Yesterday I finished watching the second season of Ghost in the Shell: SAC2045. Let me first talk about the story of this season.
The United States designed a super AI called 1A84, which was given two instructions: one was to make humans peaceful and end all wars, and the other was to prioritize the United States. These two instructions caused conflicts for the super AI, but it eventually came up with a solution. However, this solution may not be accepted by the Americans, so the AI defected. The defection of a super AI is a plot device that has been used before.
Before the AI defected, it triggered the evolution of some humans through the internet. By using a piece of code/meme, it entered certain individuals, giving them enhanced computational abilities, quicker reflexes, and the ability to interfere with other people's electronic devices, among other things. The United States planned to secretly eliminate these new humans.
The protagonist of this season is one of these evolved humans. He is a superhero with superhuman powers, similar to Laughing Man and Hideo Kuze. He intends to save all humans.
His method of saving humans is to hijack a strategic missile submarine from the United States and threaten to launch nuclear missiles at the entire Earth. He also gives the authority to launch the missiles to millions of people gathered in New Tokyo (in the background setting, Old Tokyo has sunk to the bottom of the sea, and New Tokyo is under construction but uninhabited). As long as one person agrees, the nuclear bomb can be launched. These millions of people are referred to as "N" and have been infected with a dual-thinking virus.
The United States, of course, is not polite and sends six stealth strategic bombers to spread an intelligent virus that can eliminate all the millions of people in New Tokyo. Before spreading the virus, these millions of "N" have already decided to launch the nuclear bomb.
But in reality, this is just a plan by the protagonist. In the three-way battle between Section 9, the Navy SEALs, and the Americans, he infiltrates the American network, controls key American officials, and spreads the "N" virus to the majority of the world's population. In the eyes of the Americans, they have eliminated those millions of people, but in reality, those people have already been transferred underground. The nuclear bomb was not launched, but those millions of people believe that it was a success. So everyone thinks they have achieved their goals and everyone is happy.
Now let's talk about the core concept of the dual-thinking virus, which allows people to separate reality from fantasy. This concept is, of course, derived from 1984, but it is not the same as George Orwell's novel 1984. It can only be said to be a borrowed concept. In the background of the story, the Prime Minister of Japan has very weak power and cannot establish authoritarianism. One of the elements of authoritarianism is control of information, but in the cyberpunk era, information control is no longer realistic. Instead, it has entered what Li Shen called the post-authoritarian era.
The main idea of the dual-thinking concept in this story is that when everything seems hopeless, people can form dual thoughts and separate reality from fantasy, just like in The Matrix, where they can enter a paradise world of their own imagination and do whatever they want.
Motoko Kusanagi's classic action is jumping off a building, and at the end of the story, she still jumps off. In the ending of The Matrix, Neo takes off between buildings. The Matrix was influenced by Ghost in the Shell, but now they must have influenced each other.
Many concepts in this work have been used before, but they have obvious differences. For example, Hideo Kuze had a strong sense of responsibility, and all the refugees trusted him. He was a charismatic hero. But in this season, it's different. The protagonist believes that humans cannot take responsibility for their own choices, so he simply gives the authority to launch nuclear bombs to everyone, letting them make their own choices. And they did launch the nuclear bombs.
The future that the protagonist designs for them is to create their own information cocoons, where the world can run according to their imagination. As an old-school leftist, the author has given up. Humans can do whatever they want.
However, the author still has some hope. Motoko Kusanagi is not infected with the dual-thinking virus because idealism and realism do not conflict in her. Another girl who joins Section 9 is also not infected because she was reconstructed based on her behavior patterns after her death, without a ghost, and combined with the super AI. Both of them are full-body cyborgs, without any trace of humanity. Flesh is weak, but machines can ascend.
Regarding the mixed reviews of this series, I think one problem is the lack of speculative parts that delve into the characters' inner journeys. A large portion of the story focuses on fighting. However, there are still some parts that depict the struggles of ordinary people in the dual existence of capitalism and cyberpunk. Poor people are bombarded with cheap electronic advertisements everywhere, retirement pensions are inexplicably unavailable, and banks cannot dispense money. But all of these contents were in the first season, and after such a long time, the audience has forgotten them, resulting in a disconnect in understanding the plot.