Poll: The heretic Geth, what did you do?

[Panorama]

i wouldn't want someone to rewrite my opinions and thoughts, therefore i thought i wouldn't do it to the geth then.

 

[AntiChri5]

It can't really be considered brainwashing with machines, though. They're sentient, sure, but they aren't a true intelligence.

They're religious. Only one species on planet Earth is religious, and its also the only species considered to have "true intelligence".

...You do have a point here, right? I can't really see it.

Rewriting synthetics isn't really the same thing as brainwashing organics. With an organic being, that'd take extended periods of time's worth of mental conditioning. With a synthetic being it's pretty much just a data replacement.

So? Its still the same event, the time it takes is an aesthetic point, not a moral one. It doesn't matter if you murder an innocent, defenseless civilian by a quick, painless gunshot to the head, or draw it out sadistically - its still murder.

I can't really see it as murder with a machine. The Geth don't feel, their programming comes up with logical conclusions based on facts they know and creates their reasoning. They don't have emotion. They're aren't human or even an animal. They're a hunk of metal and software. Digital. It's really not quite the same event. Especially because machines could be reverted in an instant. It's a quick and painless data dump to them. Brainwashing, for all we know, could have serious negative effects on somebody's mental capabilities.

I respected them enough to let them die with their beliefs intact.

This. Even if they are "just" an AI, they still are sentient beings. As far as I remember (correct me if I'm wrong) the heretics chose to worship the reapers and chose to see them as gods, never did the reapers indoctrinate them. Therefor brainwashing them would just be wrong imo. I believe they'd rather go out fighting then subtly being changed to like Shepard.

They chose to worship the Reapers and see them as gods because of a virus. Should the virus not have been used on them, they wouldn't have worshipped the Reapers in the first place. I'm not so sure that it was their choice to begin with. Unless they were simply offered the virus and they accepted it; that I don't know.

Actually, the Geth do feel, they have emotions. Legion alone shows emotional attachment, curiosity, shame, pain at being betrayed, guilt and anger. Thats just off the top of my head. The Geth as a collective show illogical behaviour, fear and despair, curiosity, concern for others. Hell, do you remember how their war with the quarians started? A Geth wanted to know if it had a soul. An interest in that kind of metaphysical nonsense shows a definite seperation from cold, programmed purely logical computers.

The heretics didn't join the reapers because of a virus. Sovereign simply asked all Geth, and the Heretics were those who felt the Geth should be worshipped. The virus comes up later, the heretics want to use it on the other geth to get them to convert.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I respected them enough to let them die with their beliefs intact.

Pretty much the same here.

 

[votemarvel]

I destroyed the Heretics.

They made the choice to follow the Reapers and so they had to pay the price for it.

 

[Mikeyfell]

There's really only one choice,
Do you rewrite them, destroying their individuality and basically indoctrinating them, not only breaking their minds but traumatizing all the other Geth. Leaving the risk of them eventually coming to the same conclusion and turning all the Geth against you.

Or

Do you kill them, offering defeat and closure against the biggest threat in ME 1 and protecting the good Geth once and for all against the threat of hostile reprogramming.

So yeah, blow 'em up.
Frankly I'm ashamed for Legion not being able to come to that conclusion all on his own.

Or at least that's what I would say if it had made one lick of difference in Mass Effect 3
Rewrite or destroy, just so long as you make peace you get the same amount of EMS

 

[Zhukov]

I would rather have my beliefs forcefully re-written than be killed.

Freedom of thought or whatever does precisely jack shit for you if you're dead.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Re-write.

I took the Heretic Geth to be indoctrinated forces, so re-writing them was simply curing them of indoctrination. It would be nice if that had been possible for organic individuals too, but save a few very specific cases organic life isn't that simple in the ME verse...

 

[AntiChri5]

I would rather have my beliefs forcefully re-written than be killed.

Freedom of thought or whatever does precisely jack shit for you if you're dead.

Death is an inevitability. By choosing a side in a war and volunteering to be soldiers, the Heretic Geth have accepted it as an immediate possible risk. They think their cause is worth their existence.

Intellectual rape and eternal slavery are not inevitable. The Heretic Geth did not expect it or imagine it could be used on them, they did not volunteer to fight it or decide that it is worth risking for their cause.

They did, however, attempt to use it on the other side, so they can hardly claim innocence.