AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Psycho-Pass

Mandarake · 2013-01-29, 22:41

I held back on commenting for as long as I could because this episode was designed to, and did in fact elicit highly emotional reactions. This makes for great television, but doesn’t do as well for a reasoned discussion of deeper issues. Urobuchi & co. deliberately staged the public assault/homicide scene to maximize audience outrage, and very skillfully too, in my humble opinion. Those who would complain about the all-controlling nature of Sybil ought to be aware that they are themselves being manipulated emotionally as they view this program, even if it is being done for their entertainment, and perhaps, enlightenment(?).

Speaking of emotional reactions, back in my law school days we were introduced to the old adage that “hard cases make bad law.” Google it guys. I find it very relevant to this discussion. Makishima and his ilk are extreme outliers in a very steep bell curve. Would you overturn a functional system on account of vanishingly rare, albeit sensational exceptions to the general rule? What would you have in its stead? Would you tweak the system to allow a modicum of violent crime and aggression just to keep the general population on its toes? How much more morally acceptable would that be? In fact, if you had the technology that underpins the Sybil system at your disposal, what would you do with it? Would you be the Luddite and pretend that it had never been thought up? Or, if you decide not to apply the technology to the logical extreme that we see in Psychopass, how would you decide where to draw the line on what will likely be a slippery slippery slope?

I don’t pretend to know the answer to these questions. What makes this show more than just a potboiler to me is that it provides a good context to ponder the human condition anew. Any system we think up is bound to be weighted down by the same contradictions that are inherent in our nature as imperfect human beings. So those of you who still insist that simple answers exist to the moral issues implicated in this series ought to consider the possibility that you may not have thought about them deeply enough.

2013-01-29, 22:41	Link #147
Mandarake Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2013	I held back on commenting for as long as I could because this episode was designed to, and did in fact elicit highly emotional reactions. This makes for great television, but doesn’t do as well for a reasoned discussion of deeper issues. Urobuchi & co. deliberately staged the public assault/homicide scene to maximize audience outrage, and very skillfully too, in my humble opinion. Those who would complain about the all-controlling nature of Sybil ought to be aware that they are themselves being manipulated emotionally as they view this program, even if it is being done for their entertainment, and perhaps, enlightenment(?). Speaking of emotional reactions, back in my law school days we were introduced to the old adage that “hard cases make bad law.” Google it guys. I find it very relevant to this discussion. Makishima and his ilk are extreme outliers in a very steep bell curve. Would you overturn a functional system on account of vanishingly rare, albeit sensational exceptions to the general rule? What would you have in its stead? Would you tweak the system to allow a modicum of violent crime and aggression just to keep the general population on its toes? How much more morally acceptable would that be? In fact, if you had the technology that underpins the Sybil system at your disposal, what would you do with it? Would you be the Luddite and pretend that it had never been thought up? Or, if you decide not to apply the technology to the logical extreme that we see in Psychopass, how would you decide where to draw the line on what will likely be a slippery slippery slope? I don’t pretend to know the answer to these questions. What makes this show more than just a potboiler to me is that it provides a good context to ponder the human condition anew. Any system we think up is bound to be weighted down by the same contradictions that are inherent in our nature as imperfect human beings. So those of you who still insist that simple answers exist to the moral issues implicated in this series ought to consider the possibility that you may not have thought about them deeply enough.