it comes right after he sticks his head in that thing and his brain changes .... so i think it sybbolizes some kind of knowledge that he created .. but then it kills the little man .. and i think that sybolizes that his new KNOWLEDGE killed a part of him ..... just guessing though ..
I always figured it was like a growing cancer of some sort. One that slowly kills the little one, and simultaneously shows our friend Moby, the way to his enlightenment..... like Psychadelics perhaps??
__________________ I am in love with America's free-dumb of speech which allows me to suffer in silence, no words, just violence..... for mass-entertainment's sake...