Trade-offs
The Escapist: “Mass Effect Saves Humanity - for What?”
Heidegger is arguably the most influential philosopher of the 20th century; he is inarguably the most controversial. His thinking on what it means to be human in a technologically advanced world still informs debates on genetics, medicine and artificial intelligence today. He was also a Nazi. You just have to deal with this sort of thing in contemporary philosophy.
Tags: gaming, Heidegger, Mass Effect, Nazism, philosophy, The Escapist
March 12th, 2008 at 5:26 am
what do you think about this question, peter?
March 12th, 2008 at 9:58 am
To agree with Heidegger’s ideas because he also supported the Nazis? I haven’t read any of his work, so I couldn’t say, though in general I figure a good idea is a good idea, regardless of anything else about the author. But I just posted the quote because I thought it was funny. =)
March 12th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Holy shit, that article is HILARIOUS!
“Just to be clear: As Mass Effect’s head writer lauds his own work for its subversion of traditional sex roles, we see images of a stripper and a prostitute.”
And, “The future can’t possibly be as dull as blue Canadian chicks.”
March 12th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
i guess i wasn’t being very specific about the ‘question,’ and although i put it in a vague way, you answered what i wanted to know.
i don’t agree with the shrug the author offers, btw - ‘you just have to deal with that’ - but i agree that a good idea is a good idea, whatever ‘good’ means here.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Well, as Max mentions, the whole piece is pretty light-hearted. But yeah…
Oh, an in the question I put forward, that should be even though, not because.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Well, Amarnath would have been happier with “because.”
I believe the author’s point (if there is any point other than to make a joke) is that if you disregarded every modern philosopher associated with some kooky mass movement or another, the canon becomes pretty thin. But this comment thread really ought to be about blue-skinned Canadian space lesbos; anything else honestly isn’t in the spirit of the original article.
Why so serious?
March 13th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Bioware, the game developers, are Canadian. Coincidence? I think not!