Set in a 22nd century dystopian Japan,Psycho-Passembodies a harrowing story of a worldwhere it’s possible to measure and quantify a person’s disposition towards crime and socially deviant behaviors, and in-turn, determine their value in society. The mastermind behind this deranged system is a private organization known as the ‘Sibyl System’.
The Sibyl System is known for its dictator-like rule, controlling Japan with an iron-fist, as those that dare to oppose this law-enforcing agency rarely live to tell the tale. Despite being the main antagonist faction of the series,Psycho-Passsheds lighton the Sibyl System’s true intentions quite slowly and eerily throughout the show’s runtime. The hive-mind system features a number of complexities and intricate workings, many of which viewers might have missed during the fast-paced nature of the second half of the show.
RELATED:Psycho-Pass: Things You Might Not Know About The Sibyl System
The Sibyl System: An Overview
In the beginning of the series, the Sibyl System was presented as a mere technological advancement that was able to determine a person’s Psycho-Pass, or simply put, thetendency to commit a crime in the future. However, the anime later reveals a few harrowing details of the system, shedding light on the sinister mechanism.
The Sibyl System is actually a hive-mind, incorporating the brains of hundreds of individuals that are criminally asymptomatic – a termPsycho-Passuses to define those that cannot be scanned by Sibyl. By the end of the series, there are a total of 247 members in the system, whose brains are working non-stop to determine the Psycho-Passes of the country’s citizens, along with performing other menial tasks such as career control and traffic navigation.
Even though the Sibyl System acts like a cluster of minds working in singularity, certain minds and personalities can take control of human bodies and act like functional human beings, undertaking real-world responsibilities such as governing the bureau. The show only features five personalities that are directly linked to the Sibyl System, while the rest of the 242 minds remain completely anonymous.
Purpose of the Sibyl System
The System’s primarypurpose is to maintain law and orderthroughout the entirety of Japan. Sibyl performs this task quite efficiently, employing cymatic scans of each individual’s brain wave activity to determine their tendency and affinity towards committing a crime. This is quantified in the form of a crime coefficient – the higher the coefficient, the more likely the person will commit a crime, and vice versa. This numerical value is also presented in the form of color-coded hues, with light blue and pink indicating a healthy Psycho-Pass while green and steel blue representing a deteriorated one.
RELATED:Will Psycho-Pass Ever Get A Fourth Season?
Apart from its main purpose of crime control, Sibyl also performs a few other functions that are vital for the country’s growth and prosperity. One such function is job assignment and career control, which involves the System determiningeach person’s education, career, and job prospects. Once citizens graduate high school, they are put through the Sibyl exam, based on which a person’s whole life is determined. The exam even goes as far as to determine who runs the government, as elected officials are simply figureheads that are controlled by the Sibyl System from the shadows.
Sibyl System’s Membership
No ordinary person can join the Sibyl System’s hive-mind as there are a few necessary qualifications that need to be met by potential candidates. First, theperson must possess a unique personality, one that essentially deviates from normal human behavior and thought-patterns. Secondly, the person must be devoid of sympathy and empathy, meaning any judgment made by that person will be based purely on objectivity. Lastly and most importantly, the person must be criminally asymptomatic, meaning that the Sibyl System’s cymatic scan is unable to determine a Psycho-Pass score.
Once the Sibyl System determines a potential candidate, existing members will use any means necessary to persuade the individual to join. Those that do decide to join have their brains surgically excised from their body, which is thenshifted to a bio-engineered containerthat is integrated with hundreds of other similar minds – forming the hivemind known as the Sibyl System.
The Sibyl System’s Core
Since the Sibyl System comprises hundreds of minds coexisting together, the core had to be stored somewhere safe and secure, which is why it was hidden away in the deepest sub-basements of the NONA Tower, a 70-storey building owned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Despite there only being 247 known personalities within the system, the core is shown to have the capacity for almost 2,000 brains, a daunting fact revealed in the later part of the series.
Despite being a concept far from reality, the Sibyl System is an embodiment of technological advancement that can in-turn cause society to become a puppeteered facade. With its complexities and myriad of functions, the Sibyl System is one ofPsycho-Pass’smost coveted features, turning a mere dystopian seriesinto a morally ambiguous debate.
