Im totally lost and confused about the Common Wealth, (I've only played Fo3 but researched much of Fo1 and Fo2)
I've heard different things about it and would like some clarification if possible....
Is the Common Wealth apart of pre-war Massachusetts (as I currently think) or part of England/Britian?

Is the Common Wealth and its advance technology due to not being directly hit during the Great-War?
Is the Common Wealth only mentioned in Fo3 or has it been in the other games? Preferably games treated as canon(SP)....

Thanks for any and all the help!

The Commonwealth refers to the modern day Commonwealth of Massechusetts.

It has been speculated, due to the high level of technology their agents and, ahem, former experiments, posses that the Institute, located in the commonwealth, are based in the reminants of MIT, and have a level of technology similar to, if not in excess of, the brotherhood, Shi, Enclave and NCR.

I'm not aware of any other specifics at the moment....

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Commonwealth

First, it's one word: "Commonwealth".

Second, the term is used in a few different ways in the Fallout backstory. At some point in FO-America's history, the entire nation is re-organised ... instead of fifty states, there are thirteen Commonwealths. Also, yes, Massachusetts right now, in real life is a Commonwealth. One of the last few in the world, actually.


Pre-war Massachusetts, almost certainly. Possibly also the rest of New England (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire). Possibly also the northern half of the state of New York. There is even some (limited) real-world historical precedence which might facilitate merging those states into a single administrative unit: Maine used to be part of Massachusetts, and Vermont used to be part of New Hampshire.

Mwanwhile, "the Institute" is very, very likely to be the FO-parallel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or M.I.T.


I believe the Commonwealth is only mentioned in FO3, but I could be wrong.

It was most certainly hit during the Great War, however. Zimmer even says that "most of th4e commonwealth is like he capital wasteland" - bleak, dreary, ruined, and filled with dirty scavengers gleaning a living from the wreckage of the old world. The high technology comes from the Institute - which presumably had a Vault of it's own, possibly a very extensive one, in which to preserve "the best and brightest minds" of the pre-War age.

Ah thanks so much for the clarification,

I have a question about androids and their use in the Commonwealth;
If I'm not mistaken they're being used as a type of slave like workforce right? (I believe even Zimmer admits to this)
Is it ever clearly mentioned what exactly there being used for? And If so by whom?
Since the Commonwealth is evidently somewhat of a new addition to the FO world, is there any information about the apparently large abundance of technology?,
Is it pre-war tech based? Being used and reconstructed or is it just the result of the "brilliant" minds hard at work?

Thanks again

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Institute

The Insitute is probably MIT. It is probable is one of the few places where research is still going on today.

As for slavery:


I havent seen that discussion to know whats in it - But that would be the key.

I wouldn't say you could enslave an android. They are essentially just machines that can become self-aware. Much like ZAX, A.C.E, or Skynet. Except mobile enough to do something about it, legs are the key.

Then whats the point of creating so many?

I've seen that conversation between Zimmer, he basically just wants Harkness to come with him and upon Harkness's refusal Zimmer resets him.

They are created for tasks. Much like any computer, except their capabilities are beyond complex calculous and data entry. I assume anything a human is capable of, they are too. The only difference is they are not being enslaved, as they have no self will, and so it not a breach of their rights, as they essentially have none. When they become self-aware, and develop a will of their own, this can be considered a malfunction. And due to their ability to just up and run away, I wouldn't think this evolution of consciousness would be encouraged.

Chris is apparently of the opinion that "you can no more enslave an android than you can enslave a fork or a spoon. They're things, and by definition, things aren't slaves."

Which on it's face, is true. But unlike forms, spoons, plates, and so on ... androids are thinking things, and by their very existance, raise the question "what is it that defines one as a person, rather than a thing, anyway?"

Yes there is also that side of an argument.

Without getting things too complicated, as even I don't understand what 'really' makes people tick. And from a purely scientificly subjective view (without mentioning souls or spirits or otherwordly interventions), consciousness seems no more than a culmination of extremely complex equations, and in this respect, the brain is essentially no more than an incredibly inefficient organic super-computer. Imagine what we could do if we put our whole brain to use. The worlds fastest computer doesn't even match up to 1% of the calculations per second the average human brain manages even in a relaxed state, so the realisation of self-aware computers remains firmly in science-fiction, though it would be easy to say the process is similarly a process of arbitrary complexity, and something a CPU is most certainly capable of. You could then argue that a CPU that has developed a pseudo conciousness (or indeed the same process that results in consciousness of a human being, albeit on a less organic level) is just as human as you and I. Is it then wrong to reset that 'fault' so that CPU can function on the level that it was intended? These decisions have been human ones. Does a computer have the right to decide what it becomes, intentional or not? The fact is that it is still essentially a CPU, to erase a human memory would be an atrocity, but a CPU, no matter how complex, isn't human.

I'm not saying there is a definitive answer. And I'm glad to say I probably wont have to deal with such a conundrum in my lifetime.

This is of course the argument thats going on between the Railroad and the institute... And a sign that perhaps the next fallout game will be a little less black and white.

The idea that the brain only ever uses 10% of it's capacities is actually a falsehood that is based on a much different truth. The waking, conscious mind uses 10%, but much, much more of the brain is used for things that, essentially, fly 'under our radar' per se, as the body needs it to happen, but we aren't constantly thinking about what we need to make our brains transmit to make sure we can function. The brain is already doing it for us. If it actually was, though, that we only ever used 10% of our brains, it would be a very fascinating thing to see more of it used. Ah, well, I suppose we're better suited to talking about Sci-Fi Post-Apocalypse fiction than mental fiction, eh?