Porter

* See also Minervas Den
* See also Era_Computers
* See also Bio-Electronics ( A Rapture Advancement brought by McClendon )
* See also Rapture Computers
* See also Era_Electronics
* See also The_Thinker
* See also Wahl
A Computer Scientist and Expert involved in developing The Thinker supercomputer in Rapture (in the BioShock : Minervas Den DLC )
This was a time in the Computer Era when major advances were made, and when the work of single people could create those advances. Rapture had other Computer engineers to collaborate on the implied advancements which created The Thinker system ( which is the center of the DLC story ).
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Sorry the AI that the game attempts to portray did NOT exist ( and STILL doesn't NOW 60 years later ).
Don't expect a computer that still used Punchcards to do any significant Artificial Intelligence.
Porter's work with Voice Generation and Voice Recognition is a significant advancement in itself.
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It is implied that he was collaborating with developing Color Television for Rapture ( Understand that 'making it work' and getting it widely adopted/used ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. )
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Porter was a Big Daddy for 8 years ?  :
pix walking into sunset 
A full conversion ?  Assume that's after the 'civil war' started for Ryan to react in the way they portray.
That's a bit more work for Tenenbaum to undo, when they got to The Surface, than what Jack needed ( after he basically just wore a BD Suit for awhile ).   A 'cure' that used up all the ADAM she took with her ??
Linky to pix
Also imagine the attention they might get on The Surface if Porter does not get that suit off pretty quick,  AND worse that he doesn't get fixed up right quick with what he probably looks like underneath.   Likely a good reason why he wound up in Area 51 ...
That scene we saw at the end of Minervas Den may actually have been only a 'dream sequence' or at least from quite some time later ( after many attempts by Tenenbaum ).
Tenenbaum was experimenting on her 'Cure' at the time, and it may have taken quite a while to achieve.  The MMORPG plot has them fail to rebuild The Thinker on The Surface ( for many reasons and the reason she returns yet again to Rapture ) so she wasn't able to use it for the calculations she needed -- and even after getting back to Rapture, and having access to the original Thinker, the 'Cure' process still was not simple.
Could be an interesting 'Flashback' (Player created) story sequence to play to show what happened in those events.
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Audio Diaries About Wahl Getting Porter 'Out of the Way' :
"Implicating Porter" (Reed Wahl) : "Porter thinks his talking computer is harmless fun ? It talks like a man ... this is a simple toy ? No. I have heard that Ryan is becoming paranoid about this Fontaine character. If Porter were ... implicated as a criminal ... I would have The Thinker to myself... as it was meant to be ... Keep tinkering, Porter ... Your time will come."
"In Capable Hands" (Reed Wahl) : "The Brain Boost Gene Tonics are working. Extra strength, yes. I see more now. One mind, doing the work of two -- ten ! With the help of The Thinker, a thousand ! The Machine spoke, Ryan listened, and finally, I have The Thinker all to myself. Goodbye, old friend. Don't worry, you leave your creation in capable hands ..."
So, Wahl used the talking Thinker machine to fake Porter's (and Fontaine's ?) voices to create 'Evidence'. That would be alot of work -- Porter had created his dead wife's voice - not his own.
Porter is here gone with little other detail ( Hiding the later REVEAL ... )
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NOTE - As usual we only get VAGUE details. So many Audio_Diaries in the games just don't come straight out and declare what happened - clearly ( Vague helps with 'story' Twists and such ... )
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That Framing of Porter - It Is Not Really Enough There :
Exactly what was Porter supposed to be involved in ? The Smuggling ? ( The BIG crime Fontaine was finally 'got' with - resulting in a charge of "Treason". ) SO, Somehow Wahl obtained credible info to fabricate it sufficiently and convincingly ?? That is a bit of a stretch - 'Nerd' Wahl getting info somehow to link to Big Mogul 'Secret Smuggler' Fontaine ( We coulda had a good wiretapping story detail here ). Sullivan would be the sieve this all would have to go through. Sullivan also might have heard rumors about Wahl enough to be suspicious of HIM.
It is illogical for some 'faked' declaration ( 'A Recording' supposedly containing Porter's support-for/collusion-with Fontaine ) to be sufficient 'evidence' -- Making THAT supposedly be 'enough' to have Porter hauled away under arrest ( by 'secret police' no less) and being exiled to Persephone 
(( AND NOTE : NOT sent to that 'Prison' at Fontaine's Department Store with the Rest of Fontaine's minions and cohorts ???. )) 
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The BioShock Canon indicates that 'to get' Fontaine himself, Ryan had to wait for solid evidence of the Smuggling operation. Ryan followed a legal process, and the game SHOWS care was taken to get REAL evidence. Later, when Fontaine was 'dead', with the crime kingpin gone, it was assumed most involved were just 'little fish' under coercion, unless otherwise indicated. This DLC story is weak because Porter was hardly one of Fontaine's minions/gang member/thug-soldier ( and those who survived were the ones subsequently 'sunk' Sunk - Figuratively in that Department Store ). Fontaine did not have Partners.
We WOULD have had Sullivan showing up at Minerva's Den to do an Investigation looking for evidence of who else might be involved in the 'Treason' ( Consider how they paint the importance of the Computer Center to Rapture ). Porter was a Prominent Rapturite, with no known past problems - so care would be given for any conviction and punishment ( or to justify 'disappearing him' ). Porter was not a threat like Sofia Lamb.
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DLC-itus - The story needed a bigger 'frame up' for the results it supposedly produced. Porter would have to be framed with something MORE than some 'doctored' Audio Tape without further supporting evidence to make him "Public Enemy #2". Sullivan would have had to turn up corroborating evidence - stuff harder to contrive. No mention in the story is made of anything further ( The MMORPG_Lore will have to straighten this out ).
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This flimsy detail ( this "Porters Voice on a Tape" - created by Wahl to Frame Porter ) probably was written in the game to support THE REVEAL that : The Player's hearing "Porter" talking to you was actually The Thinker mimicking Porter the same way. Up til that point in the game, You were to think Porter was Talking to YOU - But it wasn't explained HOW that could be if Porter had been long past interred in Persephone and 'had weathered' all the mayhem of the %27civil war%27, and being locked in with Sofia Lamb and her 'Family' . 
Perhaps, IF there had been proof of Porter siding-with/helping the Terrorist Atlas at the later emergency time, THEN such harsh handling of Porter might have made more sense. Immediate conversion to Daddydom to eliminate Porter would then be possible - Though WHY that wasn't done even moreso to the poisonous Sofia Lamb wouldn't be explained.
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Kicking the ADAM Habit  ( You Kwazy Wabbit !! ) :
Porter returned to The Surface from Rapture -- But wasn't he Spliced up (Players progress in Minervas Den ?? with Plasmids/Tonics/etc ...)
This wasn't the short duration for Delta who went bye-bye in the end - but 'Good' Jack must've faced the same thing ( who knows how long 'Bad' Jack lasted ... or If he ever undid his Splicing ).
If not the usual genetic disruptions/turbulence, then ADAM's addictive effects ( which probably varied alot from person to person ) ???
Big Daddyimizations(tm) being undone ( Vocal cords grown back ??   Probably that's the least of the changes made to BDs to restore them to 'human' ). Porter actually recovering implies that the personality of the original person is still there in a Big Daddy even if only 'in part'.
THIS ALL Needs explaining  - for Porter, it may have been possible thru Tenenbaum's new developments in undoing/curing ADAM 'disease' at the time both returned to The Surface (eventually). (( Though with a lack of Splicer 'test subjects' up there and only Porter, the trial and error testing may have simply lead to Porters demise. ))
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The Pearl Shrine in Porter's Bat Cave..  Who Keeps All Those Candles Lit ???
We didn't hear of (or run into) any Coven of Porter Worshipers in Minervas Den to explain this 'scene'.
Reuse of the candle-lighted shriney 'mood' ( and the existing Asset 'candle' lighting effect ) they already had working ( those Lamb Shrines from BS2 ) and paid for (its DLC after all).  Anyway, all rather unlikely unless it was part of some strange Wahl delusion. Hard to think that the 'The Thinker' would have the obsession, and have its own secret (from Wahl) followers doing the weirdness.   Perhaps they (the candles) were some kind of Rapture-tech consumer product - 'Eternal Candles' using Bioluminescence ... Nah, just 'artistic license'.
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 "Tenenbaum Worked With Porter in the Past and Helped Build the Thinker ?? " :
That would have to be Pre-1958 which was when Porter was 'unavailable' because he was locked up in Persephone on Wahl's falsified charge of Treason.   ( Was Porter ever part of Sinclair's Brain Trust There ?? )
The First computer in Rapture was a commercial ( from The Surface ) electronic-tube-based type in Rapture University.
Biological circuitry using Sea Slug brain/nerve (and some human) tissue, being processed/mutated/shaped with ADAM ( which is how Tenenbaum got involved with promise of better calculating tools for her work).  Likely it was indirectly, as McClendon would have been the main organizer of THAT research.
Such developments in time enabled complex computational functions and interfaces for various biological equivalent mechanisms ( like 'eyes' for mini-cameras, and miniature semi-intelligent controllers ).  
Computer Circuitry and its power requirements could thus shrink significantly ( computers of the era filled very large rooms and used great quantities of electric power and forced cooling, and your dumbest smartphone could run circles around their processing capacity/abilities ).
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