Game Theory: Are You a Kid or Squid? - Splatoon SOLVED!

The host explains that Splatoon, despite being a fun and colorful game, is actually another post-apocalyptic game where humanity has collapsed and cephalopods now rule the planet.

• Cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopuses) are the surviving dominant species • The main characters are Inklings, creatures that can morph between human kid form and squid form • The game's central question is: 'To kid, or to squid?'

The episode will answer whether Inklings are biologically more of a kid or more of a squid by examining game mechanics and scientific evidence.

This episode focuses on science-based analysis rather than lore or story elements.

Inklings likely have almost zero actual bones, instead relying on ink pressure to maintain their shape in kid form, similar to how cephalopods use water pressure.

• Inklings can melt into the ground for fast travel and ink recharging • They can flatten themselves and squeeze into tiny spaces • When defeated in combat, there is no pile of bones or viscera, just fluid

Cephalopods are boneless and extremely flexible, allowing them to perform actions like squeezing into small spaces and flattening to blend in with surfaces.

Physical structure strongly favors the squid column.

• Inklings have human features like noses and mouths essential for breathing with lungs • Cephalopods are exclusively aquatic and would need massive evolutionary changes to survive on land • This suggests Inklings must have lungs to absorb oxygen

It took two hundred million years for evolution to progress from the common ancestor with squid to the first animal that stepped on land, and another three hundred million years for humans to evolve. Inklings still wear modern Sketchers, suggesting not enough time has passed for such evolution naturally.

Squid eyes don't work well in air because light behaves differently in the atmosphere compared to water. Inklings would need totally different eye structure to see as well as they do in the game and take precision shots.

Inklings' ability to breathe air and their adapted vision strongly point to the kid column.

• Cephalopods are extremely intelligent and considered strong candidates for becoming the next dominant species • They can open jars and have unique personalities • They are strategic hunters who set up elaborate traps for prey • Otto the Octopus juggled hermit crabs and shorted out lights for attention when bored

Playing a game like Splatoon's Ink War requires higher level cognitive functions that could only belong to kids, not squids.

Cephalopods possess the cognitive ability to engage in complex behaviors comparable to what humans associate with intelligence.

Intelligence does not definitively favor either the kid or squid column, as the ways Inklings act in the game leave the possibility of it going either way.

• DNA is the blueprint for your body • RNA takes sections of genes from DNA and brings them out to other cells to be translated into proteins • RNA is essential; without it, DNA is nothing

Humans use a process called RNA splicing where unnecessary chunks are cut out by the Spliceosome Complex before proteins are made. This system keeps humans stable and consistent, but it also prevents evolution from happening quickly.

• Cephalopods use RNA Editing instead of RNA splicing • They directly edit the information that RNA carries without needing a spliceosme middle man • Most other life forms don't use RNA Editing because it results in too much evolution and has been eliminated through natural selection

RNA Editing allows cephalopods to quickly adapt to extreme environmental changes sometimes without even going through natural selection, enabling survival of post-apocalyptic worlds in just a few generations rather than millions of years.

Squids have the power to change into kids through their superior genetic capabilities, while humans are genetically stuck as humans and cannot evolve rapidly.

• Squids can evolve a new respiratory system and adapt to land • Humans cannot survive massive environmental disasters • Squids are positioned to be the rulers of the planet after the world ends

The ultimate question 'Are you a Kid or are you a Squid?' is answered definitively: Inklings are one hundred percent Squid.

The deciding factor is genetics and the capacity for rapid evolution through RNA Editing, which exclusively favors cephalopods over humans.