri claimed? |
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| Although I can't answer who is Lain definitely, I stopped trying to even before I finished the show - I think of her as of a program in the Wired made by Eiri at the time (or perhaps before, to make an experiment) he moved himself there; I'm not sure about Yuni's theory that she manipulated memories to leave an impression of her existence. It explains many things, but it doesn't make sense to me the story to be told from the real world Lain's point of view in that case. And I can't imagine why would she make her real world character (initially) uninformed and monitored by the men in black. That said, the question that really bothers me is why before the reset many people killed themselves and 'migrated' to the Wired, what was Lain's involvement in that and why? |
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| Does lain actually exist in the real world or what? xD i get that she is software and a program designed to bring the wired and the real world together (i think) but why does she have body in the real world who made it that way? and why is she completely unaware of herself in the wired? is it saying that the lain inside the wired created her as a physical being by altering peoples memories to think she was there which in turn because she was in peoples memories she actually came into existence? And are the split personalities caused by the crumbling barrier between the 2 worlds so like the crumbling barrier enables the wired lain to take control? or does the wired lain also alter memories so people will think she has multiple personalities? |
jimbob1141Aug 3, 2012 10:57 AM
| Does anyone else need a doctor to confirm that someone without a head is dead? |
| I like to imagine that Lain was never *fully* in the real world, that her existence begins shortly before we see her step out of her house for the first time. That her walking Chisa home was what brought Chisa over the edge. I imagine Lain's Wired counterpart existed before her real world one, just not a lot of people knew about it. And so Chisa seeing her IRL must have set something off in her, thinking that a physical body does not matter. The guy in the bar also freaked out upon seeing Lain. So probably the OG Wired Lain, the Lain she was "born" as, was trying to play god for a long time, until she decided she wanted to merge the two worlds. I don't know if she(her "software") was created by someone, or grew within the Wired since its existence started, but someone aided her in her experiment, either unknowingly or knowingly, they wanted to see what would happen next. Lain thinks for the longest time that Chisa is right after she gets the e-mail saying she didn't need a body anymore, and the fake-god later on tries to convince her that it's true. But despite everything, there is a tether that keeps her grounded and appreciative of the physical - Alice. Lain goes out of her way to see Alice even if she doesn't really feel like it. Alice is human, flawed, real, scared, and kind. She exists in the moment and react appropriately. She questions people's motives as they laugh about the club shooting. She is caught in a private moment and toyed with by the curious and vindictive experimental software and it gets leaked to her school, and still acts empathetic to the possible culprit. All in one person! Lain's newfound physical self finds that fascinating, it seems. She finds it dear and worth protecting. She tries to make amends, but Alice is still - and rightfully so - scared with her very life being toyed with. And to top it off, once the fake god tries to harness a physical presence, he ultimately destroys himself - he seemed like he had no regard for the physical world, and underestimated it. IDK. Once it ended I felt like Lain's whole struggle was to exist. She found it hard to just BE. As soon as she was gifted a computer she was quickly almost absorbed back into the Wired, so she tried to wipe herself out completely out of everyones' lives. But then realised that it doesn't have to be that way, that she can just find a balance without needing to meddle and control. So seeing her content in just watching the people she loves live their lives was in a way cathartic. And something in Alice still recognised her, despite the new universe being created. Because wired or not, sentient beings are connected by caring about one another, and that's the sole meaning of existence. To care. That's just my interpretation, though :1 |
| I don't think I've seen any correct theories when it's clear to me. At least, on the main aspect. Lain is a sentient AI. In a simulation. The "father" is an employee who was supervising Lain's progress to becoming sentient with dev control. Every being in this simulation are AI. That's what is the most clear to me from matter of fact from what is shown. Although, there is still a lot of remaining mysteries of plot holes, contradictions and perplexing things left unclear. Here are my full thoughts breakdown on the matter after I rewatched and studied every episode, which I posted on the last episode. |
Reply to waalex11
I don't think I've seen any correct theories when it's clear to me.
At least, on the main aspect.
Lain is a sentient AI. In a simulation.
The "father" is an employee who was supervising Lain's progress to becoming sentient with dev control.
Every being in this simulation are AI.
That's what is the most clear to me from matter of fact from what is shown.
Although, there is still a lot of remaining mysteries of plot holes, contradictions and perplexing things left unclear.
Here are my full thoughts breakdown on the matter after I rewatched and studied every episode, which I posted on the last episode.
At least, on the main aspect.
Lain is a sentient AI. In a simulation.
The "father" is an employee who was supervising Lain's progress to becoming sentient with dev control.
Every being in this simulation are AI.
That's what is the most clear to me from matter of fact from what is shown.
Although, there is still a lot of remaining mysteries of plot holes, contradictions and perplexing things left unclear.
Here are my full thoughts breakdown on the matter after I rewatched and studied every episode, which I posted on the last episode.
| @waalex11 that's the point of the discrepancies, though. they give you a wide array of things you could theorise about, and settle on the one which you like the most. no need to get on a high horse :p |
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