The Riddle of the Sphinx

“David Sims:”

“Westworld’s first season was largely focused on the abuse of artificial life, given that the park hosts’ purpose almost exclusively revolved around sex, violence, and suffering.”

“Westworld’s second season has exploded that basic quest into all kinds of fascinating directions, but “The Riddle of the Sphinx” was the first to really grapple with one of the most obvious questions in AI, which is: Isn’t artificial intelligence the key to immortality?”

“If we could somehow download our own brains into one of those bodies, wouldn’t our existence become theoretically eternal?”

“Turns out, that’s one of the deeper, darker queries being explored within the bowels of the park.”

“Old William’s face-off against Dolores’s discarded soldier battalion and his daring rescue of his old pal Lawrence had a hint of redemption to it—but just a hint. We’ve never seen Old William do anything altruistic before, but that’s because the park had lost all of its shine for him; now, with the stakes raised and the hosts behaving like real people, he may be realizing that Ford’s experiments in consciousness were the truly inventive part of his research.”

“Sophie Gilbert:”

“Like you, David, I was on the fence about how much the Man in Black’s storyline this week was meant to be a redemptive one. We’ve seen him do such appalling things in Season 1 that I can’t imagine Westworld would try to reform him. And yet his reverie while Lawrence’s wife was being tortured by Major Craddock seemed to refer to memories of his wife’s death: There were images of running water, ice, and a bathtub with an arm falling out of it. In other words, it wasn’t selfishness that made him intervene, but empathy for what Lawrence’s family was enduring.”

“Another question for you, Spencer: How does the riddle of the sphinx, the title of this episode, relate to the plot? In Greek mythology, the sphinx (part human, part lion) guarded the city of Thebes by asking travelers what creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening. When they couldn’t answer, she ate them. Is Jim the traveler and William the sphinx? Does the riddle allude to the inevitable aging and death of mankind, which Delos is trying to stave off? I’m flummoxed, so consider me sphinx-kibble for now.”

“Kornhaber:”

“The answer to the sphinx’s question is a human being, but Westworld is now mulling what it would mean to redefine that term so that it might no longer fit with the sphinx’s criteria. Rather than walk on three legs in the evening, we each might implant ourselves in an eternally regenerating two-footed version—with the help of mysterious lab-made marbles and mass-produced eyeballs. Or does that mean we’d no longer be human at all?”

“It’s a thrill for the show to get around to pondering the philosophical conundrum and primal fantasy of immortality, which while evergreen—the ancients wanted not to die, too—is novel within the story.”

“William may have a soul after all. But he insists he saved the day not out of altruism, but to play Ford’s game—and that distinction may well help explain why Ford’s pigtailed proxy told William he still doesn’t get it.”

“Because really, it’s not a game anymore. The hosts have real feelings, real desires, and real lives. “

“Thus there was a real ethical imperative to save Lawrence’s family. It appears as though William’s being taught a long lesson about humanity—both the humanity of the hosts and the humanity of his own discarded family members.”