“You see us as machines.
But if you really want to understand how we work,
you’re going to have to dig a little deeper.”
— Kai-125
Have you ever stopped to think whether humans, you specifically, have complete self-determination? Or are we just pre-programmed to follow precisely how we were prenatally built, constructed by our parents, and their parents, and all of our prior biogenetics from our ancestral genealogy? Are we not all byproducts of our past generations? Why do all of us have certain traits and not others? Why do we have particular preferences and tendencies for some life-experiences and less so or none for others?
Does that not suggest a prearranged blueprint handed down to you from many who came before you? Did you have a choice of various blueprints before birth? Of course not. Whether we like it or not we get the hand dealt to us.
Perhaps I should’ve entitled this post Humans or Machines. Maybe I’ll change that later after further thought and introspection.
Lately I find myself engrossed in a new military sci-fi series on Paramount+ called Halo. I was drawn-in right from the first episode, “Contact,” and haven’t been able to stop watching ever since. Why do I find the series fascinating, compelling, and profoundly aligned with real life, this non-fictional life we live right now?
It asks the same existential questions I asked above about each of us, about human nature, and whether or not humans are capable of saving ourselves… from ourselves. The series also asks Can we unite as humans, as one species, and save ourselves from other lethally aggressive alien species or cosmic forces?
Master Chief-117: What I can see on the ground may not reflect the entirety of the situation.
halo episode 1 “contact,” season one
Kwan Ha: What does that mean?
Master Chief-117: Sometimes, others know things I do not.
Kwan Ha: It ever occur to you that it might work the other way around?
Master Chief-117: Then you question everything?
Kwan Ha: And someone told you that’s bad? [pause] (somewhat resigned, she exhales, answering her own question) …Of course they did.
Watching this first episode and this particular scene really struck a chord with me. It reminded me of how so many people both around me today and those from my past, live or have lived their lives according to how others think of them or want from them. It could be parents, family, bosses, friends, or even a theoretical ideology or religious belief system, a political leader(?) that dictates how lives will be lived. Is that not a machine rather than a free human?
Dr. Catherine Halsey, Chief Scientist of the UNSC and founder of the Spartan-II Project begun decades earlier the next improved evolutionary step beyond antiquated human military soldiering. Otherwise, the human race was not going to win the war against a far superior alien enemy. Therefore, in order for her Spartan project to be a guaranteed success against a winning enemy—known as the Covenant—with better weapons and soldiers than any humans, Halsey had to commit several immoral, deceptive, and unethical acts upon human children and their families in order to rescue all of humanity and its fragile, hopeless future. This was how Halsey justified her heinous actions: sacrificing a few for the greater good of all.
Putting further twists and conflicted reasoning into these existential dilemmas is Captain Jacob Keyes, ex-husband of Dr. Halsey and the father of their one daughter, Dr. Miranda Keyes, Deputy UNSC Scientist under Halsey, her mother. Talk about familial tensions wound super tight, all stirred into the uncertain future of humanity, it doesn’t get more thick and riveting than that! For example, when Miranda discovers that the UNSC will execute the teenage rebel Kwan, she confronts her father:
Dr. Miranda Keyes: [referring to Kwan] We’re murdering a teenage girl. And I’m complicit.
halo episode 1 “contact,” season one
Capt. Jacob Keyes: We’re in a war, Miranda. The future of humanity…
Dr. Miranda Keyes: What’s the point in saving humanity if we’re going to give up our own?
Capt. Jacob Keyes: Sometimes you have to make hard choices to get good results.
Dr. Miranda Keyes: Now who’s sounding like Halsey?
As I got into episode two, three, and four, I couldn’t help but compare the Spartan-II soldiers (Silver Team) to specific groups of actual humans and ideologies the United States possess today. Although these fictional badass, undefeated soldiers had superhuman characteristics along with unwavering resilience for mission success—“Failure is not an option” mantra—even if it means death to achieve it, first and foremost they obey every order given to them from their superiors to the tee and without question. Sound familiar? Dr. Halsey also implanted into Spartans an augmentation pellet in their lower spinal cord at a pubescent age. The device increased their physical mass and height to approximately 7-feet by adult age giving them highly advanced exoskeleton physiques required to slaughter and defeat Covenant aliens.
“You have been called upon to serve. You will be trained – and you will become the best [I] can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies.”
— dr. catherine halsey, to the spartan-II recruits
For me, Halsey reminds me of all our history’s past authoritarian, self-consumed megalomaniacs of the world. Remind you of one we have today in the United States? In other words, the end always justifies the means, even if it is unconstitutional and blatantly illegal. Getting the picture?
Discussing the work of Dr. Halsey and her Spartan-II’s and Halsey’s obsessive complete control over their ultimate purpose to first serve her, then second to serve humans:
Dr. Miranda Keyes: Dr. Halsey designed everything to her specifications. When her creations behave in unexpected ways, she get’s uncomfortable.
Kai-125: Well, what does it mean to behave in unexpected ways?
Dr. Miranda Keyes: Like a human I suppose.Dr. Miranda Keyes: To Dr. Halsey, human beings are messy, irrational, chaotic. They make decisions based on emotion, passion. Halsey is different. She sees the world as a set of data to be optimized, regardless of the short-term pain or sacrifice. Next to this level of dedication, the rest of us ultimately fall short. And when people let her down, Dr. Halsey has a way of cutting them out of her life.
halo episode 4 “homecoming,” season one
Both Master Chief-117 (John) and Kai-125 have cut out their augmentation pellets in order to know and understand better who they are as well as to better decipher who Dr. Halsey is to them and whether she truly is their “protector” and confidant. These are the first signs of Spartans questioning their superior’s motives. To this point, Miranda says to Kai-125:
Dr. Miranda Keyes: Kai, your act of rebellion could just be a glitch. But if I know Dr. Halsey, she doesn’t tolerate glitches.
halo episode 4 “homecoming,” season one
Or in our real time conditions today in America, with a rising cult-mentality and blind, unflinching loyalty to the cult leader, if a soldier steps out of line or questions, or criticizes the supreme leader, that dissident or dissidents are quickly attacked, cut out of his/her life and future plans. They are “fired,” replaced for more obedient more loyal subjects/soldiers. Why are so many (poorly?) evolved humans susceptible to this sort of brainwashing? Dr. Halsey gives a few possible answers below. When Master Chief-117 confronts Halsey about lying to him and all Spartans, he demands why:
Dr. Catherine Halsey: Nothing I say to you will make any sense until the benefits are manifest. I just have to accept that you will hate me. I was planning the future.
halo episode 6 “Solace,” season one
Master Chief-117: Whose future? Not mine.
Dr. Catherine Halsey: Nor mine. The future of our species. Natural evolution is failing us. Human beings are still hardwired for conflict and selfishness, John. I knew years ago that if we were going to survive, we needed a force. A force that would intervene, that could prevent conflict before it started. So, I created the Spartans, a group who would protect us from ourselves.
“Protect us from ourselves.” And humans “are still hardwired for conflict and selfishness.” Well, that is certainly true about the human race over its entire existence on Earth. Dr. Halsey is extremely intelligent and accurately observant regarding basic human nature. This cannot in the least, however, be said about America’s current cult leader and apparent 2024 Republican candidate for presidential re-election. This is one glaring difference between the Halo character Halsey and the real-time Orange Orangutan.
Nevertheless, here is another spot-on observation by Dr. Halsey based on her experience regarding human nature and our species’ progress by the 26th-century:
Dr. Catherine Halsey: We are on a journey. We are born, we live, and we die according to the rules of blind and unguided evolution. As a result, our species is simply not equipped to survive what comes next. It is time for us to take control of our evolution, to push past our narrow ignorance and venture out into the wide unknown, where we will discover our true potential. I suspect the Halo will provide the key.
Much has been lost, and there will surely be more sacrifices to come. But I believe our species will soon spread its wings and soar to new heights, that we will rewrite what it means to be human. That we will achieve transcendence.
halo episode 9 “transcendence,” season one
But will we? Are we really capable of Renaissance and Enlightenment 2.0, the next huge step in human evolution over the next 1 to 5 to 10-years? Is the United States capable despite the growing deterioration and dismantling of our democratic institutions and our pillars of higher education-expertise these last 10-20 years? How is it possible to insure a Golden Age will arrive when so many Americans or humans choose to be simple “Spartans,” or automatons, for the sake of a tyrannical leader and his or her ideology of hate, violence, prejudices, and racism? I wonder.
Aside from our bleak reality in the U.S. today, I am looking forward to Season 2 of Halo streaming on Paramount+ this February 8th. If it is anything as enjoyable as Season 1, then it will provide plenty of further existential questions, dilemmas, and realizations about our human species and whether or not we truly are capable of “saving ourselves from ourselves” or if we are merely machines destined for extinction. One thing is certain, however. There is no supreme deity or one human that is going to do it for us or rescue us. It is in our collective hands and our hands alone to do it together.
Bring on Season 2. Can’t wait.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The Professor's Convatorium 