[Warning: Contains spoilers for the Battlestar Galactica episode Blood on the Scales] A lot of stories have fairly simple, obvious morals. These can seem like a clear guide for illustrating a moral rule, but they present moral dilemmas in an artificially isolated way. The problem is that in the real world, nobody lies, cheats, or kills for reasons that, at least in their own mind, aren’t important. I would argue that more complex, realistic narratives are more useful for exploring our ethics as they present moral dilemmas that are genuine dilemmas. Only by examining what we should do when faced with two unpalatable choices, which both present horrific consequences, can we really parse out what our values are and which ethical principles we must stand by, and what we must be willing to sacrifice.
Battlestar Galactica presents just such complexity. Although there is a sense of protagonists and antagonists, as in any television series, many of the main characters are deeply flawed while their enemies have virtues. For example, Tigh has always been a drunken X.O. and Doctor Cottle has always smoked around even his pregnant patients. Neither are many of the actions taken throughout the series simply right or wrong, as they balance such issues as choosing survival over a sense of morality, whether it be Roslin going against Lee’s stand for Baltar’s freedom of religion, or Helo preventing the humans from becoming as genocidal as the Cylons and stopping the release of a contagion with the power to wipe out the Cylon race.
The fleet has struggled to maintain a democratic government throughout the years, and despite many challenges, democracy has managed to persist in the remnants of the human race. Even after Adama’s coup d’état and his continued exertion of military power, elections that were almost stolen, and President Roslin’s recent romantic involvement with Adama leading to dangerously concentrated power, democracy has persisted, often aided by Lee and Zarek’s efforts. And yet, as soon as the civilian government disagrees with his revolution, Zarek utters the two words “shoot them,” and in an instant the entire Quorum of Twelve is slaughtered.
One of the more emotional scenes of Blood on the Scales was another good illustration of old memories and comradeship overcoming species boundaries. The mutineer Captain Kelly, sprung from the brig after previously bombing the defense lawyers for Cylon collaborator Gaius Baltar, catches the Cylon Tyrol emerging from a duct. When Kelly has him at gunpoint and says he is a frakkin’ machine, Tyrol responds “that’s right I’m a machine, and what does that make you, a dumbass?” Kelly laughs at this, and comments that since Chief’s wife was unfaithful he doesn’t have a Cylon kid after all, and that Kelly saw that coming. They seem to share a moment of reminiscence before Kelly raises his gun to kill. However, turned by old memories and overhearing the Quorum of Twelve slaughtered, Kelly then tells Tyrol to go and switches sides yet again.
The slaughter of the government was a turning point for Gaeta as well, as he realized what Zarek had gotten him into and began to rethink his path. As the episode ends we see Gaeta stand down against Roslin, but looking back at the mutiny from his perspective it is hard not to sympathize with his actions. He had most of his friends and the rest of the human race wiped out by a Cylon nuclear attack, had his respect for the scientist Baltar betrayed as he realized he was a collaborator, was seduced and betrayed by a Cylon into lending a hand in the killing of many innocent humans (as seen in the webisodes), was almost executed as a collaborator by a jury that turned out to be mostly Cylons, and had his leg shot off by a Cylon in a dubious quest for Earth. From that perspective, it is hard to argue with Gaeta’s actions after Adama’s lie of Earth failed to pan out, he formed an alliance with the Cylons without explanation to the fleet, and left a Cylon next in line to command.
In today’s world it important to promote such core principles as a desire to enhance human capabilities, acceptance of diversity, democracy, life-extension, and reproductive freedom, but accepting those is relatively simple compared to the complex ethical questions we will face in the application of our values to the future. Just as on Battlestar Galactica, more difficult questions will arise, more of the nature of: Are you willing to stick to a principle of the good of many over the good of the few when it comes to your own loved ones? If parents should have the right to select enhanced children but not maim them, what criteria determines what is an enhancement and what is an impairment? Does the right to abortion disappear when there’s a dwindling human race, and does the reverse happen when there is dangerous overpopulation? Is the more important character trait unwavering loyalty or a conviction to do whatever it takes for survival of the species? Are you willing to resist dwelling on fantasies of ideal futures and work on ensuring that we survive long enough to carefully implement our dreams? What rights will you assign radically different humans in the future, animals today, and life forms that we will be able to create like the Cylons?
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