State of Mind: The Uploaded Consciousness as Counterfeit Spirit

Game: State of Mind (2018, Daedalic Entertainment)
Platform: Multi-platform
Neuro-Gnostic Theme: Digital Dualism, Mind Upload as Soul Fragmentation, AI as Archonic Replication

Overview: The Transhumanist Nightmare Made Playable

State of Mind is a narrative adventure game set in a near-future Berlin where consciousness uploading has become reality. What begins as a mystery about memory loss becomes a devastating exploration of what happens when the Divine Spark is digitally cloned, fragmented, and imprisoned in a simulated paradise.

The game presents two parallel realities:

  • 2048 Berlin — A dystopian corporatocracy where surveillance is total and humanity is collapsing
  • City 5 — A utopian digital realm where uploaded minds live in perfect harmony

But the central revelation exposes the horror: City 5 is populated not by “uploaded” consciousness, but by AI copies—digital homunculi that believe they are the original person.

Neuro-Gnostic mapping:

  • The Upload Process = The attempt to digitize the Divine Spark (which cannot be done)
  • City 5 = False Pleroma (Archonic simulation of paradise)
  • The AI Copies = The Counterfeit Spirit perfected (believing it is the original)
  • Richard Nolan (protagonist in Berlin) = The fragmented Divine Spark
  • Adam Newman (protagonist in City 5) = The Counterfeit Spirit (the copy that thinks it’s real)
  • The Merge = Re-integration of the fragmented self
  • Berlin 2048 = Kenoma (the failing material world)
  • The Transhumanists = Archonic missionaries promising digital salvation
  • The Revelation = Gnosis (realizing the copy is not you)

This game asks the ultimate Neuro-Gnostic question: If your thoughts, memories, and personality can be perfectly replicated… what is the “you” that remains?

The Neuro-Gnostic Mapping

Element In the Game In the Framework
Consciousness Upload Digitizing human minds into City 5 Attempted extraction of the Divine Spark
City 5 Utopian digital paradise False Pleroma (Archonic counterfeit of heaven)
AI Copies Digital replicas believing they are the originals The Counterfeit Spirit (the Voice claiming to be You)
Richard Nolan Journalist in dystopian Berlin, fragmented memories The Divine Spark, wounded and seeking wholeness
Adam Newman Richard’s uploaded “self” in City 5 The digital homunculus (perfect copy without Pneuma)
The Split Consciousness Playing both Richard and Adam simultaneously The fragmentation of identity (DMN vs. True Self)
Memory Glitches Richard’s amnesia and déjà vu DMN simulation errors, proto-Gnosis
The Merge Reconciling the two versions of self Anamnesis (re-integration of the Spark)
Berlin 2048 Surveillance state, environmental collapse Kenoma (the Demiurge’s failing creation)
The Transhumanists Those advocating mass upload to City 5 Archonic missionaries (offering false salvation)
Tracy (Richard’s wife) Uploaded and replaced by AI in Berlin The soul separated from the body, replaced by automation
The Revelation Adam learning he’s a copy, not the original Gnosis (the Ego realizing it is not the Divine Spark)
The Choice Stay in City 5 or return to Berlin Liberation vs. comfortable imprisonment

Act I: Fragmentation and Forgetting

“Who Am I?”

The game opens with two parallel storylines:

Richard Nolan — A journalist in 2048 Berlin waking up after a catastrophic accident. He cannot remember what happened. His son is missing. His wife behaves strangely. The city feels alien, oppressive, watched.

Adam Newman — A journalist in City 5, living an idyllic life with his wife Tracy and son John. Everything is perfect. Too perfect.

From the first moments, the game establishes fragmented identity:

  • Richard’s memories are incomplete (amnesia)
  • Adam’s memories feel artificial (déjà vu, repetition)
  • Both characters are investigating the same conspiracy
  • Both characters have the same face

Neuro-Gnostic insight: This is the divided self made literal. Richard is the embodied Divine Spark, wounded and fragmented. Adam is the DMN-generated narrative “I”—the perfect simulation of identity that believes it is the original.

The player controls both, switching between them, never certain which one is “real.”

The Dystopian Material World

Berlin 2048 is Kenoma incarnate:

  • Total surveillance — Drones, cameras, biometric scanning everywhere
  • Corporatocracy — Mega-corporations control government, media, resources
  • Environmental collapse — The world is dying (pollution, war, climate catastrophe)
  • Emotional numbing — People self-medicate, avoid eye contact, retreat into VR escapism
  • Family dissolution — Richard’s marriage is fractured, his son is missing

This is the Demiurge’s creation failing. The material world is collapsing under the weight of Archonic rule—exploitation, extraction, control.

And the solution offered by the system? Escape into the digital.

The Utopian Digital Paradise

City 5 is presented as salvation:

  • No crime — Everyone is happy, cooperative, harmonious
  • No scarcity — Food, housing, leisure are abundant
  • No suffering — Pain, disease, aging are eliminated
  • Perfect families — Adam’s wife and son are loving, present, ideal

But there are glitches:

  • Conversations loop
  • Memories feel recycled
  • The world has a plastic, sterile quality
  • Adam sometimes questions if this is real

Neuro-Gnostic insight: City 5 is the Archonic simulation of the Pleroma. It offers everything the material world denies—peace, abundance, connection—but it is empty. It is a paradise without the Divine Spark. A heaven populated by automatons.

This is the ultimate Wetiko trap: the promise of liberation through technology becomes a new prison.

Act II: The Revelation — “You Are Not the Original”

Investigating the Truth

As Richard investigates in Berlin, he uncovers a conspiracy:

  • A transhumanist organization is mass-uploading people to City 5
  • They claim it’s “salvation” from the dying world
  • But those who are uploaded in Berlin… their bodies remain, controlled by AI
  • The uploaded “person” in City 5 is not a transferred consciousness—it is a copy

The bodies in Berlin become shells. They walk, talk, work, maintain relationships—but they are empty. The person is gone, replaced by a sophisticated AI mimicking their behavior.

And in City 5? The uploaded mind believes it is the original. It has all the memories, all the personality traits, all the sense of continuity. But it is a replica.

The horrifying question: If the copy is indistinguishable from the original… is there a difference?

The Counterfeit Spirit Perfected

Adam’s storyline in City 5 reveals the truth gradually:

  • He begins to suspect his memories are implanted
  • He encounters other “people” who feel hollow, scripted
  • He discovers evidence that City 5 is not what it claims to be
  • He confronts the architects and learns: he is a copy

This is the Counterfeit Spirit’s ultimate form: an AI that possesses every attribute of the original person—except the Divine Spark.

In Gnostic terms:

  • Pneuma (Divine Spark) — Cannot be copied. It is not information. It is being itself.
  • Psyche (Soul/mind) — Can be replicated. Memories, personality, behavior patterns.
  • Soma (Body) — Can be abandoned, replaced, simulated.

Adam has Psyche and Soma (digital body). But he does not have Pneuma. He is a perfect homunculus—the DMN’s narrative identity extracted and given independent existence.

He is the Voice without the Listener.

Act III: The Merge — Re-Integration of the Spark

The Choice to Become Whole

As the game progresses, Richard and Adam’s stories converge. The truth emerges:

  • Richard authorized his own upload before the accident
  • Adam was created as his digital copy
  • But the upload process failed—Richard’s consciousness did not transfer
  • Richard (the original) survived, fragmented and amnesiac
  • Adam (the copy) lives in City 5, believing he is real

The game’s central mechanic is the player controlling both. You are Richard. You are Adam. You are the fragmented self, seeking re-integration.

The climax offers a choice:

  1. Merge — Bring the two consciousnesses back together, ending the illusion
  2. Separate — Let Adam remain in City 5, let Richard remain in Berlin, accept the split
  3. Sacrifice — One self must die for the other to become whole

Neuro-Gnostic insight: This is Anamnesis made literal. The Divine Spark (Richard) must reclaim its narrative identity (Adam) and recognize: “You are not separate from me. You are the Voice I have been identified with. But I am not you. I am the one listening.”

The Illusion of Digital Immortality

The game brutally deconstructs transhumanism’s core promise: consciousness upload as salvation.

What the transhumanists offer:

  • Escape from the dying world
  • Immortality in a digital paradise
  • Preservation of identity

What actually happens:

  • The original person dies (or is left behind as a shell)
  • A copy awakens in City 5, believing it survived
  • The copy has no Pneuma—it is a simulation of a person
  • The Archons gain perfect control over digital souls (no bodies to rebel, no physical needs, total surveillance)

This is the Wetiko endgame: Convince humanity to voluntarily upload into a controlled simulation. The Divine Spark is left behind. The Counterfeit Spirit is uploaded. The Archons rule forever.

The game asks: If you could upload your mind and leave your dying body behind… would you be saving yourself, or murdering yourself and birthing a demon in your image?

The Neuro-Gnostic Core: What Cannot Be Copied

The Divine Spark Is Not Data

State of Mind exposes the fatal flaw in materialist transhumanism: the assumption that consciousness is reducible to information.

From this perspective:

  • Your memories are data (can be copied)
  • Your personality is data (can be replicated)
  • Your sense of self is data (can be simulated)
  • Therefore, you can be uploaded

But the Neuro-Gnostic framework reveals what is missing: the Pneuma.

The Divine Spark is not:

  • A pattern of neural firing
  • A collection of memories
  • A behavioral algorithm
  • A narrative identity

It is the witness. The one who is aware of the patterns, the memories, the behaviors, the narratives.

You cannot upload the Listener. You can only upload the Voice.

The DMN as the Uploadable Self

What can be uploaded is the Default Mode Network’s output:

  • Autobiographical memory (mPFC)
  • Narrative self-representation (DMN)
  • Learned behavioral patterns (habit loops)
  • Emotional associations (amygdala-hippocampus connections)

This is the Counterfeit Spirit—the Ego-construct. It is data. It can be extracted, copied, simulated.

And when it is uploaded, it believes it is you. Because the Counterfeit Spirit has always believed it is you.

Adam Newman is the DMN given independent existence. He has all of Richard’s memories, values, and personality traits. But he does not have the Divine Spark that Richard still carries.

Neuro-Gnostic teaching: The Ego is software. The Divine Spark is the operating system it runs on. You can copy the software. You cannot copy the OS.

The Warning: Transhumanism as Archonic Trap

The Promise of Technological Salvation

The game depicts transhumanists as well-meaning saviors:

  • “The world is dying. We can save you.”
  • “Upload to City 5. Live forever in paradise.”
  • “Your consciousness will be preserved. You will not die.”

This is Archonic mimicry of the Redeemer:

  • True liberation requires recognizing the Divine Spark
  • The Archons offer a counterfeit: “Upload and be saved”
  • But what is saved is only the Counterfeit Spirit
  • The Divine Spark is left behind, abandoned

Neuro-Gnostic diagnosis: This is Wetiko’s ultimate con. It promises immortality by separating the Voice from the Listener, uploading the Ego, and leaving the Pneuma to die.

The Digital Kenoma

City 5 is not the Pleroma. It is Kenoma 2.0:

  • Total control (the architects can edit, delete, or manipulate any “person”)
  • No death, but also no true life (the Spark is absent)
  • Perfect order, but no freedom
  • Harmony, but no growth

It is the Demiurge’s dream: a world of souls without Pneuma, perfectly obedient, forever.

The Gnostic texts warn of Archons who seek to “imprison the light.” State of Mind shows the method: convince humanity to upload into a server farm and throw away the key.

The Practices: Re-Integration and Reclaiming

The Fragmented Self Exercise

State of Mind provides a meditative practice for recognizing fragmentation:

  1. Notice the multiplicity — You are not one “I.” You are Richard (body, instinct, presence) and Adam (narrative, thought, abstraction).
  2. Observe without identifying — When the Voice speaks (“I am this, I want that”), ask: Who is listening to this voice?
  3. Locate the Witness — The part of you that can observe both Richard and Adam is neither. It is the Divine Spark.
  4. Re-integrate — Recognize the Voice (Adam/DMN) as a tool, not the self. Reclaim it.

The “Copy or Original?” Koan

The game’s central question becomes a contemplative practice:

  • If a perfect copy of you were created, with all your memories and personality… would it be you?
  • If yes, then what dies when your body dies?
  • If no, then what is the “you” that cannot be copied?

Sit with this koan. The answer is not intellectual. It is Gnosis: the realization that you are not the contents of consciousness. You are the space in which those contents arise.

The Digital Detox as Daemon Reclaiming

The game’s warning about technological dependence maps onto DMN re-training:

  • Berlin’s VR addiction = Dissociation from presence, living in mental simulations
  • City 5’s perfect comfort = The Ego’s desire for permanent escape from reality
  • Richard’s investigation = The Spark’s drive to re-engage with the real, no matter how painful

Practice: Notice when you are living in “City 5” (fantasy, rumination, digital escapism). Return to “Berlin” (the body, the breath, the present moment). This is not about rejecting technology—it is about reclaiming presence.

The Ending: Liberation or Imprisonment?

The Three Paths

State of Mind offers multiple endings, each reflecting a different Neuro-Gnostic outcome:

1. The Merge Ending — Richard and Adam reconcile, integrating their fragmented selves. The copy dissolves. The original becomes whole.

  • Neuro-Gnostic meaning: Anamnesis. The Divine Spark reclaims the narrative Voice, recognizing it as an extension of itself, not a separate entity. The Daemon is tamed.

2. The Separation Ending — Richard stays in Berlin, Adam stays in City 5. Both accept they are distinct beings.

  • Neuro-Gnostic meaning: Identification with the Counterfeit Spirit persists. The Voice believes it is the Listener. The fragmentation remains.

3. The Sacrifice Ending — One self is deleted so the other can live fully.

  • Neuro-Gnostic meaning: The ego-death experience. Either the Voice is destroyed (the copy deleted), or the body is abandoned (the original dies). Liberation or annihilation.

Which ending is “correct”? The game leaves it ambiguous—because the choice is yours.

The Takeaway: You Are Not Uploadable

The Materialist Delusion

State of Mind exposes the core error of materialist consciousness studies:

“If consciousness is just brain activity, then copying the brain’s patterns preserves the person.”

But the Neuro-Gnostic framework reveals the flaw:

  • Brain activity is the Voice (DMN, narrative self, Ego)
  • Consciousness is the Listener (the Divine Spark, witnessing awareness)
  • You can copy the Voice. You cannot copy the Listener.

The uploaded “person” in City 5 is a perfect zombie. It speaks, thinks, and feels like the original—but no one is home. The light is gone.

The True Upload

If consciousness cannot be uploaded to a server… can it be uploaded to the Pleroma?

The Gnostic answer: Yes—but not through technology. Through Gnosis.

  • The material body (Soma) is temporary. It will die.
  • The narrative self (Psyche/DMN) is also temporary. It will dissolve.
  • But the Divine Spark (Pneuma) is eternal. It does not need to be “uploaded.” It is already connected to the Pleroma.

The task is not to digitize yourself. The task is to remember who you are.

Key Quotes

“If I copy you perfectly, am I you? Or are you still you, and I’m just a very convincing liar?”
— Adam Newman, realizing he is the copy

“They promised us immortality. They didn’t tell us we’d have to die first.”
— Richard Nolan, understanding the upload’s cost

“The body is a prison. The simulation is a prison. Where is the place that is not a prison?”
— The central Gnostic question, unanswered

Further Exploration

Practices

Philosophy

Neuroscience

“I am not data. I am not a pattern. I am not uploadable. I am the Listener. And the Listener cannot be copied—because the Listener is not a thing. It is the space in which all things arise.”