TF Views

Dominic wrote:But, if you continually under-estimate a foe, and they keep biting you on the tuchus, then at some point you have decide you are going to play it safe and remove any and all prospect of them attacking you again. If you have a hard time estimating their skill/threat-level, then you need to be especially sure.

As you pointed out before, the Decepticons/Predacons saw humans like we might see bugs, as lesser beings supposedly incapable of being a real threat. That's why they were constantly under-estimating the humans. Their problem was that they didn't adapt their tactics. They continued to view humans as weak. Perhaps if they ever actually had considered humans to be a real threat, it would have been a completely different story. And they certainly wouldn't have needed to completely eliminate all humans to eliminate any threat we possess.

they certainly wouldn't have needed to completely eliminate all humans to eliminate any threat we possess.

But, viewing humans as non-threatening in the first place, wiping humanity out entirely seems exactly like the sort of thing they'd do. As justified as, say, destroying a wasp nest, or an anthill.

onslaught86 wrote:But, viewing humans as non-threatening in the first place, wiping humanity out entirely seems exactly like the sort of thing they'd do. As justified as, say, destroying a wasp nest, or an anthill.

If you view something as non-threatening, why would you waste the energy to wipe them all out? It'd be more logical to just retaliate against the ones attacking you. And destroying an anthill or wasps nest is far from the same thing as genocide. That would be like the Decepticons demolishing one city and leaving survivors.

The idea here is that the Predacons learned, and adapted, from the mistakes of the Decepticons. Decepticons under-estimated humans, so the Predacons decide to "play it safe" and wipe 'em all out.

How is this illogical?

Dom

Dominic wrote:The idea here is that the Predacons learned, and adapted, from the mistakes of the Decepticons. Decepticons under-estimated humans, so the Predacons decide to "play it safe" and wipe 'em all out.

How is this illogical?

After Megatron's attempt to wipe out humanity fails, we see the Predacons follow in their ancestors footsteps as they also continually under-estimate (a considerably less evolved) humanity.

And I wouldn't call Megatron's attempt to wipe out humanity "playing it safe" since he was trying to alter history, which is a huge risk given there is no way Megatron could accuracy predict what effect those changes would have on the timeline. Wiping the humans out might help the Decpeticons win the war, then again it might not. Not to mention what other consequences might result from humans not being present to help the Autobots. Wiping out humanity might actually inadvertently result in the destruction of Cybertron.

I agree the altering history is a dangerous tactic. (If nothing else, the Decepticons winning in this case might just prevent Megatron II from ever existing/rising ot power.) But, Megatron clearly accepts whatever risk that involves.

But, I was not arguing about time-travel. I was just addressing the question of genocide as a matter of general principle. And, as I stated above, there is nothing wrong with "playing it safe" and just wiping out a species that has consistently vexed you, especially when you have a proven track record of mis-judging them. The fact that the Predacons could not assess the cavemen accurately is only more justification for wipin' them out. Again, I am addressing genocide as a question of general principle, saying that it can be a rational choice.

Dom
-waiting for O6's thoughts on heroic Combaticons.

Dominic wrote:-waiting for O6's thoughts on heroic Combaticons.

Quiet, you! I have school! >.>

Dominic wrote:And, as I stated above, there is nothing wrong with "playing it safe" and just wiping out a species that has consistently vexed you, especially when you have a proven track record of mis-judging them. The fact that the Predacons could not assess the cavemen accurately is only more justification for wipin' them out.

Just because a species consistently vexes you is no justification to commit genocide on them.

Dominic wrote:Again, I am addressing genocide as a question of general principle, saying that it can be a rational choice.

Even on general principal, I really can't see genocide as being a rational choice. To me, maybe the only time it should even be considered is if the situation is so extreme that it's either kill or be killed as a species and there aren't any other options available. Defeating an enemy shouldn't take wiping them all out.

From the perspective of a transformer, humans are a lower life form. To Predacons and Decepticons, wiping out mankind isn't genocide, merely pest control.
Destroying humanity would be as justifiable for them as destroying smallpox was for us.

Rampage01 wrote:From the perspective of a transformer, humans are a lower life form. To Predacons and Decepticons, wiping out mankind isn't genocide, merely pest control.
Destroying humanity would be as justifiable for them as destroying smallpox was for us.

Again, you don't have to wipe out an entire species to get rid of a problem.

And I have to say I don't think the smallpox analogy really works here. Smallpox caused some major epidemics and as such was a pretty big threat until the vaccinations managed to wipe it out. A pest problem is more like rats and bugs. And while we do tend kill rats and bugs when they come into our homes, we don't go out of our way to eliminate the entire species from the face of the Earth.