stysiaq wrote...
Alocormin wrote...
My thoughts are now elaborated in the above post. In more concise form than they were going to be originally.
Extinction is natural. Extinction and continuation of the Reaper legacy somehow doesn't seem to me to be natural. It defies nature. That is what Reapers do.
I believe that humanity is a biological thing. Being human is existential as well. I believe in my own existence and my existence is important to me. I do not believe I could continue to exist as a reaper, being a biologically evolved being. Nor would my culture continue to exist, or any manner of legacy that I had created. It would only be the Reaper legacy, to exploit and exterminate for the rest of time.
My thoughts:
Extinction is natural.
You can't deny it.
But Reapers extinction cycle is millions years old. Probably older (the derelict reaper is 37 million years old, we don't have info on older times).
So, what I'm trying to say, if something occurs every 50k years for several millions, or even billions of years, then... is that not natural? Are'nt we actually opposing the nature of the [mass effect] universe by resisting? Each moment I think about it, I tend to agree with humanity's fate (or simply this organic lifes generations fate) and their destruction. ('salvation through destruction')
Try to look for a moment at the bigger picture: the organic life, all the species in the universe and their homeworld as a single organism. The body is old and it is necessary to make room for the new, younger generation. We observe it in our lifes as well - older people pass away, new are born, the wheel keeps on turnin.
Why should we end that cycle? Why prevent other species from rising, discovering the Citadel, learning the space travel mechanisms? Should this generation of organic life be the final one?
Of course, single human mind can't accept it. We look at life from our, personal, single-minded viewpoint. We identify life with ours heartbeat, our families, our health. We can accept death more easily when we are terminally ill, or old, but it is impossible, when we are still young and crave for living. We don't 'feel' the feelings of the whole galactic organic civilization. We are individuals. It's sililar to what Legion tells you - you can't truly understand him, because there is no "him", the Legion "are".
And the galactic civilization is old and sick, and the time has come for it to end. The Reapers are the natural cause of death in the universe, and we cannot perceive it that way - for us death is again an individual experience, caused by age and diseases, by 'natural' or rather 'organic' causes. Humanity won't ever accept, that their fate is to die due to machines.
Reapers being (even partially) synthetic is another problem. I'm sure that if the Reapers were fully organic beings able to survive in outer (and dark) space, they would resemble all the human gods that are established in human culture. The death from their hands would seem more 'natural' just because they would look 'natural' to us.
With Reapers being partially synthetic,we cannot accept it. We don't see, that the nature of the universe is both organic and synthetic. They are the nature of this universe - we are just half natural. The geth are also half natural only.
We see the Reapers as synthetics only, and this is our biggest mistake, preventing us from truly understanding.
I think, that the Cycle is ME universes version of evolution, but on a bigger scale. Which makes us the best galactic civilization so far. But not the final one.
These are only my assumptions.
If there will be an option to surrender, I'll do it with one of my Sheps.
Ok. I don't see the Reapers as synthetics. To be clear there isn't anything wrong with defying nature; it's part of human existence as much as it is Reaper existence.
What's to say our evolution would be the last one if we killed the Reapers? Or defeated them, held them off, whatever.
If Synthetic isn't Synthetic, what does natural mean? Perhaps from a Reaper's perspective "synthetic" is only half the descriptor. They think they are literal gods. I'm not sure what you mean by "they're the nature of the universe," although I do think it's possible their rise to being may have been a natural consequence of ascending to a certain technological level, and some organic race would want to defy nature and become more and reaper-ify themselves.
Plenty of people think themselves gods as it is. There were ancient rulers who thought themselves gods, descended from gods, ordained by gods. A lot of people think existence is about being in power.
If we can defeat them, though, that's not any less natural than their continued existence. I mean, if their existence is so natural, what does it matter if we defeat them? We'll become them anyway eventually.
What's to say, if we can become "old and sick," as a galactic society (although we've just recently come into prominence), that Reapers can't become old and sick? Perhaps they are. The little cycle they have to keep the galaxy nice and tidy is certainly a little bit sick.
I think saying "you're just a machine... and machines can be broken" is a tad simplistic, but it's still true. I think our understanding is beneath them. I don't think there is any way for us to truly understand them. I hope that never changes. It would be like Lucas introducing Midichlorians to Star Wars.
Modifié par Alocormin, 15 août 2011 - 12:13 .
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