Whilst the geth may have driven the quarians off their homeworld, they argue that they did so out of self-defence. The quarians became afraid of their servants when their neural network became complex enough to achieve sentience, resulting in the occurrence of philosophical questions. Were the quarians right to assume the worst and attempt to destroy their creations, or did they react hastily and complete a self-fulfilling prophecy? Can we condone the geth's aggressive response to the quarian attempts to shut them down? Obviously the will to survive justifies retaliation, but the geth were arguably close to genocidal in their response. We cannot say that the geth were motivated by hatred or ignorance - as the quarians arguably were - since the geth do not experience such emotional impediments and may simply have sought to preserve their race using what they determined to be necessary force.
Then there is the issue of usefulness in the coming battles against the Reaper fleets. Galactic stability must be the priority in the long term, as the Reapers will make short work of a galaxy filled with species whose alliances have been shattered by petty infighting and whose military forces are overextended in attempts to deal with multiple unstable elements to the equation. On the other hand, the Citadel races could barely defeat one Reaper, and even that victory seemed to be the result of good fortune - a timely overload following Saren's death. We must consider that both the quarian migrant fleet and the geth would be potentially invaluable components in the war machine against the Reaper invasion.
The geth could be as much of a liability as the rachni or the krogan, if one selected to preserve the rachni queen or the genophage cure, respectively. Any one of these three races would make for incredibly powerful allies, but are far from concerned with the survival of other races. The geth are a sentient race and suffice it to say that they have a lot to offer organic civilizations, if peaceful relations could be established. Whilst the geth are unwilling to share technology, they would make for a vastly powerful ally in the fight against the Reapers and whatever comes next, and while one might argue that their killing billions of quarians cannot be justified, one must remember that it was a war. They could also offer us more objective insights into some of the pettier political problems Shepard is always impeded by, as well as presenting the council with an example of what a collective race can achieve when infighting is minimal.
I speak as though the geth have yet to damage galactic stability and prove that they are nothing but a threat because it was revealed that the "orthodox" or "true" geth were not responsible for the attacks on the Citadel, as it was actually the "heretic" geth, who aligned themselves with Sovereign and Saren in an attempt to achieve their goal of creating megastructure to house all geth software programs by using a Reaper - a seemingly obvious trap, but one by which the heretic geth were apparently unperturbed. The heretics were the threat, and Legion clearly demonstrates that the orthodox geth, while unwilling to share technology, are not opposed to co-operation when needs are aligned. This is a sign that peace should be possible, provided that the council races are prepared to accept the geth as an ally - and I can see that taking more than just an intimidate response.
It is also worth noting that the orthodox geth also seem to have developed an ethical stance on technological advancement, despite their apparent unfamiliarity with emotions: the geth believe that the ends do not necessarily justify the means - rather that the geth must not allow themselves to be seduced by the quick, easy paths that may be presented to them, and must instead opt for using their own methods, with limited exposure to other races [the presumably eradicated "heretic" geth were consequentialist, however, and sought to expedite the achievement of their ultimate goal by submitting entirely to the will of the Reapers].
The way in which the orthodox geth have reached the conclusion that the ends do not always justify the means is not entirely alarming, just keep in mind that they will not have arrived at the conclusion through emotion. They do not see any value in the journey, rather they recognise that if the journey is undertaken improperly, one may arrive at the destination at a disadvantage.
For instance, say you have been attempting to construct a vehicle to travel over a mountain. You then see another group of people who have already finished such a creation. You may either request a lift or continue in your own efforts. The former option is the consequentialist one - it is the most efficient solution, as you will arrive at your destination far sooner than if you remain behind to build your own device, which may take a long time to perfect; the latter option is the orthodox geth's position, and it makes sense objectively when one considers that if you use the technology of another, you will have learned nothing yourself and you will become relying on the technology of others, leaving you no room to expand your own abilities and no opportunities to see something they might have missed.
It is essentially a matter of efficiency versus efficacy, both of which would be relevant considerations to a mechanical mind, but is the orthodox philosophy viable? Their technology speaks for itself, but how much of it came from Sovereign or Reaper technology? Have the geth truly worked from their own first principles the entire time? And who is to say that the journey matters at all? Were it not for the Reapers' ominous talk of organic civilizations "developing along the paths [they] desire" I doubt very much that any players would think twice about the Collector station decision - there would be no reason to destroy it, save the Illusive Man's potentially xenophobic intentions, but he cannot be that stupid - he maintains that his primary concern is the Reaper threat, and he must realise that empowering the other races will be important too.
Returning to the quarians, we have a problem - the reclamation war. If the quarians attempt to retake their homeworld, one of two things will happen: either they will have the necessary weapons to destroy the geth [possibly using the data you may have given Tali in ME1 or the research you found aboard the Alarei] and will wipe out/drive back a race of machines with highly advanced, potentially game changing technology, or the quarians will be wiped out in a matter of minutes, resulting in the destruction of the largest fleet in the galaxy and another potential game-changing element against the Reapers.
Basically, I wish to discuss the ethical issues as to who was in the right, the quarians for pre-emptively attacking the geth, or the geth for responding with all necessary force to an arguably baseless attempt at genocide against the neural network; I also want to initiate discussion on the subject of who would be more useful as an ally, and on the subject of potential ME1 and ME2 factors that may enable or prevent Shepard from defusing the impending war between the creator and the created.
I would also seek to tie the discussion of the validity of the orthodox geth philosophy into the argument regarding the Collector station - if the geth model of advancement can be applied to organic, we shouldn't keep the station, as doing so would render our technology entirely predictable to the Reapers. The geth have clearly made great strides in their technology and seemingly without the assimilation of existing technologies; however, if organics ultimately lack the geth's objectivity and ability to work collectively on advancement, and the overall cohesion and the clarity of judgement afforded to the geth by their networked software programs, then humanity must seize the opportunity presented by the Collector station. Are the geth really that different to organic races, or are their ways only plausible to organics in principle?
Addendum: Shepard's resolution of the Overlord incident may also have an effect on future geth relations, or certainly on Cerberus's ability to manipulate them.
Modifié par Anglerfish, 06 octobre 2010 - 11:02 .
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