bytewire
AL-AN my belovedThey/ThemAutistic
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An unused aside dialogue between AL-AN and Robin. A conversation about gems and names.
Transcript below the cut
Robin: “Looks like this was an Alterra mining site. Gemstones everywhere.”
AL-AN: “Why do humans designate only some minerals as gems?”
R: “Because they're not just functional, we also find them beautiful—decorative.”
A: “Is that why Ruby is a human name according to the database in your PDA?”
R: “I think so.”
A: “Astatine is technically the rarest known element. Do humans name their children Astatine? I did not see it listed.”
R: “…No, I’ve never met a human named Astatine.”
Are Architects Smarter than Humans?
The way AL-AN talks mixed with the fact that Architects are more technologically progressed than humans in the Subnautica universe leads him to seeming ‘smarter’ than the average human. He has a wide range of knowledge and despite his lack of experience with human social cues he is able to articulate himself extremely well. He also has access to tons of information due to his prior position as a scientist, but also because of what comes with existing as an Architect in the first place.
I mean, if your brain had direct access to all information available currently, you'd of course seem smart, but is that just you retelling what things have already been discovered or is this you being ‘smart’?
In that case you are only as smart as Google allows you to be (and the proverbial Architect GoogleTM is damn good). If you took an Architect never connected to the network and a human with no access to the internet how would they compare with their baseline intellect?
Wait a minute—what does that even solve? You could also argue the fact that because Architects are (usually) always connected to the network that this hypothetical is entirely unfair because it strips Architects of something that defines how they function. Being connected to the network is their normal existence, which would indeed imply that they are smarter than humans, yes? As they normally should have access to this advantage.
The average Architect has all the available knowledge that their species has learned available to it at all times while the average human has to rely only on things they’ve learned and how well they can research a certain topic. Again, being connected to the network for Architects is like if your brain was connected to Google and also literally everyone that currently exists and those that existed in the past. Just because a singular Architect may not have learned something for themselves doesn’t mean they can’t implement and use that knowledge. Just like how humans don’t need to have been the one to discover something for them to learn about and understand said thing.
Except then we go back to the issue of are they smart or do they just reiterate things they have available information on without actually having had studied or learned about said things? Even that fails to acknowledge the fact that they’re a hivemind! Trying to measure just one Architect is pointless when the only Architect mind that exists singularly from the rest of the network is AL-AN—besides he was never supposed to exist individually in the first place… and we have gone back around in a circle.
How could you even begin to compare the two species at all when they are so inherently different? Architects have senses that humans cannot begin to comprehend as we have never experienced them and vice versa. Their perceptions are very different from ours. Differences that make them seem so otherworldly to the other that it’s difficult to ascertain where you begin to measure which is ‘better’ and which is ’worse’.
To complicate things even further you would have to consider what each species considers to be intelligent at all, and then both would have to agree on these requirements. Is a fish lesser than a human just because it experiences existence in a way unfamiliar to us? What even is ‘smart’ or ‘intelligence’ and who decides what that means? It’s always going to be biased when the beings who created the definition also makes the rules and the criteria that must be met to fit that definition. An IQ test would mean nothing to a species that evolved under entirely different circumstances and whose minds work in entirely opposite ways to our own. Just as whatever they use to measure intelligence might not apply to how our brains work…
…Oh my god, it’s a loop that never ends. I can’t even remember which side I was arguing for, or if I was ever even arguing for one at all. Quite honestly, there’s no answer to my original question. I’ll be frank with you I cannot come up with one anyhow. I tried, but the more I kept writing the more I realized that each point contradicted itself again and again until we end up here. Back at the beginning.
“Are Architects Smarter than Humans?”
I really would love to learn about the other species that made up parts of Architects vessels. As well as learning a bit more about the planets and ecosystems they came from and how the Architects ended up coming across them.
I like how small the phasegate makes AL-AN appear as you watch him assemble the ship.
Green…
Unused aside dialogue between AL-AN and Robin about quartz.
Transcript under the cut
AL-AN: Once in my travels I came across a planet that had trees with leaves of quartz.
Robin: Sounds beautiful!
A: It was refractive.
R: You have the soul of a poet.
A collection of AL-AN screenshots from the phasegate cutscene that I like
Sorry for not doing a daily post yesterday! My posts might not be as daily anymore since I’m focused on writing and making art for my upcoming Subnautica fic. (They’ll still be frequent though.)
Currently I’m writing things for my fic, my asks, and doing concept designs. So expect those soon. If I haven’t gotten to your ask yet, I apologize, do know I’m working on it. Everyone is also still free to request specific AL-AN/Architect posts.
AL-AN kiss for your troubles.
I love how smooth his mechanical arms move
POV you are AL-AN
A closer view of AL-AN integrating into the ship
Background painting I did for a different valentines card that I ended up not posting
The other half of my two subanutica OCs: Andrés. He has the misfortune of hosting AL-AY in his head.
The initial concept for this idea was ‘What if Alterra found an Architect instead?’ I went with it from there. Andrés doesn’t particularly care for the company, or the situation he has found himself in.
I have been peer pressured into making subnautica OCs. This is AL-AY, I will post its lore another time :)
I just really like this screenshot I took
I love looking at the hologram of the planets spin
Oh and AL-AN is there too I guess
AL-AN and Robin doodles for the soul
I bet it felt really nice to stretch after not having a body for 1000 years
Close up of AL-AN during the teleporter cutscene
The sea dragon egg.
I may not enjoy the old story, but I actually do quite like how gentle AL-AN’s voice was. Not that his current isn’t, but it is more flat and very straightforward. AL-AN originally had a lot more emotional undertones.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
AL-AN from behind
Me when I chill with my alien friend
AL-AN teleport from behind
I forget just how large AL-AN is sometimes compared to Robin
So many arms makes it easy to multitask