Hello everyone!
Since it's come up again on one of the other subs, could anyone give me a list of Synths that escaped the Institute that didn't have their memories wiped? Because people are under the impression that the memory wipe is mandatory.
Thank y'all!
Posted Jul 16, 2021, 12:42 AM UTC
Because people are under the impression that the memory wipe is mandatory.
It isn't mandatory, but it is strongly encouraged by the Railroad.
Synths who don't go to them obviously don't get wiped, so that's Acadia and random escapees like K-198/Jenny in Greentech. Nick Valentine and DiMA aren't wiped, although the automatic security stripped their knowledge of the Institute.
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The mind wipe isn't mandatory, but escaped synths are very impressionable and a lot of them probably do the wipe just because the Railroad says it's the better option and they don't know any better. Personally, I'm not a fan of it and I'm with Dima and Acadia on that one.
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As far as I know, the only confirmed synths to have escaped and not taken the memory wipe are Glory and Chase. We know more exist, but we don't met them.
Why? Desdemona flat out says it isn't:
As does her computer journal:
So does Dr. Amari:
wanted a new life.
DiMA also arguably counts. Aster references some things from the Institute as well I think? In fact most of the Acadia folks don't seem to have been wiped, I think a lot of them didn't originate from the Railroad's smuggling operation (since while the mind job IS voluntary there does appear to be some pressure on new synths to undergo it both for secrecy reasons- both themselves AND the Railroad- and a good bit of peer pressure). DiMA seems to actually have quite a low opinion opinion the Railroad as he seems to think they do pressure synths to get wiped, which he considers tantamount to murdering the original person (an assessment with which I actually agree).
Jesus Christ, I can't believe I forgot Acadia. But yes, you are right - I do believe most of the synths there escaped the Institute and either did not opt for the mind wipe with the Railroad, or never met them altogether.
Yes, DiMA does throw quite a bit of shade at the Railroad for this practice - thoughhe admits he is no position to judge because:
Also, because he murders people and mind-wipes replacement synths himself.
Oh, for sure, DiMA is a colossal hypocritical asshole (part of which is caused by him offloading memories constantly instead of ever learning from them- but even that is no excuse seeing as how after you restore his memory of the ol' murder n' replace, he IMMEDIATELY reacts by.... suggesting doing it again, heh). But he does raise some good points against the Railroad, I do think smuggling out Synths at any cost and then obliterating their old personality and memories just for the sake of "freeing all synths no matter the cost" isn't as perfect morally as it may appear at first.
I can't say I agree there. You are right that, on first blush (and depending on how you feel about certain controversial topics in real life) the Railroad's actions aren't as morally upright as some would like.
But, we know the mind wipes are voluntary. Which means that there are costs the Railroad isn't willing to pay (that being forced mind wipes).
As for the morality of the mind wipe itself - I have no problem with it. Acknowledging that Gen 3s are persons with all the rights that come with personhood means that we acknowledge they have the right to die.
In that sense, the Railroad's actions make sense. They truly believe Gen 3s have the same rights humans do. They're willing to lay down their lives for that belief. And part of that belief means laying down your life to safeguard the rights of others to end their own life.
The weird thing is, we know from FO3 that it's possible to do a temporary memory change and restore the original memories later, when the synth is safe and better able to deal with things. I'd expect that to be the standard practice, but apparently it isn't.
My biggest gripe with DiMA is the fact he judges the Railroad for the memory wipes but NEVER ONCE has he even tried reaching out to offer another solution
I dont mean to side track the discussion, but is there evidence for Glory being a synth besides her words?
Like institute records? I know she doesn’t drop a synth component.
Yup. G7-81, the synth Desdemona mentions in the terminal entry I quoted, is Glory.
If Glory is killed outside of the Brotherhood attack on the HQ she does drop a component so probably a glitch Bethesda never bothered to fix