Battlestar - Season 2 Finale (poss. spoilers in thread)

[heron]

loved it, some of the very best sci-fi on t.v. ever. i have a possibly very dumb question is richard hatchs caracter a cylon, it was after all his "suggestion" to Baltar that they stop running and take dean stockwell/cylons word that the war was over?

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by heron

loved it, some of the very best sci-fi on t.v. ever. i have a possibly very dumb question is richard hatchs caracter a cylon, it was after all his "suggestion" to Baltar that they stop running and take dean stockwell/cylons word that the war was over?

Anything is possible. But I'd rather that he doesn't turn out to be a Cylon, because I like the "human versus human" political struggle he and Laura Roslin have. If Tom Zarek (Hatch's character) turns out to be a Cylon, then that struggle wouldn't be "human versus human"--plus it would duplicate Laura's struggle with Baltar to some extent, insofar as Baltar is Cylon-haunted by Six.

[heron]

assuming laura is human, aaaaarrrgghh im seeing cylons everywhere.

[Brown Rat]

That's funny, Heron!

I think Laura's probably one of the humans. She's fulfilling a human role foretold in the prophecies, she had a human disease, and she was healed by Cylon blood. (If she was a Cylon, she would already have Cylon blood and not gotten sick--or at least, that's what I'm assuming. But as you point out, there are other human-seeming Cylons we haven't met yet, so all my assumptions could easily be bunk.)

[Frozeninja]

Battlestar Galactica is truly awesome in my opinion. The final episode surprised (and impressed) me a bit though, as it leaves me with absolutely no idea what direction the show is going to go in season 3. Anyone got any ideas?

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by Frozeninja

no idea what direction the show is going to go in season 3. Anyone got any ideas?

I'm guessing that season three will explore the question of what it means to "protect" humanity from itself versus what it means to repress humanity. Humans aren't doing well on the new planet: labor problems, a corrupt president, environmental difficulties (food, housing, disease--the planet isn't optimal for human life). The Cylons can help fix those problems, but they will also want to impose their own ideals on humanity; as we've seen, Cylons decry the baser instincts and flaws in the human character. So where will the fine line lie between protection and oppression? Who will collaborate with the Cylons? Who will resist? How many innocents will suffer in consequence of the resistance? I'm anticipating lots of gray areas and questions with no easy answers, just as we've seen in the series so far.

I'm also guessing we'll learn more about the baby (well, duh) and the Cylon-human breeding program.

[SteveR]

I'm also intrigued as to hot the 2 Battlestars and the 2 Adama's will fit in to the story (or not as the case may be).

[Milk]

I love the show. Its written as well as many of the science fiction novels I've read. Which for a movie would be amazing in and of itself, but for a TV series its even more amazing.


It fits a fairly common science fiction concept in so many books I've enjoyed... its a common idea.. very common... but a great concept anyhow. It raises a lot of interesting questions and for me, the idea never gets olds so I enjoy seeing different incarnations of it.

To put it simply the idea is.

Man builds AI in man's image
AI then rebuilds Man in it's image.


Replace robots with Androids, Computer AI or what have you its the same premise.

Its a great one though.
In regards to all the stories that have used this concept.

I'm not sure why robots/AI/andriods have to do the part 2.. that is to rebuild man in their image.. but its generally how things play out.

I like it anytime the idea of AI is used in a way more exciting then some cutesy robot that's only goal is to have human emotions, yet somehow finds out he has had them all along.. like the tin man in wizard of oz or Data in Star Trek, that horse is myopic and beaten to death.

Besides who is to say humans would hold the monopoly on emotion if another intelligence was found, maybe the AI would have all the emotional framework humans have plus other ones we dont even have words for, like a dog having a wider range of smell, or hearing.

AI is an exciting idea with a lot of room for questions. Its a rich one, I wish there were more stories that used it as well as BG uses it.

[j. d. worthington]

The problem with AI's having emotions is that emotional reactions are unstable and volatile. A machine, with a machine's strength and speed, coupled with such an unstable psychological makeup, can be a very frightening mix -- look what human beings have done with their emotional imbalances, then magnify those abilities a thousandfold.....

[Brown Rat]

And the Cylons don't just have emotion; they have religion.

[Milk]

But emotions arent a concrete thing they are conceptual, plus they tend to bleed into eachother like taste does on a tongue. This may be an antiquated concept of how taste on a palate works but i'll use the old quartered tongue model dividing salty,sweet,bitter and sour on different parts of the tongue... (and well now taste scientists are considering that there is actually a 5th taste receptor for fat/oily. )

With only those 4(5) basic tastes there are all kinds of blending to produce very sophisticated taste sensations... like salty+salty+sour + sweet.

I feel that emotion is along similiar lines. Basic emotions and then all shades of grey using a basic set, but the basic ones produce specific reactions.
Now what if something other then a human could experience a 6th taste that had no part of salty/sweet/bitter/fatty/sour? a 12th taste? Not a blending of the 4(5), but an entirely different taste sensation that humans dont even have the nerve clusters and brain hardware to interpret? Similiar to seeing a color spectrum beyond what human eyes can percieve only its an entirely different landscape. Now focus this concept for feeling emotion. Thats what I was trying to say in the one/two liner in the above post. Emotions a human could never understand or feel and yet they exist for a non human being. Its a subtle concept I never see written in Sci Fi.

Im just saying that in the typical robot/AI or even Alien scenario its assumed that humans have the monopoly or are the only ones to experience emotions have a soul and whatnot. I rarely see science fiction at least on TV or in the movies where the AI/or Aliens are even and on an equal footing emotionally. And I've never seen one where in which the non humans had superior emotions to the humans, or a wider emotional scope. Bg gets close to that last line.