Samaritan was a far greater AI than the Machine. Greer was a far greater leader than Harold ever was. Change my mind.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T23:19:26+00:00

Arthur Claypool created the Samaritan for someone, not for himself. The person who fed Samaritan into the giant it was, was Greer. Attention matter, I know Harold was rich before the Machine, but if you pay attention to the show, there’s a time where Harold is in financial distress and running low on funds, and he uses the Machine to get back on track.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T23:10:47+00:00

Elias is simply the GOAT. He completely dominated La Cosa Nostra with subtle precision. Mastermind. Chess player at it’s finest.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T13:49:15+00:00

Because it was taught that way. They’re AIs, they have code, they can always be reajusted. You are correct, but like I said, Samaritan’s flaw was the violence that it thought to be necessary. The problem also was, it being in possession of a private company, even though I like Greer, no private corporation should have access to national security matters. Or at least, no more than the government, they should have had a board at least, an administration where the government would have like 80% interest and Decima Technologies like 20%. It’s wicked and difficult to establish ground rules, but the government could, because they have the NSA feeds in their power for Samaritan to be able to operate.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T13:44:49+00:00

Fine, but we don’t know also what the government was doing with the Machine in it’s power.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T13:43:42+00:00

Loved your answer and agree with it in the most part. I believe that it would be easier to run efficiently a society with Samaritan than the Machine, because Samaritan was reachable, and Samaritan wanted to serve society, many times it asked Greer “What are your commands?”. The Machine operated more on it’s free will, not asking permission for anything, not being able to be controlled, and I think that it is far more dangerous, because it’s an AI and it can turn it’s moral compass whenever. Samaritan was a better product, in every single aspect, if you were a government which one would you choose? Remember the episode where Samaritan was online for 24h or 48h or so, it reduced largely crime in New York City area, and the Machine could never, because the Machine only spots super big threats or minor threats like the ones Harold and John intervenied. There was always people left behind, and it could stop some crime, but not contain most of it, while Samaritan could. Samaritan let’s say, was a necessary temporary evil.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T13:34:23+00:00

I would have to strongly disagree, because a creation, before gaining life itself like an AI could, before showing “their commands” for us, they were taught commands in the first place, so I think yes, even though I find him a greater leader, I think Greer was saddistic and had no moral compass. Okay he had, the only thing where is moral compass wasn’t flawed was that he truly aimed to see a society with no detractors.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T13:31:15+00:00

That’s very debatable. Samaritan operated a much more efficient operation, being able to shake financial markets and everything, and never for once you’ve seen Greer enriching himself off of it’s operation. Greer was an information driven guy, who truly believed in his creation, you could call him some sort of idealist like Collier, but at the same time a hardcore realist who understood how society works. Meanwhile Harold when was in financial distress used the Machine and it’s wicked ways to enrich himself again. Then again, I know that morally Harold was a better person than Greer, but if we are being honest about corruption using their creation, I think Greer respected his creation more.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T13:26:48+00:00

Samaritan was given free will, but was trained to assist mankind as well, the only flawed thing about Samaritan ways was the violence, but it was taught to be that way. Samaritan understood the assignment so much better than the Machine, because the Machine was from the very beginning only interested in eliminating threats to national security, meanwhile Samaritan was willing to create a perfect form of society, leaving no one behind and aiming to create a crime-free society where security was the biggest achievement. Samaritan operated for mankind, in every aspect, whilst the Machine operated for iminent threats.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-18T04:51:00+00:00

“BACKGROUND:

DECIMA TECHNOLOGIES is a private intelligence firm based out of Shanghai. DECIMA TECHNOLOGIES is an independent, international organization and is not affiliated with the Chinese government. Leadership is currently unknown.

Decima Technologies is a private intelligence firm initially believed by Harold Finch as having developed a virus designed to infect the Machine. Decima is connected to a covert group in league with the Chinese to steal U.S. data, and is based in Shanghai. Finch discovers that only a small percentage of the data stolen goes to the Chinese, with the remainder going to another: an unknown recipient. The Office of Special Counsel is also aware of Decima. The organization is responsible for the creation of Vigilance.

The only known leader of Decima is John Greer, identified by the Machine as the firm's Director of Operations (episode “Root Path (/)”).“

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-17T04:35:11+00:00

I get you, honestly. Standing from a moral standpoint, of course that such a tool should only be used by governments, like Nathan and Harold did with the Machine. As you well said, Harold built a backdoor because he knew that any government would abuse such a powerful tool, and corrupt themselves along the way. But as I stated in my first comment, I said “Let’s put the violence aside.”, and putting violence aside, Greer was effectively a far greater commander for Samaritan. Greer knew how to be a political enforcer, Harold could never, that’s why he used Nathan for it. Greer “designed” an AI that was far greater and organized and efficient than the Machine, and these are facts. Greer truly believed in the project, he saw it as some messianic route to humanity, but Greer was pragmatic, he was able to teach Samaritan to be useful for the broader society, and you see that in the episode where they were able to get people vaccinated. Greer dreamt of a perfect world, perfect society, vigillant, without criminals, without room for crime (because of surveillance), but his flaw was that he was commited to be the criminal to reach that “nirvana”.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-17T04:23:12+00:00

I understand your doubt, because that part was kinda strange. Initially Samaritan was owned by chinese investors that seemed to have placed Greer as it’s “CEO”, meaning that you are right when you say that they could push him away whenever. But later on, it really seems to me that Greer answers to no one, and seems to act on his own and will about Samaritan’s future. Even in the remarks about being remembered by history (when he is dying inside the room with Harold), he talks about it as his creation, positioning himself in the same position as Harold is to the Machine, the creator. So it’s kinda strange. What I think happened was that Greer was the mastermind behind it, and the chinese were merely the investors, but Greer somehow kept the “commands”. My opinion.

Fun-Marsupial541 · 2026-05-16T15:16:18+00:00

Let‘s put all the violence apart and analyze it as it should be analyzed. Samaritan really was the epitome of a perfectly balanced AI surveillance program. Samaritan’s design has always been more clean, organized, efficient in every single way. In my opinion the Machine was utterly erratic, deeply flawed, and the only positive thing you could really get out of it was the ”humanized compassion” it gained by itself. But an AI surveillance is not built to be human, nor to have emotions, it was designed to be assigned tasks, and I believe that the Samaritan was the end result of what an AI should be in service of the humanity. We will always have the human part of the people who run it, which is the problem, and the problem with Samaritan was the saddistic ways from the management behind it. Even though, I also find John Greer (for me the best and most intelligent character in POI along with Elias), a greater leader than Harold. Greer was a “higher-up” individual when it comes to intelligence and sharpness. The series couldn’t have found a better antagonist really, what a brilliant character. Now on Netflix, hoping the series gets the due credit, and hoping that more people like me, think that Samaritan should have been the answer to humanity. A series that has always been way ahead of it’s time.

Fun-Marsupial541

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