The Rise of Rehoboam: Exploring Surveillance and Predictive Control in Westworld Season 3
The first two seasons of Westworld propose an idea that humanoid robots and AI can develop self-awareness and nurture free will. Westworld Season 3 switches things around and deals with whether humans actually exercise free will or are they simply under the impression of being able to do so, when in reality there’s a powerful AI leading them to every decision they make. This powerful god-like machine is called Rehoboam.
Dolores, a self-aware host escaping from a theme park owned by Delos Destinations, first lays her eyes on the machine when she spends time cozying up to Liam Dempsey Jr., whose father runs an artificial intelligence company that operates the Rehoboam. According to Liam, his father thought that the root of all the problems in the world was unrealized potential. The man then devised a system to chart and analyze the data of every person, hoping all people may live and fulfill their functions in the society to the best of their abilities. Of course, the machine will take over somewhere along the process to make all the decisions for those people.
Rehoboam is playing god to determine what each person should and shouldn’t do in the name of the future of humanity. Those who are deemed unfit to make any meaningful contribution to society will be cast aside in favor of the privileged. You’ve probably heard a similar idea before, and that’s only because it sounds similar to the concept of “survival of the fittest.” A major difference is that the concept is run through a natural course, or organic mechanism if you like, whereas Rehoboam makes it clinical and heartless at best. Rehoboam also needs a vast amount of data to serve its purpose.
Dolores might be closer than ever before to having access to Rehoboam, but it doesn’t mean she’s actually anywhere near where she wants to be. Liam later reveals to Dolores that he’s only a figurehead in the company. He knows nothing about what Rehoboam actually does and how it does everything at all. Ever since the day his father died, Liam has been kept out of the loop of the development. His access is only restricted to the outermost layers of the system, revealing very little about what Rehoboam really is. The only person who understands it all is the original architect, a tech genius, and the world’s wealthiest man named Engerraund Serac.
Sharing a similar sentiment as his late partner, Serac believes Rehoboam has what it takes to save humanity from itself by preventing wars and catastrophes. Serac is so proud of his creation, he actually trusts a machine to write human history. But there’s always a catch; and in this case, the catch is freedom itself. There will be no free will once the machine completely takes over. Rehoboam was first initiated in 2039, or about 14 years before the events of Westworld Season 3. Back then, the system was still called the “Solomon build.”
But the system is up and running. In the first episode of the season, you get to see Rehoboam in action when Caleb, a veteran with PTSD, struggles to keep his mother in a nursing home. He already has a job as a construction worker, but it just doesn’t pay enough to cover the expenses. As a result, he finds himself in the underground world, freelancing as a criminal. It’s implied that Rehoboam is responsible for picking the right person for the right job, which can be a good thing to an extent, but it cannot care less about the less fortunate ones.
People like Caleb are cast aside with barely any hope for the future. The system turns out to be no different from Westworld. Only this time, humans are placed at the receiving end. Their lives are tightly controlled by Rehoboam and there’s no simple way to break free.
Back to The Forge
Rehoboam can theoretically implement predictive control of humanity and design a clinical world. To exercise that much power, the machine needs a vast amount of data, which brings us back to Westworld. Years ago, a young William (Man in Black) struck a deal with Serac to steal guest data from The Forge, a hidden facility in the theme park, and sell it to him. The data is collected from Westworld visitors and can be used in an experiment to implant human consciousness in hosts’ bodies. You can say that Rehoboam is already using a small sample of the data, but it needs much more to be fully functional.
One of the major revelations in Westworld Season 3 concerns Charlotte Hale, the Executive Director of Delos Destinations, who actually is a mole planted by Serac to keep him updated on Westworld. Just like what William did years ago, Hale also is stealing guests’ data from The Forge.
We think Serac specifically develops an interest in getting data from Westworld because the guests exercise true free will as they explore the theme park. The data should show the truer versions of themselves when there are no rules to suppress their darker desires. Over the years of Hale’s secret operation, Rehoboam has become more complete and capable of exerting an even stronger influence on humanity.
Is Rehoboam some type of machine learning system? Can you mention an example or two of real-world machine learning? We’d love to hear from you.
Other Things You Might Want to Know
What does the term “Rehoboam” mean?
Rehoboam was the son of the biblical King Solomon. According to religious beliefs, King Solomon ruled a prosperous and united Israel. However, things took a drastic turn when his heir, Rehoboam, sat on the throne. Rebellion started everywhere and split the kingdom.
How are real people different from hosts in the real world?
They’re the same. People have their daily routines in the real world, such as doing their jobs and paying their bills. To some extent, you can consider those routines as hosts’ pre-programmed narratives, which allow for some minor deviations but still come to the same end each time.
