Questionable ethics - Living Memory

[Galvuu]

Omicrons were never able to completely Ship of Theseus their souls away. It was a tiny tiny fraction that was left rattling somewhere deep inside their consciousness, but that was what responded when they were confronted by Meteion and it is something that Omega on its dying moments also grasped deep within itself.

This is not really related to the Endless at all, but I don't think this can fully explain Omega.
We know Omega was something they created much later, after the Omicrons became machine-like, after many prototypes- not a being of flesh that was turned into a robot, but a completely new mechanical being created to evolve and deal a decisive blow against the dragons during their war with the dragonstar, if the Stigma Dreamscape lore is to be believed.
Omega just somehow, during its travels and battles (or maybe because of it?) gained some semblance of a soul. Might have to do with the fact it needed to analyze life or simulate it- it's never made clear.
It'd actually be interesting to know what happened to Omega. And, I guess, to Alpha, which wasn't a fully physical entity either (originally couldn't exist outside of the Interdimensional Rift).
Not really helpful to the discussion people are having here, but interesting to consider in the grand scheme of things.

[Ayche]

This is not really related to the Endless at all, but I don't think this can fully explain Omega.
Not really helpful to the discussion people are having here, but interesting to consider in the grand scheme of things.

Here is how I would tie it to the Endless. And this is going to be a wild throw, because I don't think the answer lies in either EE books or the game itself.

How do souls know what is life?
A robot is a metallic automaton powered by semiconductors, but we can also reduce people into flesh automatons powered by neurotransmitters. I think the souls knew even through all the technological augmentations that the omicrons were still ... people. I believe this because to me it explains the eventually development we saw in the omicron of the ultima thule. Omega was given a body that was capable of reaching such heights of free will, that it rediscovered that irrational messiness of being a person instead of a mere program.

And I think it is obvious that the Endless are not considered legitimate lifeforms in the same process. It is not merely that they are artificial, I would say that the Ea and Omicrons too are on some level "artificial". Losing your body is not enough to lose your soul, but death is. And this is why the souls are forced to fuel the Endless, and why it needs souls: it is the soul that gives them such life-like quality. But memories are not life, memories can never change. They are a thing of the past.

This is my speculation based on how I see this all pan out.