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vaznettiThere has been a good deal of interesting discussion of the human vs. cylon issues raised in BSG, and most recently in 1x08, Flesh and Bone. I found this post and the comments to it particularly thought-provoking. It takes me a while to figure out what I think about complicated issues like this, but here are some thoughts.
In "Flesh and Bone" Kara Thrace tortures a Cylon. She calls him a "toaster," a simulacrum of a person, and dares him to prove his humanity to her. By the end of the episode, she seems less certain that he's a soulless, mechanical creature: she prays to her gods to grant him rest and seems distressed that Roslin breaks the promise she gave him. There's been a certain amount of talk about the morality of torture and the dehumanization of the enemy in wartime already, so I'm going to approach this from a slightly different direction.
In this episode and elsewhere, the show is posing the question, "what is the difference between Cylons and humans?" and the answer "not much" has not yet been ruled out. What are the implications of seeing cylons as rational, moral beings? Well, let's think about toasters. If my toaster burns my toast every morning, I might complain about it, but if I hold the toaster morally responsible, I'm an idiot. It may be that the toaster is badly made (by humans) or badly designed (by humans) or bandly used (by me). Maybe it's a piece of crap, or maybe I just didn't turn the setting down; either way, the toaster is not at fault. Now let's give the toaster rationality and morality: it burns my toast for a reason. Maybe it hates making toast. Maybe it hates me. Maybe it's trying to communicate via charred bread. For whatever reason, it's made a moral decision to burn my toast every morning. Now, if I electrocute myself on the first toaster and die, it's an accident. If I'm electrocuted by the second toaster, it might be murder.
Because here's the thing: if the cylons are rational, moral beings, then they are capable of bearing responsibility for wiping out twelve planets (or systems?) worth of human beings. Terms like "evil" become appropriate. The 33-minute jumps from the season opener can be seen as a rather refined piece of torture against the only humans remaining. The point is that if the cylons are not significantly different from humans, then they have chosen to do evil rather than good and can be held responsible for that choice. This may be why Kara Thrace is willing to torture Leoben (he's near enough to a human, and can be held to have some kind of moral responsibility for the deaths of all her relatives--and if her mother died in the cylon attack, then his speech on that issue to her is particularly vicious), but pets the cylon ship and calls it "her" (it's a machine, and thus can't be held to bear responsibility for what it's done). The cylons we've seen so far appear to like to play with humans, and that play can include causing them mental and physical pain; in this sense, the cylon in 1x08 is typical of the rest of his kind.
So what am I saying? I guess I'm saying that the position "if cylons are rational and moral creatures, then Starbuck's decision to torture one for information is wrong" is only half the story. It also means "the cylons are rational and moral creatures, and their decision to wipe out all the humans in the universe is also wrong." And what exactly are the implications of that decision? What are the limits of cylon responsibility, and what are the appropriate human responses to it? I'm still working my way through these questions.
Questions? Comments? Stories about evil toasters of doom?
(Oh, and I'm ignorant of everything after 1x08; if possible, please refrain from detailed comments about later episodes.)
In "Flesh and Bone" Kara Thrace tortures a Cylon. She calls him a "toaster," a simulacrum of a person, and dares him to prove his humanity to her. By the end of the episode, she seems less certain that he's a soulless, mechanical creature: she prays to her gods to grant him rest and seems distressed that Roslin breaks the promise she gave him. There's been a certain amount of talk about the morality of torture and the dehumanization of the enemy in wartime already, so I'm going to approach this from a slightly different direction.
In this episode and elsewhere, the show is posing the question, "what is the difference between Cylons and humans?" and the answer "not much" has not yet been ruled out. What are the implications of seeing cylons as rational, moral beings? Well, let's think about toasters. If my toaster burns my toast every morning, I might complain about it, but if I hold the toaster morally responsible, I'm an idiot. It may be that the toaster is badly made (by humans) or badly designed (by humans) or bandly used (by me). Maybe it's a piece of crap, or maybe I just didn't turn the setting down; either way, the toaster is not at fault. Now let's give the toaster rationality and morality: it burns my toast for a reason. Maybe it hates making toast. Maybe it hates me. Maybe it's trying to communicate via charred bread. For whatever reason, it's made a moral decision to burn my toast every morning. Now, if I electrocute myself on the first toaster and die, it's an accident. If I'm electrocuted by the second toaster, it might be murder.
Because here's the thing: if the cylons are rational, moral beings, then they are capable of bearing responsibility for wiping out twelve planets (or systems?) worth of human beings. Terms like "evil" become appropriate. The 33-minute jumps from the season opener can be seen as a rather refined piece of torture against the only humans remaining. The point is that if the cylons are not significantly different from humans, then they have chosen to do evil rather than good and can be held responsible for that choice. This may be why Kara Thrace is willing to torture Leoben (he's near enough to a human, and can be held to have some kind of moral responsibility for the deaths of all her relatives--and if her mother died in the cylon attack, then his speech on that issue to her is particularly vicious), but pets the cylon ship and calls it "her" (it's a machine, and thus can't be held to bear responsibility for what it's done). The cylons we've seen so far appear to like to play with humans, and that play can include causing them mental and physical pain; in this sense, the cylon in 1x08 is typical of the rest of his kind.
So what am I saying? I guess I'm saying that the position "if cylons are rational and moral creatures, then Starbuck's decision to torture one for information is wrong" is only half the story. It also means "the cylons are rational and moral creatures, and their decision to wipe out all the humans in the universe is also wrong." And what exactly are the implications of that decision? What are the limits of cylon responsibility, and what are the appropriate human responses to it? I'm still working my way through these questions.
Questions? Comments? Stories about evil toasters of doom?
(Oh, and I'm ignorant of everything after 1x08; if possible, please refrain from detailed comments about later episodes.)
