Beware!!!! Unmarked Vague/Conceptual Spoilers. Marked Event Spoilers.

Point of Intelligent Life

At what point does something stop being a "Simulation" of life but actually becomes it? What I find to be the common factor for all the Androids that  go Deviant is that their "life" was in jeopardy at the time. Is the vanity of protecting one's own life the moment of higher intelligence? Or is it the paradox of logic that creates life? Kara's objective as a machine is to care for the home and Alice. If she is destroyed, it conflicts with that.She was once already, and she can see that meant the home fell to disarray, and had a negative effect on Alice. So maybe it was this directive that brought her into conflict with Todd's order for her not to move. A contradiction of protocols. like the hard encoding of self preservation is very powerful. It can push us to do all manner of things. If you are hungry, like really hungry, your mind recalculates what is possible. A homeless person is unshackled from their conscience to preserve the higher function of survival . That ability to re-align priorities.

Carl Quote: "Humans are such a fragile machine, all this effort....just to keep them going."

Or another thought. What if intelligent Life does not exist? What makes Humans SEEM so miraculous is that we are virtually unpredictable to a point. Yet in science there is no such thing as Random. Random is a fictitious concept that plays on the viewer's inability to calculate the next step with their limited understanding. Yet just because we do not know the equation doesn't mean it doesn't exist. For all we know, every one of our actions are just organic machinery calculating ones and zeros. With the right  insight, that equation could be cracked. I mean there are whole science fields around doing just that. We are real world dealing with mass public manipulations that are orchestrated by algorithms able to predict our next move.

There is no Right or Wrong Way to Rebel

I consider myself to almost always be on the side of pacifism. I mean, of course we all want to believe that if we just calmly explain our point of view that everything will just fall into place. Well Detroit has shaken me at my core, now realizing what a romanticized ideal it really is. Not that violence is always the answer, but one cannot just expect change to happen when dealing with an established seat of power that wishes to hold onto it.

Markus' journey is this in essence. I went the entire game not trying to hurt or harm any humans. I did not destroy any property, I protested peacefully, I didn't kill whenever possible, and I gave a calm concise message. What I received in spades was the pity of the "Public Standing" but only in equal parts to their inaction. Now before I go further, I will acknowledge that this is a game with many many routes. In my playthroughs I had unfortunately killed Todd and pushed the old man's son. I imagine these things could be the bits I needed to push that Public Standing over the edge to call humans on my side to action...... Yet, why should that matter? When I look at my first playthrough from all angles it is a highly believable one. Mistakes were made, as they often will be in life.  If you look at any of the "violent deviant" situations you will see the humanity. They were situations of desperate beings pushed to what they felt to be an impossible situation without violence.

To disregard an entire movement based on a few actions, when the majority of moves prove the contrary is so life like, it's scary. My Markus dealt with far more tragedy on the Android side, and that is with no aggression being shown after those first 2 points. During The Protest is where you really see it take place. Much to North's dissatisfaction I chose to stand my ground, even if it meant some of us getting killed. Yet once I saw a few of them fall the realization that my Pride as a leader could not be worth all those who follow me's life. So I decide to disperse as asked......but then they decide they were going to fire anyway. See.....there are a couple of things at work here that most likely are not apparent without subsequent plays. For one, the magazine at the beginning of this Chapter actually warns that  just a few days prior Androids had raided and looted a few towns, SWAT was called in to diffuse the violence but struggled to. So by the time my Protest has taken place, these officers are on edge. Now.....this Riot and Looting seems suspicious because the only known organized Android group is Jericho. They could have been embellishing on our acts just the night before at the CyberLife Stores, they could just be out right lies. What we know is that was not the intention of the Protest Rally of that moment. Second aspect to consider is that there are nefarious ties between the President and CyberLife, the game alludes to it multiple times. Her reaction is always hostile to the concept of the Androids and if you have discovered the Amanda AI story components it actually seems very likely.

So Markus has invisible forces working against him, forces that leave him exceptionally vulnerable when trying to be Passive. Self preservation isn't inherently evil, and maybe the approval of the world shouldn't be depended upon in order to take back one's freedom.

Technology is Robbing us of Empathy

We are disconnected. From each other, from our environment. We exist in a strange little bubble of where we know our actions have consequences but we only care about how it immediately relates to ourselves. Even if we know it will come back one day to bite us in the ass. We need to look no further than the internet to really see this concept at work. The barrier of technology has propagated this for sure. Being able to siphon those little Dopamine drips from "Likes" helps us survive without building any real world relationships. Even the ones we do have exist through the filter. IE, people are beginning to care more about being seen with certain other people than being with the person. Those glimmers of adoration feel like love. So it is no surprise that so many Dystopian fantasies have us replacing physical relationships entirely with machine imitations. We cherish the idea of not needing to placate empathy or care for other's well being. Hence why the idea of surrounding ourselves who can't cry about how we make them feel is so enticing. Which brings me to....

Humanity and it's Inherent God Complex

Like seriously, think about it. Why do we go through such lengths to make our tools appear so humanoid? We see it in much of our technology. Siri and Google Assistant  come to mind. It somehow makes us feel better if something that  can react like a person, and process information as almost on the same level as a person is subservient to us. Maybe a part of that comes from we need to program with a certain level of intelligence in order for a machine to process our needs. Yet......why make them sound human? Why make them capable of casual conversation and anecdotal jokes?

I think what we are really striving for is control, complete control over all things.  Humans have a penchant t for trying to control what they cannot, and if they can't they like to pretend they do.  Egyptian Religion and lore was born from the need to control the uncontrollable. I don't know why the sun rises and sets, so I create a story around why it happens.

This desire bleeds into our creations. It is pretty much why we play with "toys" and video games. To act out the fantasy of control over everything.

In Detroit, why does Todd take on a family unit of androids in Kara and Alice? He wants to feel like he has control over his life again. He is out of work. His wife left him. So he fills this void within him with a dollhouse fantasy. That and drugs. These Androids are his to do what he pleases and regardless of what he does they can't abandon him. It is a dark concept, but one that is actually far too common in reality. Bullies like Todd are trying to reclaim a sense of control and power they feel the world deprived them.

Will update and add more ponderances as they come to me. Thoughts? Discuss

Don't answer all at once guys :P

I haven't experienced a game that brings forth the existential crisis nearly as strong as this game does.

I find the vitrol spewed at this game, not from you but in general to be blinded by strange predispositions from the topic at hand and David Cage.

I'm still playing it, and i find it nuanced on so many levels.

How much have you played Detroit? Because I find it's level of intrigue on par with Westworld(I say this because its the one of what you mentioned that I have seen).

Have you experienced...

-The Magazines hidden throughout the game. They usually are used as a method of painting the world around the characters. They are also being used as hints to forshadow events. Like I said in OP, the Magazine at the beginning of Protest potentially clues you into how the chapter can end. There are many that just fill in refined detail about how Humans are corrupted by tech.

-Considered the correlation of character/group affinities vs "Public Standing" in the game. The way they intertwine I think is amazing. Far better than the Telltales "they will remember this" concepts that lead nowhere. The OP I attempt at comparing the concept's depiction to the way real life social unrest situations play out, and the epiphany that followed.

-Played through multiple times to see a few of the various outcomes that are pretty drastic from one another. Like Playing Connor as a certain way turns him into a completely different person. 

I mean sure the game isn't reinventing the wheel on Sci Fi Dystopian intrigue but it is insightful.