Quote Originally Posted by KylePearlsand View Post
*snip*
There are two arguments made in Living Memory and when people take issue with the first, people bring up the second while never addressing the first.

1. The Endless are unnatural, inferior beings and therefore it's fine to eradicate them.
2. Sphene will be forced by her programming to destroy all life in the universe to maintain the Endless.

Here's the thing, if someone suggested we kill every single Garlean so Varis would have no reason to conquer the Source, not only would we refuse to do it, we'd think that person was a monster. However, with the Endless, the characters pout a little, grumble about it being hard, but they still wipe out an entire people between boat rides and ice cream and the reason for that is because they are deemed an inferior form of life.

"I do not consider you truly alive, ergo, I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you."

And every argument anyone might try to make as to why the Endless do not meet the standards of personhood are undercut by the narrative itself. Why am I dressing up as a bunny to give happy memories to an AI I am about to shut down? Because the story attempted to have it's cake and eat it too, we're TOLD that these are not people and we shouldn't feel guilty about deleting them, but we're SHOWN that in every way that matters they were people. And whether we had to kill them or not to save ourselves, killing them should have been treated with more gravity.

We have a guy tell us that he was PROUD that he took the same job in death that he had in life and that he STAYED TRUE TO HIMSELF. Why is this AI that I've already shut down saying this? Because he wasn't a program, he a person, a person whose existence I just ended and ending his existence even if I did it to save all life in the universe should have been treated with more respect.