Constant Vigilance 2, Session 10. Friday November 17th, Period 4

[nine-and-ears.livejournal.com]

The Doctor was sitting in the chair behind his desk, juggling apples.

As everyone entered the classroom, they'd find an apple at each of their desks. Once everyone arrived, the Doctor dimmed the lights and projected a bizzare figure with a big metal unit over its chest and tubing everywhere.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is a Cyberman. One of the earliest models, and the first I encountered. They are not a race of robots, as inside there are bits and pieces of what was once a person. There are from the planet Mondas, a twin planet of Earth that was knocked out of its original orbit. One thing led to another, and there's more about that in the packet I have for you."

The Doctor did, in fact, start passing out a packet.

"The thing is, that as technology improved, their look altered as well. This clunky design gave way to another, and another, and then we had something more like this." The Doctor hit a button on the projector and the shape changed to a sleeker, more silver looking thing. "So, what do I have to say about the Cybermen?"

He paused and thought for a second.

"I'm not going to judge them, quite yet. At least not to you. I have a question to pose to all of you. The Cybermen were created to remove the imperfections of the Mondas race. In order to survive, they said. Furthering the species. Though now, they sort of forcibly improve all the other humanoid species they come across, as well. Assuming they don't kill you on sight. Now, there's a lot of thinking you can do on this subject, lots of moral posing, etcetera. Now I want you to do just that. Pair up, and talk about this."

He cleared his throat. "Is giving up things such as certain emotions, physical sensations, a few pounds of flesh... is that progress? Is that an acceptable cost if you'd then live effectively forever?" The Doctor smirked at the class. "Well? Would you?"

[ooc: Wait for OCD OCD up up and away! Go forth and talk!]

Comments

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"No, it sounds like a big prize to pay if you're going to forget that people have a right to be happy the way they are," Cameron said.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"It does," Stark agreed. "I understand wanting to survive. Everyone wants to survive. But if you're not you anymore, surviving isn't worth it."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Maybe they didn't notice," Cameron suggested. "Maybe if you replace one part, you don't remember after a while what you're missing."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

Stark gave a little shudder at that. "Maybe. But wouldn't they see when the others did it? That they weren't themselves anymore after they started?"

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Possibly. It's always easier to ignore your own faults than others," Cameron said. "Then again, it's easier to turn a blind eye if it means you can ignore your own mistakes."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"True," Stark agreed. "If you wanted it enough, you could ignore things going wrong. Because you wouldn't want to be wrong and if you acknowledged things weren't right, you'd have to acknowledge you were wrong."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron blinked, needing a moment to process the sentence. "Pretty much. And if they really lost certain emotions, it's probably even easier to ignore."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"Lacking emotion would make it easier, yes." Stark nodded. "You'd need to not feel, to be able to live with yourself I think. Not that it's really living, if you can't feel anything. Horrible to think about, but it wouldn't be horrible after you did it, would it? Because you wouldn't even realize anymore. Maybe that's worse."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Worse for us to think about," Cameron remarked. "Not so much for them."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"Much worse to think about, yes. But what if something happened, something went wrong and suddenly you knew what you'd done, what you were now?"

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Sucks to be you?" Cameron said, trying to imagine it. "I think if you know and you care, then you can still change."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"I hope so, I hope you'd still be able to fix things. At least a little," Stark said. "I wonder if that ever happened. To any of them."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. Maybe the Doctor does," Cameron suggested.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"Yes, you're right. I should ask him," Stark said, though he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I'm kind of curious too," Cameron admitted.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"I'll go ask then. Unless you want to?"

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"No, that's fine," Cameron said with a small smile. "Just let me know what he says."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"I'll do that," Stark said as he started in the Doctor's direction.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron settled back in his chair and started doodling on his notebook as he waited.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

After his conversation with the Doctor, Stark came back and relayed what the Doctor had told him.

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron grimaced. "That's not very positive. I think I'm definitely going with no."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

"No, not positive at all," Stark agreed. "Not at all. I'll stick with no too."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron grinned. "I think that means our moral compass is pointing the same direction or something."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[stykera]

Stark wasn't entirely sure about the phrase 'moral compass,' but returned the grin anyway. "Good, good. Don't have to worry about you turning into something metal any time soon."

Re: Discuss Cybermen and the Ethics and Morals Therein.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Laughing, Cameron shook his head. His eyes did linger for a second on Stark's mask. "No, I kind of like being all flesh and blood. No need to oil anything."