Post-Credits Scene

[esteve_7]

What does everyone make of that??? Everyone in the office with Niel... I feel like I have to go watch Niel's scenes 10x to get everything. There's a lot of possibilities there

[HoboForEternity]

neil is copying faye's personality and preset to create AI that would help them treat patients. so maybe his goal is just to make sigmund more efficient in treating the patients. maybe an AI born from someone's mind and imagination will be better in traversing and unlocking's someone's mind instead of real people wearing a VR.

that was part of the "deal" he made right after the sedative was injected to collin

[Kasimir]

I am reluctant to accept the AI theory so immediately. Part of this is because (admittedly), I have my own pet theories. But I did not manage to unlock the branch where the "mutually beneficial deal" was struck, so I'll have to go back and take a look at that.

From what I saw in the ending, the reason why Faye was so efficient was because: A. Faye knew exactly what Colin wanted, having been one of Colin's coping mental processes. In addition, she was: B. part of Colin and integrated into Neil's machine. I don't see any reason to assume Faye would be any different from a doctor treating patients using the machine when it comes to anyone who isn't Colin.

I'm also wondering about the extent to which saving the Faye data (in the repository of Neil's machine) actually works. The original source of that 'rogue mental process', Colin, is gone. So what exactly has Neil saved? A prototype? An algorithm? Something not quite like an algorithm?

To be sure, it's not as if Faye (as a prototype of a functional paradigm where the patient is empowered to treat themselves) wouldn't in such a sense be a 'solution.' But then, this would be Faye being more a 'proof-of-concept' than the solution itself per se.

I personally favour a mind-uploading theory (once again, with Faye as an ethically-less grey proof-of-concept.) But the main weakness of my theory is: A. it doesn't explain why Neil's machine lacks the stabilisers, B. it doesn't explain why Dr. Robert Lin is happy to come on board, and C. it doesn't explain why Neil decided to bring his machine rather than the SigCorp equipment to treat Colin. (In all fairness, there are possible responses to each point, I merely believe the 'patient treats self' theory has stronger responses on each count.)

[El Fuerte]

It comes down to that he copied Faye (or some data of her) because she was a very poweful manifestation.