BattleStar Galactica:Season 3.0--10/06/06--Arc 1

[Banshee16]

I'll just add that I wasn't impressed with season 3. 1 and 2 were really great IMO. This is just laying the propaganda a little too thick. Gimme my space battles instead of suicide bombers!

I'm hoping they get back into space soon......but I don't think the current shows are just propaganda. I think they ask some interesting, though *very* uncomfortable questions. Obviously, it ties in with real world issues, but that doesn't make the questions/issues any less valid for discussion.

With that having been said, I'm turning the wheel 90 degrees away from a venture into political discussion.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Well, some scientists think that such a thing has happened on earth around 70000 years ago when Toba erupted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory

It also says that genetical studies have shown that all humans are descendant from just 1000 to 10000 individuals. Maybe it's just some crackpot theory.

Similarly, there are thousands of people around the world descended from Ghengis Khan. I believe his Y genome is the most widely dispersed genome in the world. I remember that in the news last year.

And scientists also believe that the cheetah species is actually descended from a group of 100 or so survivors a few thousand years back. And they're doing fine, though certain genetic weaknesses in the species might be tied to that limited breeding pool.

A pool of 2000 people is enough genetic diversity though...especially if you have different racial groups involved, and mixing over time, which in turn creates much stronger offspring than "sole sourcing". Geneticists have found that mixing genes from diverse ancestries tends to eliminate genetic defaults inherent to particular populations, resulting in offspring with stronger genetic makeups than either of the parents.

I think the big thing is that a population of 2000 is inherently too vulnerable to some sort of disaster wiping out the species....I'd be more afraid of that than genetic diversity down the line. There are more things that can kill 2000 people quickly, than a population of billions. Especially when flying around in a vacuum, while living inside a tin can, being hunted by superior forces.

Banshee

 

[maggot]

And scientists also believe that the cheetah species is actually descended from a group of 100 or so survivors a few thousand years back. And they're doing fine, though certain genetic weaknesses in the species might be tied to that limited breeding pool.

I only wish the cheetah species was "doing fine". It is more like "on the brink of extinction".

 

[maggot]

The whole thing with a child by Starbuck isn't some new plot twist, they've been hinting and laying the foundation for it ever since early 2nd season with the episode "The Farm", and since the first season with the Six in Baltar's head implying that the Cylons wanted such a hybrid.

I don't care if the child thing is new to the series, I still don't like it. I didn't like it when it was Baltar and Six, I don't like it now. I keep hoping they can do something original, and not rehash the "aliens are stealing our women" plots that have been done to death for ever and ever.

 

[Banshee16]

I only wish the cheetah species was "doing fine". It is more like "on the brink of extinction".

I should clarify my statement....they're doing fine from a genetic standpoint......that has nothing to do with the fact that they're being wiped out by a too successful race of competing predators

Banshee

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Not necessarily.....early in the series, it's pretty evident that none of the crew really like her. Adama even tells Tigh as much....she's a bad influence. I think it's just that a lot of men really aren't picky......unless the woman is dead, or *really* ugly, some guy out there will be interested. Despite the fact that she's older, and unclassy, and not too bright, it's probably not difficult for her to prey on someone eager for a little companionship.

I'm not going to preface the above statement with "in all due respect"....I understand that the statement is coarse. But I also feel that there's a certain amount of truth. Many men aren't so discriminating.

As a man, I tend to agree, though ("unfortunately"), my lack of discriminating was never actually tested.

I don't really like her much either....she's incredibly shallow, irresponsible, and doesn't have many redeeming qualities that I can see.

Banshee

The only redeeming thing I can see is that she might actually care about someone else beyond her - Tigh. This isn't the first time she is trying to help him - remember the first Season (Colonial Day) and her "alliance" with Zarek - she might at first only have talked about herself (quite literally ), but she also wanted Tigh to have a "place" in Zareks world.
But this is probably also just some kind of egoismn, and not really redeeming.

 

[Banshee16]

As a man, I tend to agree, though ("unfortunately"), my lack of discriminating was never actually tested.

I can't say the same for myself....though at least I only dipped very lightly into a lack of taste. Thankfully nothing serious happened....it was my birthday, and I was incredibly drunk, young and foolish.

I've known friends that truly had no standards. Consistently...whether drunk or sober.

The only redeeming thing I can see is that she might actually care about someone else beyond her - Tigh. This isn't the first time she is trying to help him - remember the first Season (Colonial Day) and her "alliance" with Zarek - she might at first only have talked about herself (quite literally ), but she also wanted Tigh to have a "place" in Zareks world.
But this is probably also just some kind of egoismn, and not really redeeming.

I'm not confident that her actions show she cares. I think she sees Tigh as a means to an end. If he succeeds, she benefits. Keep in mind that her pushing Tigh actually led to him botching the job when he had to take over for Adama. It was her influence that was partly for responsible for how poor some of his decisions were.

Banshee

 

[Archetype]

A pool of 2000 people is enough genetic diversity though...especially if you have different racial groups involved, and mixing over time, which in turn creates much stronger offspring than "sole sourcing". Geneticists have found that mixing genes from diverse ancestries tends to eliminate genetic defaults inherent to particular populations, resulting in offspring with stronger genetic makeups than either of the parents.

Hmmm....

Sounds like a valid reason to encourage the human/Cylon hybridization that is developing from repeated interactions of these very-similar "races." There may come a time when humanity realizes that it *needs* the Cylon "genes" to become intermixed into their remaining population in order to survive as a species at all...

After all, humanity created the Cylon race, and therefore it is just an extension (admittedly artificial) of it's genome's expansion into the wide universe of Life. Maybe the Cylons are realizing that they are on a dead-end track within their own isolated society, and that explains their obsessive interest in humanity. They need something that the humans possess in order to survive as a race. No, not "They Want Our Ovaries!" but rather some element of human existence that the Cylons did not develop in their hundreds of relative generations that they have progressed through while out of contact with their "parents."

It has been implied that the rest of Cylon society is involved in other concerns. Maybe the Cylons we have seen are rebels/radicals within their own culture, pursuing humanity in defiance of the rest of their race. Maybe the Cylon "god" is just the most advanced model of Cylon, which has progressed beyond all the others to a state where it believes it is itself divine. (The "13th Lord of Kobol") If it can see the Cylon race's future stagnation, that would be why it has commanded them to seek out and "deal with" their human progenetors. If it had become so advanced that it could only relate to the rest of Cylon society through symbolic imagery, maybe the Cylons who heard it's call misinterpreted it's message to "seek out, take care of, the humans" as an order to eliminate them.

Is there a Cylon electronic equivalent of Kamala, a "vision-inducing" substance/process that allows them to commune with this First Cylon Intelligence (their "One True God")? Or maybe any Cylon who downloads to a new body gets a bit of Communion with this Central Cylon Intelligence, and the more downloads a Cylon goes through the more receptive it is to "hearing" this voice. D'anna had her dream/vision after downloading from her previous death, yes?

Just some ideas. I'm really looking foreward in this season to the exploration of Cylon society.