So as I've gone through the game, there are a few things I've come across that seem to be intended for the purposes of comparing and/or contrasting. These are things that one can look at and draw parallels to with core groups or events. As we look at these situations, how they are similar or different, we can draw conclusions. Those conclusions will probably differ from person to person, but they are still worth looking at.

The first is one that I've seen mentioned a few times, the Sunshine Tidings Co-op. At some point during the Co-op's history, the people living there decided that robots were being enslaved. They took it upon themselves to give these oppressed robots the freedom they deserved. The results of this effort can be seen in Prof. Goodfeels. Prof. Goodfeels was a Mr. Handy they attempted to liberate. However, according to its programming, the robot kept trying to return to its owner. The only way they could prevent that from happening was to alter it's program and effectively lobotomized it. Now it wanders around acting like a stone or something.

I think the parallels with the Railroad are obvious. The Railroad believes that Gen 3 synths are being enslaved and deserve freedom. As these synths are liberated from those that would be their master, the Railroad gives them new memories before hiding them away.

The second is Vault 75. In Vault 75, Vault-Tec was performing an experiment to improve humanity. Or at least to make better soldiers. They raise children in an environment that allows to to train and test these children as they grow up. As they reach the age of 18, children who have demonstrated exceptional scores in certain areas are taken aside and harvested for their DNA. The other 18 year olds are disposed of. Children that demonstrate lower physical and aggression scores, but higher intelligence scores can be recruited for the science team.

This goes on until they recruit the wrong person to the science team. This young man realizes what is going on and organizes a rebellion. They successfully rebel, kill the advlts and disappear. I suspect they are the founders of the Gunners, but I have no proof.

I think this vault parallels with the Institute. The Institute is also trying to improve humanity, heralding the Gen 3 synths as humanity redefined. However, while the vault attempted to improve humanity through selective breeding, the Institute has taken another route. They have chosen to build a synthetic human. While they are based on humans and even resemble them, these synthetic humans are designed to be superior in most (if not all) ways. Unfortunately the Institute seems to have about as much control over their synthetic humans as the vault did over it's children.

The third and final example might be less obvious. It's the General Atomics Galleria. The Galleria was intended to be a showcase for the future. This shopping center was suppose to be operated entirely by robots. Something went wrong, though, and the Galleria was closed. While the Greeter will not tell you, due to pending litigation, it soon becomes clear. Abnormal robot behavior resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of customers. The robots try to kill the SS or do things that would cause serious harm. There us a terminal that explains that the robots have been programmed to prioritize their specific tasks (or something like that), but warns that as the robots' understanding of these directives evolve it can result in dangerous behavior. It's signed Isaac.

Aside from the obvious reference to Isaac Asimov and I, Robot, I think this parallels the Gen 3 synths. The Institute scientists never intended them to have freewill. In fact, most of them consider it a bug and are trying to figure out the cause. It seems most likely that this emergent behavior is the product of their evolving programming. Their base directives, given to them by the Institute scientists, combined with their experiences, give rise to unpredictable behavior, freewill (whether it is real or an emulation.

Anyways, what are your thoughts? What would you add to these? How do you see them as similar or different? Have you seen any others?

interesting