Free will.
A concept still difficult to define, are we free to act on our own designs?
Or are we simply following the patterns of our biological personalities?
And if so, what’s the difference between our wet-mushy brain programming and the mathematical
deductions of an artificial intelligence?
And how close are the two, especially when the lines blur and one seeks to replicate
the other.
Hi again, Ric here with a cultural index on the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica (reimagined)
fame.
Now, the Cylons are the first mechanical race that we’ve looked at and although they have
evolved and adapted over time, their origin as a robot race, the CYbernetic LifefOrm Nods
of various design gives them a very limited culture.
But what is there, forms a basic society nonetheless.
Now I don’t know as much about Galactica as other topics despite seeing all of the
series but after a vote of 35 to 20, I guess I’d better learn fast, also serious spoilers
inbound for a nine year old series.
I guess.
The overall history of the Cylons is pretty well mapped out but very sparse on the actual
details.
It all starts with…well, even that’s up for debate as “all this has happened before.”
But let’s start with the origin of the current Cylon iteration.
Developed by Greystone Industries under contract from the Caprican Defence Force, the precursor
to the Cylon was very much developed as a weapon of war and after their first victory
at Atlas Arena, they soon became widely used as free labour.
However, the Cylon’s intelligence, designed to be adaptable and to learn, continued to
grow and they soon came to view themselves as a slave race.
Rebelling against the 12 colonies, they instigated the First Cylon War which eventually came
to an end when five more advanced cylons from the lost 13th colony made contact with their
younger cousins and convinced them to end their campaign against the humans.
These five are the architects of the modern Cylon and as such, they are the social influence
for much of their culture.
Having originated on the long lost world of Earth, these Cylons were so advanced that
differentiating between Cylon and human was impossible.
They ate, slept, …fraked and even aged in every way a human could.
They, themselves harbouring no resentment towards humanity, offered the Cylons a future,
the ability to resurrect their minds in new bodies, and the technology that created them,
the understanding to create synthetic humans.
You see they too had been rebelled on by their own creations too when their own centurions
turned on them.
From then on, the evolution of the Cylon became less mechanical and delved into bioengineering
and the development of artificial biology.
It likely began with the development of the hybrid model, something that was human in
appearance but more mechanical in nature, lacking much of what we would identify as
conscious thought.
Eight new human Cylons were created to further increase their survivability through potential
for procreation and perhaps with the hope to better understand and cooperate with humanity.
Although the small band of the thirteenth tribe shared much in common with the humans,
they elected not to force their own doctrine or beliefs onto their creations you see they
Cylons had developed their own monotheistic religion centred the one true God that oversaw
all, human and Cylon alike, while the five shared the primary re ligion of humanity,
the Lords of Kobol.
The importance of the Cylon belief seems somewhat paradoxical, but in an interesting way.
After all, faith, the belief in something that cannot be truly known can be considered
a prerequisite for religion of any type but the very nature of programming is mathematical
and at odds with the concepts of variabilities and unknowns.
So the very fact that a Cylon may choose to believe in something can be seen as evidence
of how far they have evolved.
They first began to adopt this religion back when they were under colonial control and
maintained it throughout their entire existence.
Several commandments are obeyed by the Cylon’s including the description of behaviours considered
sinful, such as self-termination.
Other elements include the opinion that the monotheistic God loves all equally and to
shun the affection is wasteful, hence another reason for the Cylons to oppose humanity.
It is a common belief that the Hybrids, the early humanoid cylon prototypes that now function
as the brain of their basestars, are connected to God on a level that cannot be understood
by conscious thought and that humanity created the Cylons to be God’s new work, to replace
humans.
After the five were once again, betrayed by their creations it was these eight models
that assumed leadership roles over the rest of the Cylon construct.
Each of these models is produced in large quantities and each shares the same base personality
with its copies, however once first “born”, their environmental factors shape them to
be more individualistic.
Physically identical to humans, they are however artificial in nature and can perform actions
such as interfacing with specialised fluidic technologies through touch, which is how they
fly their Basestars.
They also have more advanced and accurate memories, but these can be erased or falsified.
On some level too their programming can be altered as with the case of them being forbidden
to research the identities of their five creators.
On the death of a Cylon, their memories are transmitted to the Resurrection Ark where
they are then downloaded into a new body and awaken anew.
During this process it’s possible for them to access more of their mind, and many perceive
this as visions and they can too, in fact, dream.
Possibly of electric sheep, …uncertain.
On waking, they are often in a state of panic or confusion, having just moments earlier
experienced “death” and are attended to by nurses to placate and soothe them.
This shows a distinct level of care for their own kind and a clear sense of compassion.
Interestingly enough, a humanoid Cylon can project their own reality, meaning that if
they so desire, they can literally substitute reality in place of their own, literally experiencing
an illusion.
This projection can be shared with other cylons and remains the only form of artistic expression
left in their culture as it is entirely left to the whim of the creator and their experiences.
They share the same emotional spectrum as a human and are motivated by many of the same
desires.
One directive that they seek to achieve, is the ability to procreate naturally, beyond
simply constructing new models.
This has resulted in several failed attempts of sexual reproduction between humanoid Cylons,
the insemination of humans and vice versa.
Their belief in a God that loves all its creations led to the opinion that love is crucial to
this production of a child.
However, as mentioned, each Cylon, once exposed to environmental factors basically becomes
its own person, although some traits are seemingly constant.
The number one’s seem to gravitate towards positions of power in the Cylon hierarchy,
and although they reach action by vote, it seems that the One’s maintain a manipulative
control over many other models of cylon.
In fact it is the One model that removed the Five from power and instigated a second Cylon
War, this one ending in the near total annihilation of the 12 colonies.
They are stoic atheists and possess a hatred of humanity, often allowing this spite to
colour their actions.
The number twos enjoy mincing words.
They often believe in a sense of destiny and spin tales to achieve a desired outcome.
Equally as manipulative as the One’s, the Two’s prefer to act as an unreliable guide
to others with mystic suggestions and cryptic conversations.
The Three model was much more logical in its manipulations, though with a curious streak,
perhaps motivated by a desire to complete any gaps in their knowledge.
They seem to have a proficiency for speech, investigation, deduction and on several occasions
seems to usurp authority or assume it of her own volition, despite the vote-orientated
format of Cylon governance.
Number Four possess a calm demeanour and often acts as a rational voice among humans and
Cylons.
Their approachable demeanour makes them perfect as passive spies while their logical approach
to things marks them as scientists and doctors.
Fives stick to the mission.
They follow orders and are incredibly loyal to the original goals of the Cylons and seem
to not allow themselves to be emotionally compromised.
This makes them excel at deep-cover operations as they don’t allow morality to interfere
with their actions, enabling them to betray, instigate and kill without remorse.
Number Six is often seen as a very religious model and very much a passionate individual.
She easily utilises her beauty to her advantage and seeks to understand the true nature of
being alive.
This passion is reflected however in the ease of which she can act on violent impulses.
Of the eight models, the sixes seem to enjoy diversification the most, sporting varying
outfits and hairstyles, reflecting the more impulsive characteristics of this line.
Number Seven was rendered a defunct line and very much a creative model, designed to reflect
on decisions.
It was known for being sensitive, thoughtful and seemingly enjoyed the arts.
It’s a shame this line was killed off by the Number One’s as an artistic influence
would have gone a long way in building out the society of the Cylons.
All records of the Seven’s existence was purged from the memories of the other models
to cover up their destruction due to a jealous act.
And finally the Number Eights.
This model was created with a military mind-set and abilities to allow it to perform well
as a soldier.
The design necessitated a certain level morality and loyalty to ensure the line would remain
dedicated to the Cylon cause.
However this also meant that when an individual defected to the colonial fleet, it did so
on a moral basis and remained true to its own ideals.
This model was often easily manipulated by those in a higher position of power, such
as the number one’s.
These humanoid Cylons, as mentioned were the driving force of the race, and positioned
themselves over the Centurions and raiders.
The Centurions were capable of independent thought, but limited on purpose to prevent
a similar uprising as seen repeatedly throughout history.
When this inhibitor was removed however, they clearly showed an understanding of self-preservation
and perhaps even a modicum of revenge, basic emotions to be sure, but there nonetheless.
The raiders have a basic intelligence, about the level of a dog and have shown the ability
to follow orders as well as form their own tactical actions.
However, a raider that doesn’t follow commands is often considered faulty and lobotomised
to rectify the error.
It is a strange thing to see the humanoid cylons making the same choices their creators
did, as did the creators of those creators and like the pythian scrolls say, “all this
has happened before and all this will happen again.”
The Cylons are a relatively young race, literally being created rather than evolving naturally
means that their culture is still forming.
What elements they do have are based on emulation of humans, their monotheistic faith, their
technology, their drive to survive are all imparted from human culture.
As such, it’s unlikely that we will see a truly unique society, especially given how
the series ends and the ultimate reveal that the future of the Cylons is to effectively
become indistinguishable from humanity.
They had an entire line of humanoid Cylons devoted to culture and artistic creativity
but it was destroyed by an act of petty betrayal, not by the humans but one of their own.
Thanks for listening to this index, even if it was a little light on the culture.
As usual the next episode will be one of two choices with either a look into the Nordic
inspired Asgardians of the MCU, or Raider Culture of the Fallout series, hey I thought
I’d mix it up a bit with some more obscure choices.
Thanks for watching and don’t forget to leave a like on the appropriate comments to
cast your vote, (I won’t forget again.
It was a bugger to count them all up manually) and until next video, I’ve been Ric.
Thanks again and goodbye!