Note: My first-ever attributed online post appeared on a website devoted to discussion of Bungie’s Marathon series (the direct precursor to the Halo franchise). The site’s administrator took comments from readers by e-mail, and would post them. On October 3, 1995, during the first semester of my senior year, an e-mail I had sent was published to the site. The topic of discussion was whether the player character (the game’s equivalent of Halo’s Master Chief) is a cyborg or not. 26 years later the site, and my contribution, are still online. (DL, Sept. 7, 2021)
David Lohnes <welohnes@got.net> writes:
I think we may have overlooked some very important evidence that supports our humanity. Several times, Durandal makes direct reference to the finiteness of our life. He says, "Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain." Later he says, "...as inevitable as your own last breath." He says, "Strive for your next breath.", and although he speaks of our great killing ability, he seems to infer that it is due to the fact that we must fight for our survival, more than inate skill. "Organic beings are constantly fighting for life. Every breath, every motion brings you one instant closer to your death. With that kind of heritage and destiny, how can you deny yourself? How can you expect yourself to give up violence?" Our heritage is one of organic beings fighting for life, and our destiny is death. Does this sound like a cyborg machine man programmed to destroy?
David is quite right to point out that in our haste to find evidence for the you=cyborg hypothesis we ignore the evidence that supports the you=human hypothesis. I do not think it is possible to prove (at this point) the you=cyborg hypothesis as there is not enough evidence and I have tended to concentrate on the “you are not human” or the “you are more than human” hypothesis. While there is certainly evidence to support the “you are not human” hypothesis the evidence David quotes above equally supports the you=human hypothesis. But let us assume for one moment that we are a cyborg or a battleroid. Thus, when Durandal refers to our humanity, the finiteness of our life, our struggle to survive he may be referring to our human origins, the organic part of the cyborg/battleroid, destined to degenerate and die or equally be destroyed prematurely. Under the assumption that we are a cyborg any suggestion that we are human can be explained by the human part of the cyborg.