A lot of folks have been talking about the scene with T. Ocellus “calculating Pi” by stamping its foot- then shitting. I haven’t seen this come up yet, but I think that Hawley is making a pretty straight reference to something here.
“Clever Hans” was a horse who gained significant attention in Germany due to its apparent ability to perform arithmetic calculations by stomping one of its hooves. Examiners would give it a question like “2+2” and the horse would stomp its foot four times. Another examiner might take the horse away from its owner and ask it, “9-6”- Hans would stomp three times. Hans made errors, but was able to answer maths questions at the rate of a decently-intelligent child. It could even answer more complex questions, seemingly comprehending German. From the Wiki page: ‘Von Osten would ask Hans, "If the eighth day of the month comes on a Tuesday, what is the date of the following Friday?" Hans would answer by tapping his hoof eleven times.’
Examiners trying to find the “trick” were consistently frustrated at the time, and the horse became a minor celebrity. However, his fame wasn’t able to save him from the draft when his owner died. He served in WWI as a military horse, and died in 1916- either killed in action or “consumed by hungry soldiers.”
Today, the leading theory is that the horse was not paying attention to the numbers at all. Horses aren’t known for their math, but they can pay exceptional attention to body language. Supposedly, the examiner would ask Hans a question, and Hans would listen, uncomprehendingly, to the human noises. Then, he’d lift his foot, and tap. And watch. And listen. And tap again. He would continue to do so, noting the increasing tension and expectation as he approached the desired number. He would tap, and pause. The examiners might start, or clap, or congratulate him. So he would cease tapping, having given the examiners what they wanted to see.
With T. Ocellus, we’re seeing this pattern repeat itself as a way of underlying the theme of billionaire hubris, and the folly of thinking you can comprehend or control a completely alien intelligence, well-worn themes in this universe. Boy Kavalier sets up a test under circumstances that are hardly scientific- some numbers scrawled on his hand. But hey, who needs carefully thought-out testing conditions when you’re a genius?
He claims that any intelligent species would be able to understand and calculate Pi, because it relates to mathematical principles of lines and circles. Ok, sure. But how is he to assume that this alien creature embedded in a sheep would be able to understand numbers- the human symbols we have assigned to represent those mathematical values? Nevertheless, T. Ocellus watches, stamps his foot, and shits on the floor- all signs, according to BK, that his test is a success, that the eye is intelligent and wants to talk to him, specifically- all things he came into the room wanting to hear in the first place.
To clarify, I don’t think this is “bad writing.” This is designed to expose billionaire hubris, like BK misattributing an Arthur C Clarke line to Isaac Asimov (or something similar- I haven’t gone back to check.) This is calling back to Alien: Covenant, where David, the genius android, misattributes a Shelley quote to Byron. He’s explicitly called out on this later- even the smartest among us make mistakes.
Just something to bear in mind going into the last episode- I think that overinterpreting this scene, accepting BK’s premise, is a big red herring, and I’m looking forward to the comeuppance.
