After watching the episode again just now with a friend, there's some contextual inference I picked up on that might "better explain" the concept of the down votes in circumstances like this.
It's "possible" an arrest simply triggers a "window" in which you've got to stay under 10-million votes to avoid the lobotomy (this is actually directly stated and the reason for the publicity tour) but it it could be this window is separate from your usual tally and that once you're found "innocent"/forgiven your down votes are reset back to where they were before the event that triggered the sudden increase. (In John's case before the moment the video of him went viral and his votes started skyrocketing. Computer tracking could likely know where to put it just based on the when the surge began.)
Granted there's nothing in the episode that says this is the case but it's assumption and presumption on part given certain things, namely that he had to stay under 10-million during this window, but at the same time it'd seem him being a few numbers shy of 10 million didn't impact anything when the initial breach into 1-million triggered the arrest. This could be how it is in order to offer some manner of "fairness" to the system so that when someone gets so highly impacted by an act they're not entirely screwed out of a life. if the middle-aged woman can be denied service at just over 500,000 I suspect someone a few numbers shy of 10 million couldn't do anything and the "lawyer"'s interaction with John seems to imply that he'd be more-or-less fine if he gets out of the window under 10 million and he says he's "freed" people who'd reached John's point before his second TV appearance. So there mtust be some manner of reversing the votes or undoing them when an event elevates it to a criminal act.
I was also wondering about what advantages there are to getting positive votes, and wondered if it maybe didn't mean more financial success on some level or another. The girl from the cafe seems to have a very nice apartment given her job, maybe she has enough "up votes" that gets her a higher than average salary or a larger "livable wage." A sort of fucked-up form of socialism based on one's societal image.
When the "barista" chick sees Alara in the restroom I wonder if doesn't sort of suggest their society has no extreme body modification (probably would cause a lot of "down votes.") If you ran into someone on the street with odd-looking ears and forehead ridges your first thought would likely be the person has had some bizarre silicon implants or other body modification, not that the person was an alien.
It's "possible" an arrest simply triggers a "window" in which you've got to stay under 10-million votes to avoid the lobotomy (this is actually directly stated and the reason for the publicity tour) but it it could be this window is separate from your usual tally and that once you're found "innocent"/forgiven your down votes are reset back to where they were before the event that triggered the sudden increase. (In John's case before the moment the video of him went viral and his votes started skyrocketing. Computer tracking could likely know where to put it just based on the when the surge began.)
Granted there's nothing in the episode that says this is the case but it's assumption and presumption on part given certain things, namely that he had to stay under 10-million during this window, but at the same time it'd seem him being a few numbers shy of 10 million didn't impact anything when the initial breach into 1-million triggered the arrest. This could be how it is in order to offer some manner of "fairness" to the system so that when someone gets so highly impacted by an act they're not entirely screwed out of a life. if the middle-aged woman can be denied service at just over 500,000 I suspect someone a few numbers shy of 10 million couldn't do anything and the "lawyer"'s interaction with John seems to imply that he'd be more-or-less fine if he gets out of the window under 10 million and he says he's "freed" people who'd reached John's point before his second TV appearance. So there mtust be some manner of reversing the votes or undoing them when an event elevates it to a criminal act.
I was also wondering about what advantages there are to getting positive votes, and wondered if it maybe didn't mean more financial success on some level or another. The girl from the cafe seems to have a very nice apartment given her job, maybe she has enough "up votes" that gets her a higher than average salary or a larger "livable wage." A sort of fucked-up form of socialism based on one's societal image.
When the "barista" chick sees Alara in the restroom I wonder if doesn't sort of suggest their society has no extreme body modification (probably would cause a lot of "down votes.") If you ran into someone on the street with odd-looking ears and forehead ridges your first thought would likely be the person has had some bizarre silicon implants or other body modification, not that the person was an alien.
Can we get back to discussing Orville? I liked the brainstorming session where they were trying to present John as more likable, especially where they took Bortus's completely inappropriate idea and made it work! Now that was good comedy.
