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With that said, I wouldn't classify them as humans as they don't have the same origins as we do. I would put them in the same category - consciousness beings or something like that. Otherwise it would be like saying apples and oranges are the same while they're not. Just say that they're fruit.
Speaking of human extinction, I consider them to be extinct in the first 10 minutes of the game with Nier and Yonah being the last of us until they interact with the grimoires. There's something genius with the last two humans on Earth fighting for survival while remains of all the others are flying through the air being mistaken for snow. The epic soundtrack in that scene is fitting too.
My personal opinion in the real world: There is no soul as a separate entity. There is only consciousness which is an emergent product of the brain, which means the brain is not consciousness but the brain creates it by interacting with the rest of the body and the environment.
Of course, my personal real world opinion has no meaning in this game because souls do exist there.
I still have no idea whats the difference between real humans and replicants/androids in this game. All the villagers and Devola and Popola look, behave and have emotions exactly like humans.
- There are children in this game and the protagonist gets older in the 5 years where Kaine is petrified. How is this possible when they cannot get children? It is strange when creatures think they are humans while babies are being send by mail to the parents.
Which means that yes, Replicants have soul and so does androids. That's the reason why Replicants and Gestalts struggle a lot to reunite and you can see that with Yonah. When a Gestalt come back to its Replicant, the Replicant soul stay but become prisoner from the vessel
For androids, they have feelings, are sentient and self conscious. This is definitely a proof of having a soul
Remember : the human body is nothing but a machine of flesh and blood. If a soul can inhabit or emerge (depending if you consider the body and soul in an esoteric way, or materialist way) from a human body, it can also from any body that have enough cognitive power to handle it. In the end, everything is a matter of wire, connection and logical gate. Be them of flesh or metal, what's the difference ?
Chapter E of Replicant seems to imply a connection between stored memories and gestalts with Nier being stored inside a black box. So the likelihood is that Replicants also have gestalts, given all of the implications.
As for why Replicants can't breed, most likely it is a form of population control. the replicants are supposed to simply recycle until the gestalt project is complete, otherwise there'd be a civilization of replicants which serve no prupose to gestalts. The machines in Automata have gestalts despite being unable to reproduce.
Thanks
So having a soul and being able to reproduce are not connected. Replicants/androids cannot have children because they are build that way. Which means they could also be build in a way that they can do it.
So a civilisation of replicants who can reproduce would be exactly identical to humans. The only difference is that the first generation has been build, not born.
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There are some things I do not understand:
- In the middle of the game the shadowlord defeats the protagonist and kidnaps Yonah. Why does he not take the protagonist too? Then he gets his own body back and can posess it.
- Devola and Popola help me to get to the shadowlord but they want to stop me when I get there. The protagonist says all the time that he wants to save his sister and kill all shadows. What did they expect would happen when the protagonist gets to the shadowlord? He suddenly sacrifices himself to restore the shadowlord? Since the protagonist does not know anything about replicant/gestalt/androids it is clear that he will kill the shadowlord.
- The unification of body and soul would probably not work without problems. The only successful united person we see is Yonah and as a result gestalt Yonah sacrifices herself to save replicant Yonah. This scene lets me also think that even restored people are still vulnerable to light.
The original gestalt has been the shadowlord for over 1300 years waiting to be restored. This has surely influenced his mind. And the replicant has developed a mind of his own. So neither body or soul are the same as they used to be when they were separated ages ago.
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So I stick with my opinion: The body shapes the mind.
Every body that is able to behave and think like a human will develope a mind or soul of its own (see replicants/androids). This is independent of weather this was intended when they were build. The ability to think creates a soul.
The same goes for the shades. The fact that a soul had the body of a monster does alter them. Some become mindless monsters, others go insane or their mind becomes as monstrous as their body. The ones who manage to keep some sanity suffer under their new body.
Consciousness = soul
Beside there is no explanation why Replicant can't grow children. Maybe their bodies are programmed to be fertile only when they are reunite with their Gestalt by the power of...magic ? Or maso, in this universe. But you won't find anywhere why *exactly* they can't grow children. It's all open to everyone's imagination, like papa Taro like to do
To my knowledge, the only sentences of Yoko Taro on this subject are those :
Unless you have more pieces of information, he never stated that Replicants do not have souls
I have played the games in german with english voices, so I do not know if something is missing compared to japanese.
In these games:
- The word "android" is never used in replicant.
I only know that Devola and Popola are androids because it is said in Automata. In Replicant we only learn that they and Emil are very old, but in a world where you have magic and monsters, being much older than normal humans does not automatically imply that the creature is a machine. In fact, do you know any machine that works for centuries?
- Androids can eat and drink. 2B and Eve both say that they can eat but its pointless because they do not need to. The twins get drunk, you can use drugs in automata and you can eat a fish that kills you. So androids do not need to eat to survive, but they can eat and some food has an effect on them. It looks like androids need to breath. Look at the scene when 2B kills 9S in ending A/B. I think androids also have organs like humans, I think they mention an increased heart rate at some point. I have the strong impression that androids consist of both organic and mechanic/electric parts.
- It is never mentioned in Replicant that replicants cannot have children. While you learn during the game that D&P and Emil are unusual, there is no indication that the people in the game are not human until D&P tell you at the end. I think he said this only in the interview, because otherwise it makes no sense why killing the shadowlord would lead to the end of mankind.
- D&P tell us at the end "none of us is human" and "we have no soul". While they know many things that are hidden to the villagers, they do not know everything, they are not scientists and they can make mistakes. They know what is needed to run the project, but it was created over 1000 years ago and unexpected things happened, such as replicants developing a mind of their own.
The androids and machines in Automata discuss if they have a soul, but there is no clear answer.
This is my personal opinion, not something official:
1.) Consciousness = soul
2.) Every body that is able to think of its own will develope a soul, no matter if the creature is natural, a magic creature or a construct.
The creators of replicants and androids did not expect that they develope a soul of their own, but it happened anyway.
Fun fact: Androids are a possible player race in pathfinder. They have a soul. Otherwise their description is quite consistent with automata.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races/advanced-races-11-20-rp/android-16-rp