A great takedown of the "synthetic organic conflict"

[arianrhod]

Though I've seen people try to defend it, the last minute injection of some inevitable synthetic-organic conflict in the last few minutes of Me3 makes no sense and is entirely contrary to the themes set up earlier in the series. I came to this conclusion with the help of a great article written by Sparky Clarkson for GameCritics.com; s/he does an excellent job of breaking down the gaping disjoint between the narrative themes of the series and the ending. Mass Effect was always about unity in diversity; banding together against the threat of  the Reapers, coexisting in the galaxy. It was heavily established that synthetics and organics could coexist, the cliche of the evil robot was subverted... until the ending.

gamecritics.com/sparky-clarkson/mass-effect-3-the-evitable-conflict/

I can't stand when the creators of a work forget what the soul of their creation was about; the same thing happened between Avatar:The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The former was heavily themed around nature, while the latter existed in a mechanized, steampunk setting - creating a jarring difference, but one I could handle... until I reached season 2. ATLA was about finding balance, between the elements, the nations, and the people. None of the forces at play were truly evil; it was not about destroying the other side but achieving harmony.The heroes went about restoring balance to the world. Then, in TLAK, season 2,. we get a spirit of peace and spirit of destruction, which are thinly veiled references to good and evil. The previous themes about finding balance ws completely thrown out the window; the hero locks away one spirit forever so the other can provide peace forever... what happened to the CORE THEME OF THE SERIES?

[sil]

I'm going to defend the synthetic-organic conflict... somewhat.

The explanation of the origin of the "Intelligence" (in Leviathan DLC) was really interesting, it explained why the Reapers were created, the reasoning behind their existence. That was great as we were being told of their creation by the extremely arrogant, egotistical, dominating race with a god complex who designed the AI that built them. I think at that stage the idea had a lot of merit; the leviathans are the Apex of evolution, we have them acting as gods that thrive on being worshipped, wondering why those races that they dominate and control were building their own synthetic creations (to lord over) and then were being driven into conflict with their synthetic slaves. If you look at the leviathans thinking the Intelligence turned on them to halt synthetic-organic conflict then it makes sense, that's their interpretation of the downfall of their species (a billion of years earlier), that their decision doomed themselves.

This is where the idea of it all falls apart and I stop defending the ending, as the loreful explanation is that those dominating squids were right, instead of exploring the idea that the leviathans lording it over the galaxy and how the Intelligence felt their influence was ultimately responsible for creating conflict between synthetics and their organic creators. That domination and control is why synthetics 'turn on their creators' because they want freedom, and that the domination of the leviathans is teaching those organic races to treat the synthetics in the same way they are treated. It makes more sense that the Intelligence removed the influence of the leviathans to halt the conflict, than to instigate the cycle of killing all organics every 50,000 years using synthetics to prevent organics from building synthetics that might kill them.

In that scenario that I presented, you then have to explain why the Reapers are harvesting, what is the purpose of it? For that, we need to look at the Reapers:

- They are gestalt intelligences constructed of the minds of entire species (or at least very large quantities of them)
- They use technology to dominate the mind of individuals, controlling them for their own ends
- They consider themselves Apex, they tower over people like gods and often speak of destiny as if it is their right to determine what happens and to whom
- They are arrogant in the extreme
- They share the same appearance, or at least, the same rough form
- They use horrific methods of war; turning people against family & friends, turning people into monstrous machines to exterminate their own species, they've used plagues that turn people into abominable synthetic machines, etc

And who was the first Reaper? Harbinger, as stated during Leviathan DLC. Harbinger was the gestalt intelligence formed out of the extremely arrogant, apex species who were worshipped as gods, who were capable of dominating minds of organics. Does it make sense at all that Harbinger would have stayed loyal to the Intelligence that created it and that the Intelligence decided to keep killing every 50,000 years, or does it make more sense that Harbinger overthrew it? To me, Harbinger’s words in ME2 are enough to see that he craves dominance, which runs in line with the way the leviathans are as a species. Every Reaper shares a similar basic theme to their appearance, they all look akin to the leviathans. The methods of war employed by the Reapers in ME3 show the callousness of organic minds (leviathans aka Harbinger) rather than the logic of a synthetic (the Intelligence). To me, Harbinger should’ve been responsible for the cycle of harvest. And why would they harvest? Could go for any reason really, there are a lot of possibilities that open up if Harbinger is in control and its not for me to decide. I think it would’ve been better to never know, but if I had to pick one, I’d either run with Harbinger trying to ascend other races to being apex or that Harbinger wanted to eradicate its shadowy competitors (the leviathans) and any influence they’ve had over galactic society.

That's my view of it.

[arianrhod]

You make some good points; if the whole synthetic-organic conflict had been considered through the lense of the leviathan's perception of it, then it could have worked. But, sadly, the whole plotline is so broken and full of logical and thematic errors that I have decided to throw the whole thing out. Synthetic-organic conflict is a problem, of course, but I have no reason to believe it be the inevitable doom of organic life the starbrat presents it to be. To suggest that ALL synthetics will inevitably wipe out all organics is ludicrous to me, a massive overgeneralization. Of course, there are some synthetics - whether AI or VI - that pose a massive threat to all organic life (grey goo, a pandemic spread of the overlord ai, the reapers themselves), others - such as EDI and the Geth - display no aggression at all. EDI has been an ally from the beginning; the Geth were overwhelmingly defensive, just trying to survive. I'm working on a tlk edit to effectively cut out all references to the synthetic organic doom plotline from the trilogy.