It’s a big, messy universe. History isn’t nice and neat. Society and politics aren’t either. So, any series that explores that and says ‘What would the effects of this or that really be?’… is of great interest me.
Obvious science fiction comparisons aside, when I played “Mass Effect” for the first time those old feelings were awakened, like when I watched Star Wars for the first time- the awe at a huge, expansive universe. In short, it resurrected of my ‘sense of wonder’.
Mass Effect, where you unlock faux moral choices by accumulating ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’ points. Good? Bad? What if it is about your emotional reaction as projected into the game, your own feelings regarding the situation before you?
Do we eradicate a species or save it? Where does artificial life end and real life begin? What are the consequences of genetic engineering? Does what we do have an impact in the universe, and do our choices matter? Do we even have a choice?
I believe that ‘Mass Effect’ is humanity’s attempt to understand itself.
Soapbox time…
A nihilistic universe is neutral; in fact, asserting that we populate a nihilistic universe is exactly the claim that everything is neutral…including the fact that we inhabit a nihilistic universe.
Which is to say, if what’s good/bad for us depends on there being a good/bad for the universe, then the lack of a good/bad for the universe isn’t bad for us, it would be neutral for us. And if what’s good/bad for us doesn’t depend on there being a good/bad for the universe, then the lack of a good/bad for the universe doesn’t obviously have any affect on what’s good/bad for us.
To accept the universe for what it is, you have to reject its benevolence, as well as the inclination of its malevolence. In fact, there’s no reason to see the universe as neutral either. At this point, you’ve focused in on that characteristic which actually needs to be understood, which is the nature of US.
Screw the universe, who are WE, and what will we do in the universe?
Sooner or later, you have to rely on self-awareness as a foundation of the notion of value and values. An outreach, exploration, and search for value in the universe, in particular for similar forms. Other beings who appreciate that meaning as well. This is why we care, why we bother to even think about the universe in the first place.
You see, we are ripe for this sort of narrative because of the moral and philosophical soup du jour.
This is an age where the target of our moral ‘fears’ are those who happen to maybe have better cars than us, and yet with our other hand we obsess over Kim Kardashian and what clothes she’s bought recently, or who she’s sleeping with.
We give time to politically correct endeavors to collect social capital and prove our worth among associates, and yet remain unwilling to become meaningfully informed about the real issues causing people harm.
We need more Han Solos and fewer Luke Skywalkers. More Commander Shepherds.
People who don’t give a ISHT about what other people think, or expect or want from them. Individuals who fundamentally give a ISHT, because they value their ability to make a difference in a situation, and so they will make that difference, even if they don’t have to, because they understand that that precise ability is what makes them worth a damn in the universe.
-Dagobot