140: Mass Effect Saves Humanity - for What?

[Ray Huling]

Mass Effect Saves Humanity - for What?

"It was Earthrise over the moon. Blue, green and white, clear against the spill of the Milky Way. Breathtaking. Seeing the Earth from the moon in Mass Effect felt like hearing an American accent when someone speaks to me in a foreign language. I felt alien, mistaken for a foreigner. That's what terrified me: For a moment, I enjoyed not being myself."

Read Full Article

 

[Chilango2]

To a certain extent, it's ironic that Mass Effect, by trying and succeeding so well at being a product of pulp sci-fi from yars of yore, managed as a consequence to leave the core thing that makes something sci-fi: A new place, a new idea, a new experience. Sci-fi is fundamentally about the unknown, or the unknowable, or the eternal mysteries (what is man? what is the purpose of life?) that are at least somewhat revealed when you throw humans into weird places.

Instead, it seems, the game turned into into a time capsule of thoughts about the future from a few decades ago.

 

[TheWickerPopstar]

I really enjoyed the inclusion of Heidegger's response to the photo of the Earth, and I think that Mr. Huling, as well as the rest of the science fiction community, is right for criticizing it. If Heidegger is finding terror and alienation from the though of viewing the planet as an outsider, then he is neglecting to fully analyze this emotion completely. For if he did, then he would have realized that feeling estranged from Earth actually shows how human we are, and how human we will remain, as opposed to foreshadowing our departure from its meaning to humanity.

Sorry; I haven't played Mass Effect. But I really enjoyed the sci-fi commentary.

 

[sammyfreak]

I agree with j-e-f-f-e-r-s, it was hard to get what you are going att and neither do i agree with the points you seem to be making.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Also, Dr. Liara T'Soni is not your only possible love interest. If you are female, you can also romance Kaiden Alenko. If you are male, you can romance Ashley (not saying her last name due to being the same as Bruce Campbell's in TED).

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I really don't understand what you were trying to say with this article? Was it that we're losing our humanity, or that Bioware's characterisation was sloppy, or that the youth of today are going to free us as a species?

Firstly- how does voyaging into Outer Space lose us our humanity?

The idea goes something along the lines of: by realizing that you're a single member of a species that lives on a single planet in a galaxy consisting of billions of other planets that are countless trillions of years old, you are forced to confront the rather disturbing fact that you're fairly irrelevant. By traveling into outer space and becoming aware of this fact, that your existence is mathematically meaningless, you lose the very thing that makes you human. Purpose, goals, livelihood.

I'm not trying to be a buzz kill, but that's how it was explained to me. I would've quoted Stapledon but I'm a junkie for his stuff.

Never played Mass Effect, can't be sure about the rest, but it looked like his point was the ways in which Mass Effect proposes to overcome this problem with space travel.

 

[ccesarano]

I think the point was more that Liara was supposed to be the easier chick to romance, though neither of them are really all that tough. However, when discussing Liara, they did seem to completely ignore the existence of Ashley, who was a counter to Liara's personality. Liara was the intelligent girl that is often shy and not always full of confidence, where as Ashley is the proud and strong female who is not afraid to speak her mind.

I think what should be noted about Mass Effect is that it really does do aliens well. Not every Asari acts the same. The Krogan on your team also does not act the same as the rest of his race, an ultimate goal of trying to unite his people instead of just accept defeat. Even some of the aliens that play minor roles all show different personalities. I forget their names, but the short guys with the masks are a great example. One will condemn you and your race because they are not yet members of the council, while another looks at you becoming the first human Spectre as hope that his race could also be accepted into the council one day. Being someone that has grown up with sci-fi and lots of bad D&D players, I'm used to non-human races all acting and believing the same, and any who doesn't is an outcast. This is a completely extreme and non-realistic idea, and I'm glad in what Bioware has done.

Also, as for the Asari, I think he is also looking at their race incorrectly. One of the things you keep hearing is that people assume that Asari are sex-craved sluts because of their personality. I've known plenty of people that make this same assumption about bisexual girls, and while I've also met plenty of bisexual girls that have proven this idea to be true, I've met some conservative ones that have completely taken me back. When you get right down to it, while there are plenty of people that believe there is no such thing as a "slut" anymore due to how openly promiscuous EVERYONE is at a young age, there are also a lot of false ideas about sexuality. If a girl likes to dress in a shirt with a low cut v-neck, it does not always mean she wants someone to walk up and grab her chest. It could easily mean "it's hot out today and I just need to wear something cool", or it could even mean "I just want to feel attractive today, so I'm going to show off my assets".

Again, talked to plenty of people where this is the case. It is possible to be a sexually conservative girl in this day and age and still show your boobs off, but a lot of people don't seem to really make that connection.

There's more I can say on the article, but I've rambled enough already.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Also, Dr. Liara T'Soni is not your only possible love interest. If you are female, you can also romance Kaiden Alenko. If you are male, you can romance Ashley (not saying her last name due to being the same as Bruce Campbell's in TED).

Also, these characters are exactly the opposite to the gender roles the author complains about. Ashley is the tough action girl and Kaiden is the shy wallflower type.

 

[Xaositect]

The idea goes something along the lines of: by realizing that you're a single member of a species that lives on a single planet in a galaxy consisting of billions of other planets that are countless trillions of years old, you are forced to confront the rather disturbing fact that you're fairly irrelevant. By traveling into outer space and becoming aware of this fact, that your existence is mathematically meaningless, you lose the very thing that makes you human. Purpose, goals, livelihood.

People have already come to that conclusion without the need of space travel. Simply looking into the night sky proves that were all specks of bacteria on a floating rock, and when we die, nothing changes. Even those that live on and remember will eventually die, so the memory of you after death will eventually fade away. It doesnt take a shot of the earth from space, or to voyage where no one has gone before to figure that out. I agree with jeffers, how would we lose our humanity by leaving earth? If it isnt accomplished by some instinctive desire to settle new "lands", surely it will eventually become a necessity. That is, if we actually live long enough as a species to be threatened by anything that needs a total "moving house" answer to it.

I actually struggled to decide whether the article was pro Mass Effect, or con. I really enjoyed Mass Effect, and despite the notion that its not the most world shattering creation ever, I never forgot this was a video game. That it still had to provide an action packed adventure for the gamer to enjoy, instead of focusing on being the most unique sci-fi story ever told. And that while the sex scene might not have been the most artistic work on sexuality ever, were still talking video games, where its main claims to sexual content are Hot Coffee, and God of War sex mini games. The Mass Effect sex scene felt no different than something pulled out of a movie, which I think is a step in the right direction for video games. Like it was said, these things have been done before in the past. But were they by video games?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

The idea goes something along the lines of: by realizing that you're a single member of a species that lives on a single planet in a galaxy consisting of billions of other planets that are countless trillions of years old, you are forced to confront the rather disturbing fact that you're fairly irrelevant. By traveling into outer space and becoming aware of this fact, that your existence is mathematically meaningless, you lose the very thing that makes you human. Purpose, goals, livelihood.

People have already come to that conclusion without the need of space travel. Simply looking into the night sky proves that were all specks of bacteria on a floating rock, and when we die, nothing changes. Even those that live on and remember will eventually die, so the memory of you after death will eventually fade away. It doesnt take a shot of the earth from space, or to voyage where no one has gone before to figure that out. I agree with jeffers, how would we lose our humanity by leaving earth? If it isnt accomplished by some instinctive desire to settle new "lands", surely it will eventually become a necessity. That is, if we actually live long enough as a species to be threatened by anything that needs a total "moving house" answer to it.

True, but it's very easy to forget those facts in the day-to-day grind of life and not be extremely depressed by them. Sitting in the ship (particularly in a realistic multiple year voyage) and not being grounded on the planet would result in a massive psychological disconnect. Even NASA is scratching their heads at how to keep the astronauts on a Mars voyage from going bonkers once they lose sight of Earth.

I'm not saying space travel is impossible or that we shouldn't do it. But yeah, I'd say traveling in space causes people to experience severe emotional trauma at the loss of their humanity. Looking at a picture of Earth from the Moon kinda encapsulates that emotion of being meaningless.

 

[Xaositect]

True, but it's very easy to forget those facts in the day-to-day grind of life and not be extremely depressed by them. Sitting in the ship (particularly in a realistic multiple year voyage) and not being grounded on the planet would result in a massive psychological disconnect. Even NASA is scratching their heads at how to keep the astronauts on a Mars voyage from going bonkers once they lose sight of Earth.

I'm not saying space travel is impossible or that we shouldn't do it. But yeah, I'd say traveling in space causes people to experience severe emotional trauma at the loss of their humanity. Looking at a picture of Earth from the Moon kinda encapsulates that emotion of being meaningless.

Thats a good point, but you dont suppose the dangers of space have anything else to do with the psychological impact of it all do you? That they would be travelling in something that if any complications arise means they are dead. That being surrounded by a lifeless vacuum grates on your sanity more than the thought of being away from earth, and apparently your own humanity does?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Thats a good point, but you dont suppose the dangers of space have anything else to do with the psychological impact of it all do you? That they would be travelling in something that if any complications arise means they are dead. That being surrounded by a lifeless vacuum grates on your sanity more than the thought of being away from earth, and apparently your own humanity does?

Hell, you couldn't get me on board anything smaller than a Death Star. And even THAT isn't full proof.

 

[St Puglo]

I'm still a little unclear what we're talking about when we say "humanity." From a biological perspective, as long as we can still mate with each other and produce fertile offspring, our humanity remains intact. Are we talking about sanity? compassion? language? religion?

I view our humanity as our ability to adapt to our changing environment, be that technological or biological. Evolution of life changed our planet dramatically, and as the planet changed, life evolved to change with it. When space travel becomes available to us, I see no reason we cannot adapt and change along with it.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

As Xoasiect already pointed out, you don't need to travel to outer space to feel insignificant. Looking up at the sky at night, living in a mega-metropolis like New York, etc, can all produce the same feeling of being ant-like.

As for the planet-psychological-disconnection thing. When Colombus and the like were voyaging around the world, lots of crew members got cabin fever after being stuck on a ship for weeks without seeing land. Did they automatically lose their humanity when they caught the fever? Heck no.

This 'loss of humanity' that Heidegger talks about seems to me to just be a form of 'Cabin Fever in space'. It's not the fact that the astronaughts are away from Mother Earth that sends them bonkers, it's the fact that they're stuck in a tincan with not a lot to do. Plonk them down on a far-away planet with stuff to do ('Bases to build, terrain to study, and so on') and I believe you'd find they're as human as you or me.

Yeah, but you were asking why a Nazi philosopher in 1966 found a photo of the moon depressing enough that he felt like he'd lost his humanity and that space travel did the same. That's why. Sure, there are tons of other things on Earth that can also make you feel like you've lost your humanity. Being a Nazi comes to mind as an example.

I just dunno if I can believe people could sit in a rocket ship for potentially decades, land on a planet, and just start merrily performing science like it meant anything after that. How would the extremely disturbing notion of, "What's the point of all this?" not pop into their heads at least once?

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I don't have any trouble understanding why a (former?) Nazi would feel that pictures refuting his "mastery" would threaten his concept of humanity. Indeed, I tend to wonder how Heidegger would react upon reading Lovecraft...

The issue comes down to how you define humanity. If you define humanity by pointing to some "chosen place in the cosmos" ideal, then discovering that the bulk of the cosmos can't possibly perceive humanity is going to make you lose that ideal, and therefor lose that concept of humanity. That does not equate to losing one's humanity, only that the concept must either bend to or break from the force of The Awful Truth.

Me? I have hope that humanity will bend instead of breaking and leave our cradle of believing we're the centre of the universe. It's probably unjustified, but it's more productive than denial or nihilism.

-- Steve

 

[Xaositect]

Me? I have hope that humanity will bend instead of breaking and leave our cradle of believing we're the centre of the universe. It's probably unjustified, but it's more productive than denial or nihilism.

-- Steve

Unless Nihilism turns out to be correct, and its not more productive, just more noisy and active, but no less futile.

 

[MrHappy255]

Honestly what really saddens me aside from the fact that we haven't yet left the nest (thanks cold war and death of JFK thanks) What bothers me is that we still in most media have to imagine aliens as bipedal and similar to us, look out there how many different "things" do you think are out there. Do you really think we would be able to mate with them let alone communicate with them, cmon that is daydreaming and is almost the same as believing that we are alone amongst all this debris wandering through space.

 

[ccesarano]

[I just dunno if I can believe people could sit in a rocket ship for potentially decades, land on a planet, and just start merrily performing science like it meant anything after that. How would the extremely disturbing notion of, "What's the point of all this?" not pop into their heads at least once?

This is actually a good point, and one often looked over since faster than light travel is pretty much constant in most sci-fi. Consider what lives these people are leaving behind? You talk about "living your job" when someone basically works more than the standard 40 hour week voluntarily, but this means you are spending decades of your life on a ship, doing the same day to day tasks, nothing new, no variation, no...well, no exploration. After all, people explore new hobbies and activities all the time, and when you're stuck on a ship, there's really not much to be exploring.

There's also the matter of friends and family. Let's say you leave when your kid is seven. Hell, you may never see them again, as a trip to a planet and then back could take more than a lifetime. Even if you get cryostasis to keep the pilots from aging, you come back home and all of a sudden your kid is 67, or even dead.

I certainly want to start terraforming a planet like Venus (incredibly possible and easier than it would be to terraform Mars), and it has the convenience of being pretty close, but the steps required to be taken to reach the Star Trek or Mass Effect point, IF we ever do, is at the cost of people's personal lives, which could be considered their humanity as their purpose is nothing more than that of the machines they are piloting.