Mass Effect most accuratly protrails what's out there.

Call me crazy, but I'd really love some more opinions of this. I've been playing the Mass Effect series a lot lately, and I've come to the decision that it truly is the most realistic portrait of what is out there, to a limit.

Of course, whatever's out there can be reduced to 2 possibilities, the good one and the bad one. This would no doubt be the Bad one. So let me tell you why.

Good chance that those of you out there don't have a clue about the series. Basically, it goes like this. Humans find ruins on mars, they use the data in the ruins to research advanced technologies, build FTL drives, discover faster FTL devices, link up to an already existing intergalactic community, get caught up in a first contact war, then are admitted into the community, followed by which they prove themselves and quickly become a main leader in intergalactic affairs, effectively going from new species on the block to the leaders of the galaxy in some 30 something years.

Now why is this the most realistic portrayal? The aspect of the Reapers. In the series, the reapers are an ancient group of sentient ship-AIs in a massive fleet. The reason why they seem so plausible is this:

1.) MACHINE > MAN.

No matter how you view it, a machine is always better. I still do not know why we view super advanced aliens as humanoid when its not likely they look like us due to the diversity of the universe, but even more so is the fact that if they were so advanced, they wouldn't be biological anyway. Anything that came before us and is so more advanced then us would be mechanical, not biological. In the series, these reapers are robotic Sentiences that are eugenic supporting creatures interested in genes. Which leads me to the next point.

2) Genetic supremacy. Even a machine would see the interesting facts of evolution and genetics. They would, perhaps, become interested in absorbing "worthy" people into their AI. In the series, the reapers chose species worthy, and then transform them into machine synths that are based off the genetic algorithms of their host. This diversity would enable a strong race of machines, if each was based off the genetics of a specific people. They could easily attain all skills of any sentience galactically.

3.) Lack of really powerful civs now.

So far we have yet to really get much evidence of existing advanced civilizations. No signals, no crashed ships, not much but hearsay from the government and leaks. The monolith on Phobes is just about the only significant find in finding other creatures out there. But that might just be a "reaper" observatory for who to attack next. Because of this lack of advanced species out there, despite the longevity of the universe, it may be that there simply are no more left for they were attacked.


Those all point to a very reaper-like species out there, For the sake of it, this video shows their "mentality" of sorts.




Now what this has to do with supposed alien contacts is very interesting. if there is a universal essence to them, is that they are very monk-like, no clothes, no culture. Just belief and calmness. This may seem to convey some higher beinghood, but what if it is actually the signs of tampering. Such reapers, in the series, did more tan just mechanicalize wothy people. There were those whose genes were not compatible with the synthesizing process. They were "indoctrinated". Stripped of all things sentient except their voice and belief, in order to better their mission. Such a being matches the contact description. Why don't they have cultural essences like piercings or cloths, or anything artistic on their ships or anything at all. Why are they just flesh and monk-like behavior? Such things are also spoken about.


www.youtube.com...

Ultimately the series divulges into the life cycle of these creatures. They apparently ascended their physical form, and death, by making themselves into these synthetic machines. Each ship, being made of gazilions of persons, voicing themselves in a consensus. However, they must consume more races, and so hibernate long enough for more to evolve, and then exodus across the galaxy, consuming more genetics and bettering themselves. So imagine humanity, using back engineered tech, developing just as planned, and expanding outward. They would be caught into a muc larger plan without knowing, and becoming ready to be reaped.

The series divulges even more into remnants of dead civilization falling into the trap of developing along a plan. This next scene actually makes really good sense in relation to the lack of evidence for advanced civs out there.



The series' high point was a battle in the first installation. The scene has several implications. Look at how all the ship shave similar styles and connectivity. They are all developing similarly. We do hear rumors of many different aliens species, even so, they often have similar ufo shapes and activities, an interests. So even if they are not "husks" and indoctrinated like in the series, we might all be developing into the same technological path. This scene ultimately shows just how easy it is for such a species to overtake all others, reaping them when they are united, but still weak. Even though, everything does not go according to plan.





In any case, this is the negative vision of things. Its very possible they are cheerful chaps here to help.

None the less, this series just makes too much sense, and is extremely eerie to our current outlook. Its funny, even in this series there is not some united federation of Earth. Basically every nation is still independent, they just have a united space program that acts independently off world, loyal to some sort of UN over council, and to an intergalactic council.


But for those of you who have played the series, isn't it interestingly possible. For those of you who have not, watch the above as speak of what you think.

This is a really good thread IMO.

I loved Mass Effect also BTW. Excellent Game wish it was longer/bigger.

I have always been fascinated with robotic alien species.

I would like to add to what you have posted.

In the game series Master of Orion there is a robotic species as well.

They are the Cynoids.

The Cynoids are half biological, half robotic. They are cybernetic.

According to cannon, the Cynoids were a weak species that used technology to gain an upper hand in survival. Over periods of millennium, their suits and technology was inseparable from their biological inner selves. Without their tech they would die at birth.

So they would have to give birth through artificial means, test tubes or what have you. They eventually become quite advanced in their technological "bodies". Their culture is very complex, as new upgrades and parts are like new shoes or the in style hair-do to them.

A new upgrade to the Cynoids is like Fashion for Humans.

Eventually a group of them decided to implant their consciousness into a fully robotic body. With no flesh at all, 100% robot-computers.

This is where the Meklar were born. A race of pure robots.

The Meklar are extremely violent and territorial and almost impossible to deal with. The Meklar even want to destroy their ancestors, the Cynoids.

The Meklar believe that flesh is weak, and the only strength is in robotics and computers. They are cult like in their zeal.




[edit on 3-5-2010 by muzzleflash]

Other alien robotic races in Sci Fi include the Borg from Star Trek, the Transformers, the Matrix AI, Terminators, etc.

Here is a article by a NASA scientist, Steven Dick. It says he is their chief Historian as well.

Could Robot Aliens Exist?
www.popsci.com...

The existence of a race of sentient alien robots might be not just possible, but inevitable. In fact, we might be living in a "postbiological universe" right now, in which intelligent extraterrestrials somewhere have exchanged organic brains for artificial ones.

How likely is it that such a robotic race exists? Given the limitations of biology as we know it, the force of cultural evolution, and the imperative to improve intelligence, I’d say the chances are greater than 50/50.

Emphasis mine.

[edit on 3-5-2010 by muzzleflash]

[edit on 3-5-2010 by muzzleflash]

OK...there exists the possibility of anything, but the OP was about standard Sci-fi stuff. Humans find weird stuff, humans master (slightly) weird stuff, weird stuff takes humans to weird places where other weird stuff happens. Series 2 / book sequel follows; some humans make money.

What we need on ATS are discussions of real examples of weird stuff in real situations, not discussions about thoughts about weird stuff that other people have thought up in order to make money, otherwise we may just as well accept that everything seen on TV is real or a hint at a hidden reality.

I would love it if the people who spend their time and effort finding stuff on youtube or mulling over stuff seen on TV, spent that time looking up at the sky instead.

Sorry for the harshness, but I'd rather spend my time looking up, freezing cold with a crick in my neck and in hope, rather than sitting at a computer trying to google up a reason for my existence.

[edit on 3/5/2010 by nomadros]

Click here for more information.

reply to post by nomadros


Well to honestly put it, we've been really good at conceiving real things out of our behinds before, with great success. No reason this would be any different. And if not, then they are incomprehensible, and thus of no concern for us. Because we cannot interact with them until they are comprehensible.

I think this idea is right on track. It just makes so much sense. What better way for a species to survive indefinately than to reinforce the organic with the mechanic? Cells die, but components can be exchanged and upgraded. It would give a relatively benign race a formidable edge both technologically and in a space faring sense. Vast expanses of space could be covered by sentient ships and/or cyborg crews a ton more efficiently than a ship filled with fleshpods.

reply to post by invetro


Yea. That's why I've never believed in this so called million year ahead of us alien race in ufos. It just does not fit. The idea of a ship itself being a nation is an interesting notion.

While I do not think Mass Effect in total represents what is waiting for us among the stars, something akin to the Reapers may indeed be out there. This idea has a lot of traction among astrobiologists. Alan Grinspoon, in his book Lonely Planets suggests the transition to synthetic life may be the destiny of sentient life, if they wish to outlive the natural lifespan of their species.

I think things like this only highlight the lack of real facts to base theories off of.
Reptilian people rule the world theory = The original V mini series
Ancint astronauts = Call of Cthulhu
We live in the matrix = The matrix
Stargates are real = Stargate the movie
John Titor = Alas, Babylon
and now
Reapers are out there = Mass effect

Mark my words, it is only a matter of time before we get some channeler, light being or alien in skunkworks warning us about something that sounds exactly like a reaver. Im waiting for david icke to write another book incorperating mass effect in there and going to see if he updates the reptilian agenda since the V series was redone.

[edit on 4-5-2010 by zaiger]

Originally posted by zaiger
I think things like this only highlight the lack of real facts to base theories off of...

The influence of science fiction on ufology is undeniable even if many ufo believers try.

Originally posted by zaiger
Ancint astronauts = Call of Cthulhu

While Lovecraft was indeed an influence on ancient astronaut beliefs, I do not think it was "Call of Cthulhu" as much as "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow Out of Time".

reply to post by DoomsdayRex


Did you read the call of Cuthulhu? The story is about how he solves an ancient puzzel and finds out that there were ancinet aliens that were gods to an old cult.

There had been aeons when other Things ruled on the earth, and They had had great cities. Remains of Them, he said the deathless Chinamen had told him, were still be found as Cyclopean stones on islands in the Pacific. They all died vast epochs of time before men came, but there were arts which could revive Them when the stars had come round again to the right positions in the cycle of eternity. They had, indeed, come themselves from the stars, and brought Their images with Them.
HP Lovecraft.

These first men had tremendous respect for the space travelers. Because they came from somewhere absolutely unknown and then returned there again, they were the "gods" to them
Charriots of the gods

The mountians of madness is where he stole the creation story from.


[edit on 4-5-2010 by zaiger]

Originally posted by zaiger
Did you read the call of Cuthulhu? The story is about how he solves an ancient puzzel and finds out that there were ancinet aliens that were gods to an old cult.

Of course; I am a huge Lovecraft fan and Lovecraftian writer.

On a superficial level, yes, The Call of Cthulhu does have similarities to ancient astronaut theories. But it is very much a horror story and Cthulhu is defined in supernatural terms.

With The Shadow Out of Time and At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft all but re-wrote the earlier mythology he had built. The Great Old Ones are no longer gods but are described in very physical and mortal terms (even if this mortality is beyond what humans understand).

reply to post by DoomsdayRex


Then you will probably love this
www.dagonbytes.com...
Good collection of his work.

There will come a time, when the distinction between "man" and "machine" is not so easily drawn. Think about it. As "man", are we not highly advanced machines? We operate on a basis of sending and receiving chemically regulated electrical signals. It's only the conscience interpretation of the signals that we receive that separate us from even today's machinery.

Hey, look, a 286! Let's add some ram.

that's better, but now we need more storage capacity... Very cool now...

Let's add a few cores to the processor. Now we're cookin'!

Let's give it speech! Sweet! It talks!

Man, this thing is pretty dumb... Never has anything interesting to say.

Hey! Let's add more storage, more ram, and some external sensors, so it can learn by experiencing it's environment!

Wow, it learned all about the top of this desk in no time! Let's give it legs to it can experience the world!

Need more processing power and storage, time for some organic integration.

Damn, it broke! Time for some self diagnostic capabilities.

It keeps shutting itself down due to overheating. Time to reconfigure it's enclosure, this time, let's let it sweat... problem solved.

Darn servos and actuators keep burning up. Look, organic tissue that expands and contracts according to electrical impulses from the CPU... Let's call them "muscles". Now it can repair itself too!

Looks like we're now going to need some way to distribute oxygen and nutrients to all this new tissue... No problem, we already have a blueprint for a cardiovascular system that seems to work pretty well. Done!

Too bad creating this thing was so labor intensive... Hey, let's include a code that specifies where all the pieces go and how they work. It can use it as a set of instructions to create more of it's own kind.

Sweet! Now there's millions of them!

Damn it, they're killing each other... Looks like we just made a human. Sure was a lot more fun doing it the old fashioned way.

Good thread, it's interesting (and scary) to imagine a sentient race out there like the Reapers. Quite honestly, it's completely possible given the amount of knowledge we currently hold about deep space.

However, it's just as easy to say that we are the only intelligent species given the amount we know. So while Mass Effect was a great story, it's anyones guess if the writers actually hit on any truth, and if they did, they had no idea

For instance, who's to say there is not an intelligent biological species in the universe that can live hundreds of thousands of years. No need for sentient machines when you live that long. In short, we write about what makes sense to us, but there could easily be something out there that defies all our current laws of nature.

I didn't read all of the replies, and I'm not trying to crap on your thread. But anyone who thinks machines will ever be better than biological lifeforms has never worked with machines.

Machines break, a lot. Most machines can't fix themselves, or self replicate. Those that can, quickly run out of resources to do so, and as mineral ore is not something as abundant as chemical food.... life will always prevail over machines. (I have played both ME games more than once, huge fan of the series.) The Reapers, while an interesting concept, would not last the ages they sit in space. Machines don't like to start up after long periods of inactivity. Especially if they have been exposed to any elements. Leave a car (even a garaged one) alone for 10 years, and it probably won't start without much help. But that's just a simple comparison.

Regardless, the whole point of the second one is to show you that they, the almighty machine reapers, are nothing without their biological slaves to reproduce them, and maintain them. Husks. Collectors. Still biological.

reply to post by Gorman91


I like MASS EFFECT! The reapers to me would be what some on ATS refer to as 4drz.

reply to post by Demonis


No probs bro.

The think which you are stating would not apply to something in deep space, for there are no elements to wear and sheer them.

Also, the guy above you basically solved your maintenance problem.


I'll be honest with you. the human cylons are the best. They are machine, but at the same time, have human elements. But the key difference is that they only have biological elements that work. They tossed out what doesn't for machine parts, upgrading the bio parts.

And actually raw materials are more common than organic ones. of course that's us here. Go to a different part of the galaxy, and you have hydrocarbon planets, with oil rain and methane oceans, etc etc.