Clever Silo Theory Easily Explains Why People Clean, And It Makes So Much Sense
The answer to one of the show's most intriguing questions turned out to be surprisingly simple.
Silo is a dystopian show about people who live in a huge bunker. They don't know who built the bunker, how mankind got there, or what happened in the past. But everyone is convinced that poisonous air and immediate death await them on the surface.
Right at the exit of the bunker is a camera that broadcasts the situation outside around the clock to screens on each of the 144 floors of the shelter. These screens show only a scorched wasteland.
In case anyone explicitly requests to leave the Silo, their request is always granted, even if one changes their mind. Formally, these people are not only sent outside, but also asked to wipe the dusty camera lens.
Although this is a voluntary procedure, no one has ever refused to clean. On average, a person drops dead after three minutes outside the bunker. Why this happens is unknown.
According to official records, an attempted revolution took place in the bunker 140 years ago. The rebellion was crushed, but the rebels managed to destroy all available archives. Almost all of the knowledge accumulated by humanity over the years of its existence was lost.
One of the biggest questions fans have had since the beginning of the series is why people clean the cameras. And it seems that one Reddit user has come up with an answer that fits perfectly into the realities of the Silo universe.
According to the theory, everything is simple – all the people in the bunker have ever seen from the screens is scorched earth, and the people who go outside and see greenery think that the reason the people in the bunker can't see all that is because the lens is too dirty, so they try to clean it.
This theory seemed logical to other fans and was even developed by other commenters. Reddit user HenryBerlin10787 suggested:
“They have 2 minutes to process / feel the unexpected highly emotional moment combined with the natural drive to let people know how “the truth” / “the overwhelming beauty” what ever they feel.”
Fans have also suggested that the bunker dwellers may not fully understand how the cameras work, as they simply have no way of learning about them, and so their first thought is to clean the lens.
Source: Reddit