Well, one thing the opening musing could imply is that there is something maintaining the status quo as previously even major disturbances sorted themselves out eventually.

Of course even a meteor impact is limited compared to the kind of bullshit we've been up to. Though again even that would most likely eventually sort itself out if you talk about geological time frames.

And bloody hell I even studied physics and I didn't think of the correct solution to the barrel puzzle, though obvious in hindsight.

Well... yes, Ai-chan is a very good possibility.

So, there is an automated defense perimeter around the Japan habitat. Interesting, Oikawa is asking a good first question about the purpose of the defense perimeter.

My guess now is a sort of rise of the AI issue occurred in the past and was forgotten about by the people living in the habitat. It is possible that if an AI is running the habitat , that it has purposely infantalized the humans under its protection to make them easier to manage.