Ok, here are the essential excerpts from my new text that I've done to describe my theory on the <B>Patriots</B> source and nature. The full text can be read and downloaded on my website. http://www.geocities.com/nekurahoka/ Anyway, read at your leisure and opine if you like.
-2- The <B>Patriots</B>:
It is my beleif that the <B>Patriots</B> are a conscious pattern of information
that has spawned and functions within a network of computer systems. Much like our own minds, which could be described as a form of living
information functioning and spawned of the human brain, these systems'
frequent transfer and function in evolving information has spawned a form
of electronic mind, AI. This fulfills Kojima's intent further that
MGS2 focuses on the idea of memes.
The notation by Kojima after The Colonel says "only GW" was destroyed states that the Colonel itself is 'JFK'. We know that GW was an AI and that it is the initials for George Washington, first President of the United States. The Colonel is JFK according to Kojima, which most likely stands for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, another President of the United States. This gives us evidence beyond obvious voice synthesis of the Colonel that he is also an AI. Furthermore, the Colonel is, according to his own words, a member of the <B>Patriots</B>. When referring to the <B>Patriots</B>, the Colonel always says "we" and "we're", this means he is one of them. Thusly, the <B>Patriots</B> are AI.The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, Kojima's annotated script wrote: Codec screen
The Colonel’s voice is now clearly an electronically synthesized one,
occasionally switching to Rose’s voice. No visual of the Colonel; static
instead, with occasional insertion of the previous title’s Colonel picture.
Occasionally use a skull model.
Colonel:
Raiden, are you receiving? We’'re (The <B>Patriots</B>) still here.
Raiden:
How’s that possible!? The AI was destroyed!
Colonel:
Only GW... (Implying that there are still other sets of Arsenal and AI.
In this case, the ‘speaker’ is JFK.)
Raiden:
Who are you?
Colonel:
To begin with -- we’'re not what you'’d call - human.
The likely arrangement here is that the 12 member Wiseman's Commitee of the <B>Patriots</B> are 12 independent, but networked, AI systems. One of them is GW, another is JFK. The rest are probably also named after Presidents of the United States and the names probably all date from JFK to previous Presidents rather than any after JFK, but I'll explain why later in the Origins section.
Although the above is all the proof I need, there is further implication from President James Johnson's conversation with Raiden, before he is killed by Revolver Ocelot.
"Ceased to function" is hardly a phrase that you would use when referring to a group of men. This implies that the <B>Patriots</B> are artificial andSons of Liberty CODEC, Pres. James Johnson wrote: They regulate the country's various interests through controlled
presentation, staging a "drama" that is palatable to the general masses.
Can you imagine what would happen if they ceased to function?
"function" in a mechanical or electronic manner. This is redundant
in consideration of the Colonel's admission that the <B>Patriots</B> are inhuman,
but here it is nonetheless.
More interesting is that by understanding that the <B>Patriots</B> are AI, we now know that Solidus' target for the hydrogen bomb was not an economic one in manhattan (as suggested by President Johnson iirc), but rather the <B>Patriots</B> themselves.
If the <B>Patriots</B> are human at all, or even spiritual, the Compton EffectSons of Liberty CODEC script wrote: Ames:
What are you babbling about! The nuclear strike is not a
threat --
it's been the objective all along!
Raiden:
They plan to slaughter millions of people!?
Ames:
No -- a high-altitude detonation. You've heard of the Compton
Effect?
Raiden:
The total disruption of electronic equipment caused by EMMA
pulse.
Ames:
Textbook answer. Well, when an average nuclear warhead goes
off within the atmosphere, the result is an electromagnetic pulse of
up to 50 billion megawatts. The EMMA field can reach tens of
thousands of volts per meter, and most electronic equipment will
be toast in an instant.
But that isn't their aim.
What they plan to do is "liberate" Manhattan, pull it offline, and
turn it into some kind of a republic.
Hence "Sons of Liberty," I suppose.
described by Ames will have no effect on them, or even their control. A
human can still give orders orally when the power's out, but an AI cannot.
It's more evidence that the <B>Patriots</B> are electronic.
-3- The Origin of the <B>Patriots</B>:
Here's where most of the speculation on my part begins. The above is pretty well supported by the game script, but this below is a bit more theory, especially since the origin of the <B>Patriots</B> is likely in the era of
Metal Gear Solid 3.
Sons of Liberty CODEC, The Colonel wrote: Over the past two hundred years --
A kind of consciousness formed layer by layer in the crucible of the White
House. It's not unlike the way life started in the oceans four billion
years ago. The White House was our primordial soup, a base of evolution --
To take the statement from JFK/The Colonel literally, he's saying that the White House functioned as the <B>Patriots</B> womb in a way. Now realistically, we aren't talking about spirits here. Rather we are talking about memes.Miriam-Webster Dictionary, 'Crucible' wrote: 3 : a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or
influence change or development <conditioned by having grown up within the crucible of Chinatown -- Tom Wolfe>
You could also probably call a meme an 'idea'. The ideas that necessitated the creation of the <B>Patriots</B> originally began somewhere in the White House. What makes the <B>Patriots</B> up is the result of 200 years of politics in the US. Our philosophy as americans and our policies are the basic memes that started the <B>Patriots</B>. The memes of american philosophy in the White House functioned like genetic free bases (nucleotides) in a primordial soup. Now, the obvious question is, where could these memes actually come together in an organized and processed manner, like those free bases did inside living cells, to create a thinking entity? Without getting supernatural, the answer is: Computers.memecentral.com, What are Memes? wrote: Memes are the basic building blocks of our minds and culture, in the same way that genes are the basic building blocks of biological life.
In the 60's a nexus occured between the capability for AI, the <B>Patriots</B>, to exist and the intense desire to protect the culture of the United States. (This is pretty damn interesting since MGS3 takes place just before the emergence of the technological capability for the <B>Patriots</B> to exist and funciton as AI) The Cold War, one which threatened at any moment to destroy entire cultures, began here in the early sixties. The United States gained the need to ensure that the american way of life could survive a hot war with the Soviets if it ever happened.
In 1957, after the launch of Sputnik, ARPA (Advanced Research Projects
Agency, which later became known as DARPA) was formed and charged with the task of researching how computers could be used to maintain Command and Control for the nation.
It seems to me that the <B>Patriots</B> as a network of systems were likely
actually built functionally near this time, following (or during) the ARPA
networking project that resulted in the first government computer network which was called ARPANET. This was the beginning of what would later be called the INTERNET. The military INTERNET originally was designed as a network to interconnect centers of government administration and military centers with each other to protect the Command and Control of the United States government. The idea here was to maintain an interconnection between bases like NORAD and the President etc that could be maintained in the event of a nuclear strike on the nation. For instance, if telephone systems were knocked out in the result of an attack by the Soviets, the SAC (Strategic Air Command) could still be in contact with the President or whoever was highest
in the line of succession to give orders.
The source of the ideas that made the <B>Patriots</B> what they are, a computer network charged essentially with preserving the american way of life, fermented in the White House, but they didn't gain life, or mind- like qualities, until the original network of <B>Patriots</B> was built. This would have been in the Cold War with relatively primitive computer technology. Now, it's important to think that even though they started with primitive computers, probably using tape drives and very slow central processors, the <B>Patriots</B> would grow over time, just like us.
Even though the human body is constantly replacing its cells, even those of your brain, we remain essentially the same person we were before the change. The <B>Patriots</B> could also grow in the same manner, as new technology is invented, old computers in the network would have been replaced with newer ones, but in the interest continuity the information on the old computer would have been preserved and transfered to the new system. Thusly, the information that makes up GW or JFK as an AI or a mind would still remain, but they would be able to process, to think, faster. Communication would also improve over time. Very much like the growth of a human baby into a mature adult, the <B>Patriots</B> would grow from slow systems barely able to communicate with each other, to efficient and intelligent AI systems bent on controlling the world to fulfill, in their own way, every living thing's instinctual imperative: survive.
Emma also indicates that the <B>Patriots</B> have certain capabilities, but can
also improve them with a new host system. This is another quote that very cleverly has a double meaning. The player first going through the game may merely assume that she is merely talking about a "data processing system" that the <B>Patriots</B> own or control ("their"), rather than it as a part of one of the Committee's very being.
Emma's talking about GW's information filtering capability. Since we know now that the <B>Patriots</B> themselves are AI, Emma appears in this context to be referring to the current computing capability of the <B>Patriots</B> not being up to the task of filtering out the desired information to maintain control of ideas and keep their stranglehold of power.Sons of Liberty CODEC, Emma wrote: Now, look at it like this... political scandal, corporate corruption...
up until now, the <B>Patriots</B> have managed to keep a lid on these and other
self-serving events. But with their existing data processing system, they
are no longer able to effectively control the flow of information
generated at the individual level. With the newly created system, they can fully regulate digital information.
Now, you might remember when I was writing about the names (GW and JFK) that they would likely not have names newer than JFKs. The reason for this is that the project origin is likely in the 60's and thusly names for the systems that made up the original network nodes would have been selected from Presidents that were in office previous to the inception of the project plan.
Now, why call them the <B>Patriots</B>? Well, again, this is a network originally
responsible for preserving the american ideal, our way of life. Thusly they
are in their own way, <B>Patriots</B>.
Another question, why are they sometimes known as the
La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo? Well, as I understand it this is actually linked to how children learn english in some areas of east asia. Originally La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo is used to teach children the english vowels. Remember that most east asian languages are essentally syllable-based rather than alphabet-based like english. This results in the need to create a basic syllable for children to pronounce to learn the sounds of our alphabet. Hence La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo.
Now, this relates to the <B>Patriots</B> in that one of these nations (North Korea if I remember right) outlawed the phrase La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo for this, probably due to some resentment towards the capitalist west or some similar reason. It's designed for east asians who know that this happend to remember the idea that a piece of language itself can be omitted and outlawed by a powerful government or other controlling entity. It's cultural and societal control through the elimination of information. Very appropriate, given the <B>Patriots</B>' desire to eliminate any and all information concerning their existence and names.
Well, that's it for now. Is there anything about the <B>Patriots</B> I didn't cover? I'm planning on expanding this as I think of things or notice more details in the game. Thanks for reading!