Obadiah wrote...
I have this theory about our society, and why more people don't pick Control. Really, its just based on the stuff I see in the popular media more than anything else. Anyway it goes like this:
- We have been programmed/taught to eschew power, so the people that have it or want it can keep it.
- Control offers the player the MOST power. To some (like me) it is a sort of last wish, to guide the society we've explored and tried to save. Not a wish that society can ignore. To others it is a transformation or transcendence into a powerful being which will dominate over all.
Also, this feeds into my theory on why people don't like the ending - because all options except Refuse force the player into a massive execution of power. Sure people argue about violations of consent, slippery moral slopes, potentials, atrocities, etc, but at base all of that comes from being given power, being afraid of it,and being judged for using it.
Really, power can be pretty scarey.
Uh, no. It's about reality. Shreaper is not Shepard-the game makes that clear. A paragon Shepard deferred to a kind of consensus logic and asked for that consensus regularly, but Shreaper says she knew she had to become something greater. Not in keeping with a paragon at all. The Many will be protected-first off, which Many? And then, using whose authority and by what means? So even if that was only Shepard that is the Catalyst now, this idea that even the most benevolent person has the wherewithall and the infinite will to always make the right decision and substitute her will for that of any consensus is ridiculous. This was never anything Shepard wanted nor was it ever anything Shepard believed should belong to one person, acting alone. It becomes even worse when it allows the entity that is no longer Shepard to have full control over infinite and final authority.
And there is every indication that this is not Shepard and is not Shepard acting alone. The other voices in there are not "kind and benevolent" ones. They are purposely rather malevolent and the music and voice over is given an ominous slant. Music is used for that. People say that music is used in the game to tell you when to be sad and all, and if so, it is certainly used to tell you this is a bad idea.
The thoughts and memories of Shepard are uploaded into a flawed design or system that allowed for a flawed AI's existence. Nothing wrong with that? It's like having an old IBM computer with a bad fan and inadequate hard drive and a bad processor and then trying to install Windows 8 on it. You are merely uploading data to the infrastructure in which the kid AI resides-his blue box. Nothing is said to indicate Shepard's feelings still exist. But so what if they do? There is no reason that even a well-meaning Shreaper that has all of Shepard's feelings could be expected to do what is best for the galaxy. A lot of bad things have already been done by a lot weaker mere organics that did not have reapers to enforce their decisions. It's like giving Mother Theresa a nuclear weapon to ensure that her ideas are implemented. She was a human being, a well-intentioned amazing human being who may never have meant to use such a weapon in a bad way, but still was flawed enough to possibly do so.
I've even read here where some of you (the OP for one) think Shreaper may decide to continue the cycles or that shear fear will keep people in line. Wow, that's great. So, that's a really good idea for doing this-force people to live in terror so they won't step out of line, won't break Shreaper's rules. Well, exactly how and when will Shreaper tell them what the rules are? And super happy time if even a well-meaning Shreaper could insanely come to the conclusion that the cycles serve anything but an asinine purpose.
Then, there was the lovely discussion of free will and the idea (once again the OP's idea in part) that it doesn't even exist. Great. Actually, it does. Sure there are rules and boundaries within which free will operates, but it's people that can assert it and expand its limits. It's such a wonderful idea to say that the council in this game or any authority has total control over free will, so why not give it to Shreaper (to one person uploaded into the reaper consortium). Freedom does have limits, so what? So, because there are already limits to what we all can do (no limits result in anarchy), that means it's best to let one ultimate, omnipotent authority take it all? Really reasonable to me.
In the reality that would be reaper controlled space, people would have no idea Shepard of any kind controls the reapers. The limits on what they can and cannot do would not be known, and they might be afraid to test them. It isn't about even one group starting a war with another (though that would be fun to see and then guess who Shreaper would help). It's about whether people would feel free to do anything at all, or if sheer terror would overwhelm any desire to do anything. The people of the galaxy have seen reapers turn their planets to burning hells. They have seen reapers turn people into reaper variants that then try to kill them-there' s a discussion of this in relation to the husks Cerberus made, where a soldier doesn't want to fight Cerberus because she might be called upon to kill her own huskerized brother. And the reapers have done this a million times over. They've scared the living daylights out of people, and now people would be expected to just accept them as the authority in the galaxy? Again, they would not know that Shepard (of any kind) controls these monsters. And by the OP's own admission it's likely the Shreaper and her minions would use fear to keep order. Hey, sounds like a lot of fun. Talk about soul killing.
Freedom and free will do exist, or we would not even be here and be able to disagree. Conflict would be avoided, but so would life. Life is messy or you're doing it wrong. It isn't about always agreeing or always doing the right thing. It's about learning by challenging your own beliefs and the way things have always been done. It's about learning from doing the wrong thing, or maybe learning that sometimes the wrong thing is the right thing. It's not about substituting your own will for that of others; it's about accepting that others do have autonomy and that it is mostly inviolate except when it threatens the autonomy and the life of another. I am free and I have free will.
The biggest bunch of nonsense that I've ever read on this subject has been in this thread (mainly from one person, and I fear it's because it comes from people who haven't experienced just what freedom is-it isn't total and it has some rules, internal and external. It requires responsibility and it requires some agreed upon laws. The laws don't always get things right, but laws can be changed. The infinite and ultimate omnipotent authority of one (even benevolent) person is not so easily changed. Along with it must come a change in the people that live under such authority. I believe Seival comes from a country where freedom isn't really an old and understood concept.
My country often gets it wrong, but freedom exists and has existed here. I am free to disagree with the authority here and to work to change it. I would not be free in a Shreaper controlled galaxy to do that. And if such a decision were mine to make-to control the galaxy and use fear in the form of giant monster machines that have torn apart people and installed their minds and their organic matter within them, I would not supplant their will with my own. No rational person within this galaxy ever wanted to try and control the reapers. If Shepard is exceptional, Shepard would know that. If Shepard ignores that, then Shepard is not exceptional and is flawed. If Shepard then assumes control, the galaxy is doomed.
My opinion, based heavily upon real life and what real people want, and the game. You are free to choose what you like of course. That's what freedom means-you can choose any wrong thing you want except when it infringes upon someone else.
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