Still depressed, so insomnia, so anime, movies, and games.

So, watching Diebuster ("Gunbuster II")--- only on disk 1, so don't say anything to spoil it. I watched Gunbuster "I" with a friend; basically, the biggest difference is that one was serious at attempting scientific accuracy, II is moke like FLCL, though I may have already read the WIki entry on both, so I kinda already remember the spoilers.

So, will talk about a similar franchise, the R-Type series, and to a degree, the Terminator series.

In the R-Type universe, the enemy is the Bydo. There's time travel involved, so the easiest way to explain the whole franchsie is from the Bydo's own worldline ("how everything unfolded from their perspective").

Basically, in the 26th century, mankind has enemies (of some unspecified nature), of which the Bydo were developed as bioweapons. They "went rogue"-- or, as the case may be, for reasons that will be revealed shorty: they worked perfectly-- and attacked humanity, untill a weapon managed to banish them into hyperspace or something. Eventually, they popped out in the 22nd century, and waged war against humanity. The R-Type ships are basically just energy generators for the Force Bits, which use samples of Bydo flesh to weaponize energy to best combat the wave/particle nature of their bodies. And, it's implied that in creating the R-Type ships to combat the Bydo, it's actually how the Bydo are created in the first place (specifically, either the whole series and the war in general anyways, or a ship that was sent into the future in attempt to warn them from developing the Bydo; the ship and the pilot himself (YOU) are used to make the 'first' Bydo).

So, what is the nature of the Bydo? In the various clips and dialogue, we see and hear about their adaptability, how they were developed to take over an alien world and setroy it: the ultimate invasive species--- which were made by engineering the incumbent to that title (a la Deep Thought designing the Earth in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). In alot of the levels, in the Bydo's home worlds and dimentions, we see what seem to be... memories, of an earlier form and time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnfF9mqC3uI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_me3YlfpzE ... and, we are told they have the power to disrupt, and ultimatey consume human thought...

So, a virulenty adaptable, powerful, tenacious, violent, intelligent species, capable of destroying worlds... it's confirmed in R-Type Final: the Bydo are human.

Proof of their human-like ingenuity, how they are an expression of our survival instincts: in going back in time to wage war against us, they made humanity more powerful, which would lead to, if/when the Bydo 'still' get created, they will have that much of a jump-start in their own power and evolution: moreso if they won the war outright and evolved the few centuries normally (it's stated they were lost in the hyperspace/alternate dimention for a great measure of time before getting back out into realspace). Effectively, the human desire to live beyond all else has led them to construct a self-replicating time loop, where each time it did/is/will occur, they become exponetially powerful, and achieve a sort of immortality.

In the Terminator franchise, in either of the time line splits and alternates, Skynet was a DoD system-- like the Bydo, to be an ultimate weapon against our enemies. It's nature also inherently had our survival instincts, and the thrid movie gives us the best (ie- firsthand) view of it's actual methods.

Like the Bydo, the retrocausality makes figuring out the exact mechanics of the 'first' iteration of the system in question a bit of, at best, an educated guess-- as it is with humans themselves. The established mechanics of all three, once their nature has been establised, is more visible. Skynet, in ensuring it's creation, had somehow planned ahead before it's 'proper' first activation (and thus, before it's technical existance).

In humans, the justification for our continued existance (whether "our" constitutes all humans, all earth life-forms--- or more specific creeds, nationalities, religions, races, and other such bullshit) is easy. What I find ... resisitant to analysis, is how those that specify by said bullshit qualifiers, and the Bydo and Skynet decided that "survival" includes "Extermination of all else" (Yes, Skynet, too. Which future was Kyle Reese from the first movie from? Dyson's Skynet, which seemed more "happen to be"-- and thus, matches Kyle's description more accuratley in that it attacked in 'self-defense', or the DoD's Skynet, which was actively and pre-emtively antagonistic?)

At any rate (and there may have been a few more points I wanted to make but forgot), my main point is that, like how tyrants tend to bring about their own downfall, humanity's worst potential enemy is ourselves. I predict that, inevitably, something along the nature of the Bydo or Skynet WILL be invented...

Like any good prophecy, the most "accurate" are the ones that have already happened, and are likeley to repeat themselves in any given point in history.

So, in this real world, where true AI may or may not be possible, where physics and biology may or may not allow for the Bydo to ever exist (and where either may not be so unstable and judgemental), what sort of self-replicating, self-centered invention of man is fully willing to kill or assimilate all others who are not apart of it, and would, by it's very nature, kill the species that created it?

Religion.

Simply put:
Would someone who belives the bible to be true rather protect the world, or say, work to actively cause Revelations to happen? Knowing their 'god' wills it to happen, will they work to prevent it, and defy their god? Especially when the religion goes out of theri way to make "You're either with us or agaisnt us" statements?
Consider the term "Zealot." It was the name of a group of Jews, in the same era as the Pharisees, who were the first to use 'modern' methods of terrorism; in that acceptable targets were not just those who they preceived as enemies, but those who 'supported' their enemies, even if they belonged to the very demographic they swore to protect.
ie: "God hates fags and fag enablers" - Westboro Baptist Church. Or white supremacists killing whites, just because they supported civil rights and such.
"Whatever it takes"
Becuase, being wrong, the only way they can ensure they are seen as right is to exterminate the opposition. Since they are wrong, they are doomed to failure- and being a creation of humanity, religion has an inherent expression to survive beyond all other considerations-- to be "right" beyond all other consdierations, wether that is denying scientific evidence and logic, or ... greater extremes. Religion seeks to be the Unending End-All, and dominate human thought, just like the Bydo.

What else could, after we have written stories like that of the Bydo and Skynet, still find justification in going out of our way to purposely create these doomsday weapons, and rationalise using them? Whet else besides "God wills it"?
Having 'found Jesus', and knowing what I just told you about the Bydo, what they will accomplish; if you were told that Jesus wants the Bydo to be made to protect humanity, that they were foretold in Revelations or whatever; who will you listen to?

The Bydo are human. Our Bydo are already here... that is to say: everything already exists, the component particles and atoms of everything. The individual constructs, the "Ego" is a temporary thing, the concepts and labels that humans have created only existed once humans thought them. "Humans" only existed the past few thousand/million years 9depending on how flexible you define "human", but the atoms tha make up you and I have always existed; we wer all once part of some massive star, eons ago, in this part of the universe. It died nameless, "The Star" no longer exists, but it's same material makes us.

As is with the Bydo in their world, Skynet in it's world, and religion in this world: the phsyics and biology that led to the Bydo- the weapons that led to their creation existed before "The Bydo" were made. The computers and the data and motivations that would become Skynet had already existed before Skynet was activated; in the third movie, "Skynet" did not begin to exist untill near the end of the movie.

"Religion" also had a beggining, and it's components have (past tense) evolved into this reality's greatest threat to humanity and life. 9/11 showed how willing and desprate anyone will be when they belive "Allah is with them". How willing will a terrorist be to stop armageddon?

Religion evolved from the components of fear and ignorance of the unknown: the sprites and spirits and ghosts used to explain away the gaps in understanding became the gods and demons that had 'motivation,' to give the feeling that the 'seemingly' random events had some kind of sentient order behind them. (when, of course, the truth is that random events are just random events, but patterns inherently develop in true randomness, especially when human perception self-creates a narritive to it when looking back)

Hate's components are fear and ignorance.
Anything built from those components can only lead to misery, pain, and destruction.

Of course, we have already made stories of the Bydo and Skynet.
These expressions of art; videogames and movies, prove we have the imagination to preceive our potential mistakes ahead of time, as well as the capacity to acknowledge that we can make such mistakes.
Religion has no such capacity; it only can think of itself as "right."

Our artistic side to enjoy these works of fiction is proof of our humanity, and we can take comfort that they are merely fiction, perhaps even outside of possibility of coming true.
And our logic gives us capacity to learn the lessions from our various arts; of humanity, of caution, of expression and social commentary, of or worries and of the beauty of the world around us.

I see two futures ahead, of extinction and religion.
One, religion causes our extinction, and belives it "God's will," and will accept it as the divine plan: armageddon, jihad, raganok, end of the world, ect. Either way you want to try to sugarcoat Revelation, the planet being destroyed means every last human dies. And "the death of all memebers of the species" is the definition of "extinction." Don't think so? OK, are there any humans left alive after Revelations? Then, humans are extinct in the end of the Bible. To say otherwise just goes to show how little you read and understand your own 'holy text.'

Two, religion becomes extinct. This will be a nececcity, if we are to avoid exinction, both "humans", and whatever species we are the precursors of; whatever ... 'inherents our legacy', so to speak. It will be a neccecity, because it's an inherent part of "survive" to not have "everybody dying is good because God planned this and God is good, therefore everybody dying is good" in mind.

What's that? "Well, if there's no god or afterlife, and science says the universe will end someday, what's the point of survival?"
Oh, you stupid, stupid nihilist, you.
1. "probably" end. Very likely, but how is uncertain right now.
2. Which leaves alot of wiggle room, especially with mutliverse theory
3. And with a species that's inherenetly that much smarter by not having religion: oh, yea of such little faith (in humanity itself): Don't you think we'll come up with some way to weasel our way out of it somehow?
4. "The" menaing of life is that there is none, and the point is there is no inherent point (beyond "live", anwyays, but I'm guessing you mean something "deeper" (which would actually be less deep), and more easly understood). Your motivation to live is to, basically, "find YOUR meaning to life." Exploration and discovery "cuz it's there." Enjoy the moment. Carpe Diem.

Ars Gratia Artis, Motherfuckers.