Severance Theory | The Macrodata Refiners Orientation Booklet

[@chrisjohnson3244]

Here is a theory... newly severed people experience emotions that they can't process because they don't have any life experiences to relate it to. So those emotions are processed by the chip and sent to lumen computers where MDR reviews the data and assigns it to one of four emotions. Basically they are programing the chips to understand the person's emotions. When MDR is busy it means a lot of people are under going severance.

[@filmsretold1]

This is a very popular theory floating around. Part of me wants the numbers to be something more sinister though.

[@THEBATCAVE.]

Ooh I like this bc I think it was mentioned in one of the episodes that Kier believed that the 4 tempers (emotions) made up peoples personalities and different percentages of those tempers determined what personality you’d have (woe, dread, frolic and malice) refining helps Lumon probably determine who could be used for whatever tasks or how certain personalities work

[@vivishout]

I think they are removing or taming those emotions... or severing them, for another group of chipped people who are the start of "Kier's children". Maybe the board. In the letter, an explosion occurs after Peg finishes a file. Maybe the person wasn't able to emotionally handle completing this violent task until their tempers had been severed.

[@jacobwhkhu]

Looks like some MDR slipped a lot of Malice into Helly's chips 🤣

[@matthoffner275]

The work is mysterious and important

[@filmsretold1]

Indeed it is.

[@sunsetsamosa]

4

[@Riprulez32]

About the Clean Slate protocol: another incident that supports the theory that Lumon completely or selectively wipes employee memories is what Petey says to Mark in Mark's basement. He tells Mark they both filed complaints with Lumon, which means innie Mark was unhappy with something. But when we meet him, he's a company man, as you say. And the complaint is never mentioned during the show. They must have reset his memory. AND, I think this is what starts to make Cobel suspicious that Petey reintegrated. They would have tried resetting him, too, but Petey wouldn't know that. So he comes in the next day remembering everything they tried to make him forget, and that throws up alarms. Maybe Petey realizes Mark forgot everything and that's what causes him to run - the realization that his behavior doesn't match what Lumon admins expect and his cover is blown. I've seen a number of theories speculating that they're refining the emotions or memories of severed employees. I like this theory, but can't reconcile the fact that the bins have to be evenly filled. It's now confirmed that the bins are the 4 tempers - malice, frolic, dread, woe - plus a 5th bin (which they never explain?), but it seems implausible that humans would feel these in equal distribution. In Peg's letter, she says about the files: "I guess there's a whole wall of [numbers] on her computer screen, but eventually, the wall runs out, and all the numbers have been sorted, and that's that - file completed." The numbers eventually run out, but is that because they found an equal number of the temperaments, or because they actually run out? What happens if they actually run out and haven't filled the bins? If the numbers run out because they've filled the bins, what's the point of identifying an equal number of memories or emotions of each temperament? From Lumon's perspective, these temperaments are "bad" ones (even frolic, I'd argue, because it's a distraction), so they're just trying to keep good memories and emotions? That kind of manipulation undermines the natural human experience. If Peg is right about the crash, though, they'd want to eliminate memories of it from people, and since they can't pinpoint their exact memories of traumatic events like that, the other memories they eliminate in the process are collateral damage. We know the files are time sensitive, but why? Is that an artificial deadline or a real one? Another thing I've seen people talk about is the different types of memories people have, and theorizing that severance only touches one of them. Maybe, after a certain period, memories transition from one type (the type severance controls) to another that severance can't reach, and then they can't erase the bad memories. Anyway, all of this is me thinking out loud. This show is riveting and so fun to follow! Thanks for an excellent video!

[@evolv.e]

Page 197 slaps

[@mattgilbert7347]

The hour belongs to Dylan

[@mrhappy3032]

Lmfao 😂

[@starmorpheus]

'The You You Are' is coveted as f-ck

[@bleedingberryjuice]

I was legit pausing while watching to try to read what was in the handbook during the snippets we saw of it--thanks for this upload! The mysteries go deeper and deeper and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a TV show so much

[@thevasic]

In the orientation booklet it is described that the severance procedure is that the chip is inserted via the back of the neck (which is more plausible) but in the show for Helly's procedure it was done by drilling into towards the top of the skull and inserting downward (which i thought would be far to invasive) The show seems to be too smart to have such inconsistencies...might be something there.

[@MasterKoala777]

The manual’s obsession with hand washing is not normal. At least 10x a day, and before/after physical contact with a coworker. There must be more to this. And also remember how Cobel told Mark that “A handshake is available upon request.”

[@RobinHerzig]

Hug was also available for Helly R by Ms Casey also What about Lumon's weird wild world is normal 😏

[@WeAllWitnessed]

covid

[@8698gil]

@@silentcatshhhh Or it could be just that the "outties' don't want their innies bringing any colds or other sickness home with them.

[@okamiseven]

You're right, there's something weird about the soap. Lumon started as a "topical salve" company- they make soap, deodorant, ointment, and other skin products. When Helly writes a note on her arms in marker, Mark asks "do you want Graner to use the bad soap?" I think there's definitely something in Lumon's soap...

[@tessa2726]

@@okamiseven and Irving also mentioning the soap dispensers so randomly. Saying how they used to be labeled soap and now they aren’t

[@okamiseven]

FYI, about half the names on Irving's list are the names of real people who worked on the show. So an alternate explanation is that Daniel A and Cat M are actual people who actually made the handbook 🤣

[@filmsretold1]

Oh snap your right. I should have done more research. Who knows though we still might see them tied in. I think Irving's notes will be important in season 2.

[@okamiseven]

@@filmsretold1 i think there might be a code in the list! Some of the names have letters circled or underlined

[@ayomedina]

@@okamiseven Severance IMDB: Tansy Michaud is series graphic designer & Catherine Miller is series prop master

[@lisagabbard353]

Yep, my daughter worked on the show and this is true. Their names are also on the control board and faces on the smile wall.😊

[@okamiseven]

@@lisagabbard353 that's so cool! Your daughter helped make something really special

[@jakeman025]

This is really cool I hope they release some more stuff like this while we wait for season 2.

[@filmsretold1]

Me too.

[@szfinland]

I think that the severance chips in the data refiners are actively engaged with the data sorting. Given that the Override function also demonstrates connectivity outside of the Lumon building, sorting the data codes could also be directly manipulating other severed individuals to orchestrate the external activities -- perhaps unknowingly.

[@filmsretold1]

This is what I think as well. Lets go full mk ultra!

[@CulturedBubbleCB]

My theory: In episode 1 Mark says to Helly: "I just bet it'll make you feel right as rain." I know that's an idiom, but something about the way Mark emphasized it, made me dwell on it. Later that episode, during the "no food dinner", the blonde lady says about Lumon: "They began in the 18 hundreds. Topical salves." Soooo... maybe the topical salves have some kind of mind-altering quality to them. This salve could also be in the "soap" dispensers, which is why they aren't labelled and employees are required to wash their hands with it at least 10 times a day. So Mark saying "you feel right as rain" could mean, that after it rains, the salve is washed away properly for the first time (since Lumon also might control the water systems and might put that salve in there too) and people actually feel "right"/ like their true selves for the first time since applying the salve. Maybe people who used the salves for many years become more receptive to the severance procedure/ it's a prerequisite for it. Mrs. Selvig/ Cobel also gave Devon a salve for her "lactation problem", and Peg Kincaid said she used a Lumon deodorant for many years. I'm not sure how innie Mark could know this, but maybe this is subconscious information? Would love to hear your thoughts on this :) Also, something else: Helly Rs clothes don't seem to fit into the office dress code. Especially her bright yellow dress and her blue jumper. I wouldn't categorize those as "pastel"...

[@angelah3172]

If you don't know the file your working on '....ask your supervisor to REFRESH YOUR MEMORY

[@Amazingsloth]

the refining process doesn't make any sense. If it can tell you that you've made a mistake then it should be able to find the number groups on its own. Also - if you enter the name of the program to get the rolodex to then select the program - why enter the program name in the first place? I'm in IT and this doesn't make logical sense - so - I would assume there's another reason. That the refiner isn't really refining - they are being tested themselves. perhaps the rolodex step is a memory test between one day and the next..I also think the hand washing is a way to medicate the employees without their knowledge.

[@Hydroculator]

I had several of the same thoughts. They actually made a point to show us Mark filling up the soap dispenser, and they mention the soap here. There must be something to it. If the "work" they're doing is so vital, why are there only 4 people doing it? Why aren't they more intense about forcing them to work harder? Incentives like finger traps aren't nearly as effective as tying them down and giving them shocks for letting their attention drift. These people aren't people anymore. They have zero recourse for poor treatment, so they could stand over then with whips if they wanted to; this office setting is all some kind of experiment. Studying effects of different treatment to illicit various subconscious responses? The numbers could be some kind of litmus test to tell the computer how they're feeling in response to the things the non-severed staff are doing. Could they be receiving some kind of subliminal programming from the numbers? Experiments to see if programming the chip is possible with visual stimuli? The computer knows what kind of mood it's trying to force them to feel, so it would know if they got it "right". Conditioning themselves through incentivized melon balls. We already know they're big on conditioning through repetitive speech, coded numbers could be the next step. One thing this show has been very consistent about is that nothing is what it looks like. So if they're supposed to be doing something to the numbers, then the numbers must be doing something to them.

[@BogdanOfficalPage]

It’s completely possible that the computer cannot solve it, but a human can. Try solving a discreet log hash value programmatically, it will take a computer non-deterministic time to solve (millions of years) , but it will take a lot less (deterministic, like x^n) time to verify that the result is correct (to a computer). If the refiners use their emotions to somehow get the right value - the computer possibly can verify it.

[@Amazingsloth]

@@BogdanOfficalPage Are you saying a computer can tell that an answer is wrong without knowing the answer? With only a few exceptions - like an alpha entered for a number, etc. - That seems like a real stretch. it's telling them that what they've entered is 'wrong' not verifying that what they entered is 'right'... there's a difference.

[@BogdanOfficalPage]

@@Amazingsloth One example that comes to mind is solving an encryption. It will take a computer non-deterministic and VERY long time to solve let's say what the private key is (millions of year). Yet it takes a second to confirm that it's correct against some encrypted value or a public key. A more simple example is solving a sudoku. It takes a n^p time to solve a sudoku, but it only takes n time to verify it's correct/wrong. So let's say Macrodata is somehow a task that will take a computer 10 million years to solve, but 1 sec to verify (it's possible from a technical standpoint) - but severed humans can do it "by feel" fast. There's def value in that. That being said, I think it's unlikely that it's the case in the plot.I am just saying it's technically possible

[@Zernium]

@@Amazingsloth For some problems, it's trivial to check if a particular answer is correct, but much more difficult to figure out what the correct answer is. Like, let's say you need to get into a locked house, and you have a key ring with one key that unlocks the door to the house and 99 keys that don't. Once you've picked a key to try on the lock of the house's front door, you can determine very quickly if that specific key is the correct one, but you don't have the ability to look at the keys and determine which one is the correct one without randomly trying them one by one. However, if an expert locksmith comes by and examines the lock and the keys, they may be able to correctly identify which key goes in the lock and unlock the door on their first try. In this scenario, you are the computer, and the locksmith is an MDR worker. For whatever reason, the computer lacks the ability to identify which groups of numbers are the correct ones, and (presumably) would have to resort to randomly guessing until it found the ones that are correct. A human is able to identify the correct groups of numbers, probably due to some sort of emotional intelligence that the computer can't replicate, so it relies on human users to tell it which groups of numbers to use. It could still be the case that the MDR refiners are actually refining themselves in some fashion by using the computers, or that the work is meaningless and it's actually just an experiment of some kind to see how to innies react, but the idea of the computer being able to tell which answers are correct while also being unable to find the correct answer does make logical sense, it's just unintuitive.

[@deckerd5446]

I think the data that they are refining are actually aspects of their own brain function - refining the data into the bins that are differentiated by emotional response thus allow Lumon to learn more about the brain functions of each subject that the chip is monitoring - so they are refining a map of neutron firing and brain functionality - its all about developing the chip.. but to what greater end ?

[@Passionatelycurious91]

OMG! I just came up with a similar theory and happy to know I am not alone. I also think they are refining data on neuron firing based on emotional triggers to be used for severance upgrades. They are obviously working on the device as there were earlier prototypes. The end could be to have full control of people as their emotions has been the factor that they have been unable to control thus a high risk.

[@DaxVJacobson]

I had a thought of a more direct MK Ultra tie in because of the goats and the movie *The Men Who Stare at Goats* and this show having goats, I think the severed people might be the perfect people for weaponized remote viewing, they are just children so they don't know anything that would often interfere with remote viewing they could be directly making the changes, setting the bombs off or causing car accidents or whatever is in the file they are given (remote viewers are not told the details), I did some searches on the names of the files, Pacoima, Tumwater, sunset park, Eminence, Cairns, Coleman, Culpepper, Dranesville, Kingsport, Labrador, Le Mars, Longbranch, Minsk, Moonbeam, Nanning, Narva, Ocula, they are often locations around LA in California, I'm guessing each file has detailed harmful goals, like assignation connected to the locations. I don't think it's busy work to condition the severed people but real work the corporation has them doing.

[@filmsretold1]

Oh snap your right. I should have done more research. Who knows though we still might see them tied in. I think Irving's notes will be important in season 2.

[@RobinHerzig]

Causing car accidents… uh oh Also Lexington is a major avenue in midtown Manhattan where the competitor's truck bomb explosion happened

[@WillFromWithin]

After reading your comment, I wonder if Ms. Casey is in fact dead, but her chip was put into a goat brain.

[@suminalee]

wow thanks for reading this out. For some reason these aren't available in my country so I was looking for someone explaining the contents!

[@filmsretold1]

Glad I could help!

[@suyang4505]

My theory on MDR’s work is they are refining memories of the severed people. Like what need to be left out and what need to be kept away. The number illicit “feelings” and my strongest believe is they are human memory data. I think the core business of Lumen is Severance. Not only as a protocol for work but something they are actively marketing and selling. Like earning a liscencing fee for their technology? We already saw a pregnant rich lady severed herself, maybe it will be mass marketed. Daddy Eagan did say there will soon be many more children of theirs.

[@Looshington]

irving mentioning that the soap used to have labels clearly indicates that he used to work there in a different position/department

[@JillC]

No that was just an excuse he made up so he could go to see Burt for advice about it.

[@mattgilbert7347]

This is about making severed employees into Keir's "children" - "more perfect for the struggle".

[@Amazingsloth]

I tend to agree - reminds me a bit of the motivation of the Borg to achieve perfection through assimilation.

[@grillogrande5172]

Praise Kier

[@N0T_Dem0n]

In the Lexington letter the person thinks they data leads to events in the outside world and Peter asks Mark what if he is killing people for 8 hours a day

[@calamityang]

Brilliant video! Thank you!

[@filmsretold1]

Thanks!

[@scottj2461]

Based on the information we have so far, macrodata refinement only makes sense to me if it's refining how the chip reads and/or controls emotions in the person doing the sorting. Nothing else would make a lick of sense to me at this point.

[@filmsretold1]

Yeah but in the show they completed the file and this is when we see the group act out the most. Honestly it was the same with Peggy, when she completed the file is when she smuggled out the handbook. Wouldn't Lumon want it to be other way around, completing a file would make them more obedient?

[@scottj2461]

@@filmsretold1 Yes, the company clearly wants obedience and is using all kinds of methods to enforce obedience. My comment is based strictly on the work they're doing at the computer. They feel strong emotions about groups of numbers. That's not normal. It must be coming from the chip. Then the company requires feedback on what type of emotion they feel, meaning they don't already know and want to know. I have no idea what the big reveal about the data sorting is going to be in the show. I'm just saying that their explanation, whatever it is, isn't going to make sense to me unless it is training the chip on reading and/or controlling emotions using groups of numbers. I would find other explanations very disappointing. The show might reveal that the chip uses their human brains to process clumps of single digit numbers in a way that computers cannot. This would be very far-fetched (because it's far easier to make a computer sort data than to have it direct a human brain to sort data). Or the show might reveal that their emotional sorting choices are used to direct some outside project that MDR is completely unaware of, which would not make any sense to me.

[@MrBradyR]

Those coordinates are hexadecimal code. They also just happen to translate to the colours blue and green lol

[@okamiseven]

We know from the finale that the first prototype severance chip was blue and green. Helly also wore a blue and green dress and earrings to the gala

[@theodore9668]

Commenting for the algorithm

[@MW-qt3hm]

Replying for the algorithm

[@cccc13.]

Macaroni is delicious

[@michaellimbeck5671]

Macaroni Data Refining

[@birdieerdie2349]

Insert comment as well,from me for Al Gores rhythm

[@murr2k2]

The aggregate bin completion levels on page 10 add up to 70.8%, not 75% overall. Maybe the screen is just made up, not computed.

[@cccc13.]

WELL THE PEGGYS PHONE NUMBER AND DT at Topeka star email don’t work/exist :/ wishing that had more clues…..

[@DAVMarriott]

Wonderful stuff! Thanks for posting :)

[@hankwilliamsjrbaby5194]

You’re welcome!

[@Aelcyx]

You didn't read the bottom of page 22. But great video! Thanks for putting this together

[@filmsretold1]

Oh, good catch. Thanks for watching.

[@cashnelson2306]

Didn't think to link part 1 in the description...?

[@filmsretold1]

Its linked in the description.

[@XMachete]

The manual explains four bins. But the screen has five bins.

[@filmsretold1]

There are 4 folders and 5 bins. Each bin has 4 folders for the tempers.

[@XMachete]

@@filmsretold1 ahh thanks

[@cindybuzatu2850]

There are 5 bins but only 4 are named???

[@david7864]

❤️❤️❤️

[@lilalicia4190]

Amazing * subscribes*🎉

[@filmsretold1]

Yay! Welcome.

[@thefallingbook7928]

Where did u get this file ? Is it accessible ?

[@filmsretold1]

Apple store, its free.

[@shelleywinters6763]

didn't see any handwashing. smoke screen to keep depts appart?

[@Alexrider02]

What terrible design. You have to type the name of the Macrodata file, then hit enter, then scroll through a "rolodex" list of all the Macrodata files to find the file you want, then click on the rolodex? What's with the redundancy?

[@kr1048]

Why do people keep making videos of them just reading 🤦🏼‍♀️sorry dude but 2 mins of wrong theories in a 15 minute video? Why?

[@filmsretold1]

Some people enjoy the content, plus this book was not available in every country, so this allowed people from all over the world to enjoy it.

[@fairytale143]

I for one appreciate the audio and reading comments !

[@UdoADHD]

Then comment the right theory, know it all. Also they make videos reading because some of us wanna hear it while we’re doing something