Valve’s incredible success with the game Portal (part of it’s Orange Box suite of games and recently a solo release) and resulting cult following is old news to gamers. Since I don’t keep up on such things as I used to, I’ll admit I’m late to the party.
However, there is a aspect of Portal I found truly chilling for its similarity to reality, something that I think needs to be pointed out.
*** Warning: Game Spoilers ***
I’ll confess I’ve not played the game, as my time for such things is very limited these days. But the major plot points are as follows: You wake up in a science lab, and are guided by the facilitiy’s Artificial Intelligence system GLaDos to complete a series of puzzles usinga special gun that opens up “portals” to overcome obstacles.
As the game gets harder, you get a sinister feeling the computer, like Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is trying to kill you.
Upon finishing the game, the player destroys GLaDos, escapes the lab, and as the credits roll GLaDos begins to sing. Yes, sing - and the song has become a huge hit, spawning fan adaptations, music videos and even cameos in other games (it’s a downloadable song in one of the new music games).
So here’s the relevance to this blog - some of the lyrics about GLaDos and Aperture Science (the company that ran the lab) strike me as similar to those advocating or performing Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
Aperature Science
We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.But there’s no sense crying
over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done.
And you make a neat gun.
For the people who are
still alive.
And later , after more inside jokes:
Look at me still talking
when there’s Science to do.
When I look out there it makes me GLaD I’m not you.
I’ve experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are
still alive.
While the song is fiction, the motivation and rationale seem similar to what advocates of Embryonic Stem Cell Research like Michael J. Fox spout. They’re going to die, or be destroyed anyway, so let’s do Science on them…. those that are still alive. For who? Those who are still alive.
It’s creepy that this logic is shared by a evil computer in a video game that is killing humans in the name of science, and admits to lacking a “morality core.”
And as always, it must be pointed out that there have been no successes with Embryonic Stem Cells, only Adult Stem cells (those taken from cord blood, etc). But there are those who still want to continue research that costs human lives and has made no progress, even in animal testing.
If you want to see the whole song and here the creepy but catchy tune, it’s on youtube:
A comic adaptation by VGcats.com:
and with lyrics:
Technorati Tags: portal, stem cell, embryonic stem cell, michael J. Fox, stem cell research, pro-life
1 Comment Received
That is chilling. It reminds me of a gem I found in a used book store that was written in the 60s.It is called “The green rain” (warning: it contains some adult content) and is about a scientist who creates a substance to grow plants on the moon. However, it bursts before leaving earths atmosphere and causes a green rain that harms a lot of people. It was the first thing I thought of when I heard China was playing around with controlling the weather. Science is a good thing, but stepping on God’s toes has consequences.
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