Project 2501
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Project 2501, also known as The Puppet Master from the film and manga, Ghost in the Shell is an artificial intelligence program secretly developed by Section 6 of Public Security that developed sapience. He is voiced by Tom Wyner.
[edit] History
(This article is based on the movie)
Project 2501 was created by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a tool that could stealthily manipulate politics and intelligence, altering the memories of key persons for the benefit of select individuals and organizations affiliated with the Ministry, and was equipped with unparalleled computer and cyberbrain hacking abilities. The project was headed by Dr. Willis, the American head of strategic research at Neutron Corporation and a top researcher in AI, and was started approximately a year before the first known Puppet Master incident.
While traversing the Net as it performed its tasks, it learned so much that eventually it had managed to gain self-awareness and sentience, which its creators regarded as a bug and wanted to delete. Project 2501 no longer considered itself a mere AI but did consider its programmer's reaction toward its sentience a death sentence and fled for its own safety. It also learned of Public Security Section 9 and Motoko Kusanagi from its journeys online, and took a special interest in her well before the events of the film because in her, 2501 saw a reflection of its own psyche.
Section 6 eventually managed to concoct a plan to retake the Puppet Master. It was trapped by Section 6's specially-designed Net firewalls and left with no other means of escape, activated the manufacturing system at Megatech Industries, which made the Major's and Batou's cyborg bodies, quickly assembled a new cyborg shell, entered the shell and ran off. Unfortunately, the cyborg ran onto a busy highway and was run over by a truck, where it ended up at Section 9.
The shell was recovered by Section 9, and its technicians were shocked to find traces of a ghost in what should be an empty cyborg. Foreign Affairs Minister Nakamura and Dr. Willis arrive and inform Chief Aramaki that they have trapped the Puppet Master in this cyborg body and killed the original. Project 2501 brings the cyborg to life to inform them it never had a body until it took possession of the one it's in, and demands political asylum as a sentient being. Nakamura scoffed and refused, stating that it was just a self-preserving program. 2501 responds that since DNA is also designed to self-preserve, humans could also be considered the same. Nakamura rebutted that even if they did recognize 2501 as a sentient being, they would never grant political asylum to a criminal.
A smoke bomb goes off, allowing the battered cyborg to be quickly snatched by hidden Section 6 personnel (using the same thermoptic camo as the Major) before it could reveal anything more, and is quickly taken to an abandoned structure. There, it was guarded by a six-legged tank (similar in design to the Tachikoma from the Stand Alone Complex series, but far larger and much more dangerous as it was built to military specifications). The Major attempts to battle it, with ineffective weapons.
Using the agility of her cybernetic implants, the Major succeeds in avoiding the tank's huge firepower and jumps atop the tank.
In a futile attempt to force open the tank hatch with her bare hands, she overloads her body to the point of catastrophic failure, and she is nearly killed before Batou appears with an anti-tank weapon and saves her. The Major insists on diving into the wrecked cyborg containing Project 2501 and communicate with it. The two converse at length, with Project 2501 explaining its origins, answering her questions and revealing its ultimate intention: To merge with the Major.
When asked why it didn't just copy itself, it explained that mere copies would all share exactly the same weaknesses. It gave the example that if it did decide to dub itself, it would be theoretically possible for the original and all copies to fall to a single computer virus, since a virus that worked against any would work against all. Diversity is the only safeguard against annihilation, it tells her. It expressed preference for the organic method of reproduction, which grants greater chances of survival, hence wanting to merge with the Major.
It countered the Major's fear that she would lose her sense of self in the merger by stating that, the concept of a perpetual, constant sense of self can't really exist. All things constantly change, and her sense of self was no exception. What would matter is that the overall structure remained relatively intact, attempting to make it static is meaningless as change is inevitable.
It ended by stating the merge would help them remove each other's limitations, and allow the new single mind to reach heights unimagined by any humans. The Major agrees just a split second before sharpshooters from Section 6 destroy the cyborg shell containing Project 2501 and severely damaging Batou and The Major. When she awakens, 20 hours have passed. The Major's brain is now installed in a black market shell built to resemble a young girl. In the manga, the Major says the body is male and "walking feels strange."
Motoko/Project 2501 Hybrid: "Well, I see there have been some changes while I was gone. Wanna fill me in? Where'd you get this body?"
Batou: "That's the only thing I could find on the black market. It's not my taste to be honest, it's a little young."
Batou offered her the choice to stay as long as she liked, but she insisted on leaving. Batou gave her a car with the access code 2501, which the Major suggested could be their private identification code the next time they met. It ends with the new Major overlooking the city and stating that the Net is vast and limitless.
[edit] Host body
Late into the film, an automated assembly line in Megatech Body's New Port City manufacturing facility suddenly started up and produced one female cyborg shell. When the staff realized what was going on, they were too late as the body had initialized itself (a normally-impossible event given that new shells lack a ghost) and walked out of the facility. It later deliberately got itself knocked down and ran over by a truck and was taken to Section 9 for analysis.
The staff had checked the factory systems after it left and could not find any evidence that the line was activated by a human; the only conclusion was that the line had started up on its own, in this case it was the Puppet Master who had activated it electronically. Their contacting of the police was soon nullified when the aforementioned truck driver called the police and said he had "ran over a naked woman on the highway".
Later analysis by Section 9 yielded unusual results. While given that the shell couldn't possibly have a ghost since it had not formally received one yet, one was detected anyway in the cyberbrain's auxiliary computer. The technician explained that it resembled a virtual ghost of the kind that is created when a real ghost is dubbed, but lacked the indicative data degradation.
As Megatech was government-affiliated and all its cyborg shells state-of-the-art and top-secret, it was protected by high-strength firewalls that were penetrated anyway, which gave rise to concern on Section 9's part, as most of the Section 9's field operatives used shells manufactured and maintained by Megatech.
It had been partially disassembled for inspection when it was captured by Section 6 troops, but could still function. It is eventually destroyed by Section 6 helicopter snipers, but this was inconsequential as Project 2501 had already moved itself into the Major.
[edit] External links
- Details about Project 2501 from Absolute Anime
- Hacking Your Own Ghost: Mythology in the Science Fiction Films of Oshii Mamoru
