Maybe. We know the Vex as dummies that walk toward us in a straight line until they get shot, but the grimoire has some pretty crazy stuff. I'm going to copy three ghost fragments that are all one continuous conversation between scientists at the Ishtar Collective (including the one and only Dr. Shim). I will also post commentary/explanations. I am experienced in and trained in professional philosophy so this is the kind of stuff I do. (Unsurprisingly, I main a Warlock) Bnet size restrictions won't let me quote the cards in this post (even within spoilers), so I'll link to a site that has them. Sorry about that. [url=http://destiny-grimoire.info/#Card-203020]Ghost Fragment: Vex [/url] In this entry we learn that scientists at Ishtar Collective were studying a captive Vex. One of them was able to create an interface that allowed her to examine the Vex's internal processes. To her surprise, she found that the Vex was internally representing everything that was happening in that very research centre. But! - and here's the kicker - the Vex had no way of receiving enough information to actually know what was going on. It was not "watching them" as it had no means to sense what they were doing. Based on the little information it did have, it created a simulation of the researchers and their environment and let it play out. Its constructs were so accurate that the simulations were all doing EXACTLY what the "real" counterparts were doing externally. The major question that the researchers brought up is whether their simulations had consciousness. "Qualia" is a word that philosophers use to describe units of conscious experience, such as the simple experience of seeing a colour. Esi, the researcher who discovered the simulation, isn't sure whether the simulations have qualia or interior mental states or whether they are "zombies" - representations who act just like humans but without the conscious states. Bypassing that concern, Sundaresh claims that they are inside the Vex "by any reasonable philosophical standard". Esi responds that that is true unless one takes a "ruthless" approach to causal forks - a piece of philosophical jargon that basically refers to how a causal process is structured. What she is getting at is that some people would say that she cannot be identified with her simulation because they are not causally linked in the way that she is with her past self. In my opinion, both researchers are making too strong of a case since both the question of whether they share qualia with the simulations and their causal relation to one another are valid concerns to be debated when trying to establish personal identity or lack thereof. Typically we take a causal unity between past and future selves to be critical in ascribing personal identity across time. In this situation we have the counterparts doing the same actions at the same time, but with no causal connection to one another. In such a circumstance our intuitions break down. The researchers claim that reason dictates that we identify the counterparts but I don't think reason dictates much of anything in such a situation. It's more of a decision based on how we want to set the limits of identity. [url=http://destiny-grimoire.info/#Card-203030]Ghost Fragment: Vex 2[/url] In this fragment our researchers and the linguistically colourful Dr. Shim make a couple of disturbing connections: 1. Assuming that the simulations are conscious, the Vex has full control over a group of fully human beings who are exactly like the researchers. That means that the Vex has a captive group of humans as leverage against its captors. Could you live with the knowledge that your self - someone exactly like you in every conceivable way - was being tortured because of your actions? 2. The researchers realize that the Vex could be producing several simulations. Each of these simulations would have them in the exact same situation, having the exact same discussion. Therefore there was no reason to think that they too were not Vex simulations (and that there were other versions of themselves watching themselves inside of a captive Vex, and that those versions were also simulations being watched - and so on indefinitely). [url=http://destiny-grimoire.info/#Card-203040]Ghost Fragment: Vex 3[/url] In this installment, Sundaresh comes up with a solution. It's safe to assume that the Vex only has limited processing power in its unit - plus it only has limited information on which to build its simulation. The simulations should therefore not be able to leave a certain area without the simulation breaking down due to an inability to accurately represent the world beyond a certain sphere. Assuming that they are not in a Vex simulation, they theorize that they can beat the Vex (who can normally predict every single one of their actions precisely) if they seek help from an entity that is too complex for a Vex to simulate: a warmind. Shim expects the Vex to retaliate when they try to do this and I think Sundaresh and Esi kiss or something - yay LGBT. The actual game gives a disturbing clue as to the fate of these researchers: your Ghost does not recognize the name "Shim". Thanks for reading!