RobbyB1982 wrote:AlucardNoir wrote:RobbyB1982 wrote:
[...] its blueprints were handed down from cycle to cycle. It evolved by intelligent design.
That's not an origin.
The reapers attacked. A civilization started building a weapon to deal with them. They died out but safeguarded the plans to move them forward.
It's origin enough for something going back multiple dead civiizations like a million years ago.
It's maybe not a satifactory or in depth one, but it is an origin. It's about as much as Babylon 5 gave for its ancient races. "They just started when the universe did basically and have been around forever."
No, Loriens people just started out immortal and then become mortal - or at least that's how he tells it. All other species evolved - on B5 that is.
As for Mass Effect... no, just no. The crucible is a literal Deus ex machina. There are three endings that make use of the crucible. In one you destroy the reapers, Ok I can get that. In one you take control of the reapers, again, presuming the first one is done via some sort of Software virus that forces the reapers to self destruct, why not. But the third use of the crucible is... well, the third use of the crucible pushes the crucible from a
literary deus ex machina to a
literal deus ex machina. At that point the series goes full science fantasy on us. The crucible is NOT a cannon, or a bomb or a jamming apparatus. It's not a Manhattan project derivative, it's a miracle - one that can do whatever bullshit the writers wanted it to do. Halo had a better story then Mass Effect because of the ending of ME3, and both have installations that can effect the entire galaxy in a very short period of time.
I'm sorry but no, the crucible is a bullshit device that, when combined with the citadel can make use of the mass relays the reapers have built to do anything - or at least anything the writers what it to do. Affecting the genome or at the very least the cells of every living being in the galaxy? how the fuck do you make a weapons like that? No seriously, HOW? the many species of the galaxy have successfully created a weapon that makes reaper indoctrination look like a toy. Reaper indoctrination was already bullshit as it was, what the crucible can do is beyond bullshit.
Someone else designed it is not a valid answer when the object designed can do the equivalent of borg assimilating every living cell in the galaxy. Sorry but no. The Crucible when connected with the Citadel can do some pretty impossible shit. Shit that if it were possible should have been done by someone already. Imagine if I had a machine that if linked to an IXP could erase every hard drive connected to the internet... not hard to imagine right? Now imagine that same machine using the same IXP and a specter or meltdown-like vulnerability to give you kernel level control over every single computer connected to the internet - again not really that hard to imagine. Now imagine if that machine can also use the internet to use the power grid to connect to every single electronic device connected to any one power grid on the planet to then apply electric shocks to it's users in such a manner so as to put every single living cell on the planet under Pavlovian conditioning and you're starting to see the impossibility of the Crucibles actions.
Ok, maybe I should explain that last part. IXP means Internet Exchange Point, it's a place where the networks of multiple ISP's meet. There are a few such points that connect major global ISP's. If you could connect a supercomputer to one of these places you could potentially write a program that exploited Specter or Meltdown and theoretically have every computer that ends up connecting to the internet execute your malicious code. Since most power companies do in fact transmit information over their power lines - not GB of data but kb of low latency data about the state of their network, and since most computers would need to be connected to the power grid at one point, and since Ethernet over power-cable is a thing... sigh, you could "theoretically" hijack the power-grid and have it do what you want. But even then, to actually be able to make dumb toaster shock anyone touching it, both only via the power grid and in a manner that won't kill a person would be very hard. Doing that for every human with ever appliance would be impossible, extending that to every type of cell... you get the idea. What the crucible does when it get's access to the resources of the Reapers is... absurdly overpowered. And if you say the reapers had those resources to begin with... no, no they didn't, if they had once they arrived they could have simply indoctrinated the entire galaxy and Harvested in peace. Let's remember, they want to harvest not kill; and they never shy away from using indoctrination, there is literally no logical reason the Reapers wouldn't use this technology if they had it at their disposal, and they are supposed to be logical machines not illogical biological entities.
To say someone designed the Crucible as a weapon against the Reapers is absurd because of all the stuff the crucible can do. The Crucible isn't a weapon it's a Miracle Machine, a Cargo Cult Mother Box, a Deus Ex Machina. A one trick pony, except the trick is being able to do everything.
If Chuck or a mod reads this feel free do delete my account. I would do it myself but I don't seem to be able to find a delete account option. phpBB should have such an option but I guess this isn't stock phpBB.
