Reason I hate The Theory of Everything Machine plot device in TTP2:

[Apejron]

All the spoilers!

1. It postulates a lot of difficult philosophical questions, often doing this last minute and\or haphazardly. For this I assume that if there’s no in-game discussion of the statement we should take it as lore accurate. So, let’s go. Having the theory of everything assumes the universe is cognizable and follows some sort of logic. Both are big ifs in the real world and we are loosing freedom of interpretation on this.

Moreover, Athena says she can calculate anything besides human behaviour, which means that being sentient is something transcendental in this universe. If we run the numbers it turns out robots/humans must work outside of physics for this to be true and oh boy. For one, it’s a huge thing to imply five minutes before the ending. Also remember the game’s name? The Talos Principle, a philosophical doctrine that says you are a machine tied to the material world? Yeah, this goes out the window with clear signs of dualism being true in this world. Way to go, dear writers.

2. The theory of everything takes away robot\human agency. This is a short one. The physics is solved! Its universal manipulation is achieved! That’s it, science as a field goes out the window too, no more scientific research, no nothing. Maybe someone can do Somnodrome research, but with it being mostly complete (by Athena)… uh oh.

3. Discovering the theory and making it work makes Athena a literal goddess. She has no chance to escape her Founder narrative because she literally is the chosen one, the specialest girl alive. She is the one who started the new race. She is the one who started the civilization anew. She had solved physics, she had created the first child. She literally robbed her fellow robots of scientific work and of any chance to make an impact here by running away and keeping her research secret. Why? Because the plot needed magical construction powers. Way to go.

As it stands Athena looks like the only sentient one, and all of her creations are just talking puppets because in a thousand years they were unable to do what two and a half people did in like what, hundred years? Great decision.

4. Magical theory of everything looks bad for the message of the game. Ttp2 is intentionally as hopeful and un-nihilistic as possible. It is a message, not a question, and it wants to tell us that the change and positive growth are possible. But it does this using an all-powerful macguffin which undermines the message significantly. The robot society didn’t find the solution for their problems together — Athena did. The society haven’t decided if it’s good enough to use it — 1k did. So game’s own message, the thing because of which the theory of everything even came to the plot, goes out the window (again).

No one will solve climate change for us. No one will stop all wars by pressing a button. Painting a picture where utopia is possible only if magic is discovered is dystopian in itself. It’s ironic, because the first game was so good with this! IAN project was a last ditch effort to save humanity by hundreds of people and it worked! Solo Athena with her magical theory just looks bad.

5. The theory of everything plot concludes in forced, no-impact endings. The trichotomy is a lie! With this particular solution there’s absolutely no point in choosing anything in the end. It just doesn’t matter in the long run! If you choose to leave the machine be, someone will just get inside and make it work because they can. If you destroy everything… guess what, Athena is alive and the physics was solved! Someone will get the Somnodrome tech, kidnap Athena and take the schematic for the machine from the source :) While someone else will work their shiny metal ass off and recreate everything because it was shown to be possible and requiring two and a half people to achieve. Also they have scans.

I think that’s enough for now, no one will probably read this either way. But if you did, thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Turns out I’m still amazed by how fumbled ttp2 feels.