In This episode, we play through Arcadia and learn a lot more about this Andrew Ryan fellow. I tell ya, the more I learn about him the less I like him. He seems to think he’s freed himself from the shackles of god, religion and government but in reality, he has merely replicated those exact same things in a slightly different form right in his city. Please leave a like and a comment if you feel so inclined. Thank you!
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21 Comments
We are currently running a vote for the next game on Patreon. The vote is between Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy XII, and Final Fantasy XV.
Would you kindly keep up the great work? Such a well done and consistently good podcast
if Ken Levine doesn't post a review of Atlas Shrugged on Goodreads we should sue him
I feel bad I never finished bioshock. I was having so much fun with it, and got no real reason whatsoever, I just stopped about where they are now. And I had the whole trilogy! I really need to sit down and finish
China's "communist" status is pretty dubious at this point.
The early segment of this episode makes me desperate for a Metal Gear Solid 2 analysis. You'd have a field day!
The second I saw the symbols, I couldnt wait to hear Casen talk about them here. Also, I'm playing the remastered and yeah, the sound has some serious issues. Constantly hearing splicers as if theyre speaking right in my ear, but actually theyre like 2 rooms down
humanity is only as it is because of our ability to make artificial constructs, no other species (as far as i know) has collectively agreed on all the units of measurement we have artificially constructed, and our ability to transfer them to machines. consider the idea the millions of years in the future a meter, or a btu, or a foot, or a gallon, could be a unit of universal measurement across species.
Usually when it's things like Final Fantasy/JRPG discussions Mike is the one who's leading the discussion, but for this series Casen is flexing his analytical skills so hard that I'm scared he's gonna burst an artery! As someone who sucks at analysis, I love these and It's fun to play alongside since I have a busy schedule and can only commit a couple hours a week, which is great as that's all this requires to be caught up for the next discussion. Keep up the good work!
I saw a comment on a previous podcast episode expressing disagreement with the assumed political views of Mike and Casen and it's a shame that they can't voice political questions purely in regards to a story without people 1: assuming how they actually feel in the first place and 2: judging them for their possible views without knowing their life experiences or reasons. This show is for entertainment and story analysis, and I think they do a great job of questioning all political/sociological/economic thinking when it is applicable to the story, and I can think of multiple instances where they've questioned people and society from both sides of a given aisle. We can all sound crazy if you can poke enough holes in facets of our ideologies. Mike shouldn't have to say he's not making political statements. Just enjoy the show 😂
Your mother coming in saying "You STILL haven't beaten Andrew Ryan yet!?" must have happened to someone right lol?
Amazing work. Absolutely worth supporting on patreon guys! Donate and fund the discussion!
So one might get the takeaway that ideologies would benefit from some sort of analysis of the material conditions of society.
Can I ask, are you guys practising Mormons? I ask because I’m interested in how a religious upbringing can impact your analytical outlook on the world. Both of you apply literary analysis to the video games you study, but you also explore religious iconography too. I wonder if you approach religion from an academic perspective rather than a spiritual one?
To your points about how major changes take place in a society and how cyclical that process can be, there's a great model that comes out of Complexity Theory that explicitly considers big systemic changes in terms of an *Adaptive Cycle*. I'll paraphrase some details:
It's a model for how complex systems grow and change overtime, alternating between long periods of aggregation/transformation of resources and shorter [often destructive] periods that create opportunities for innovation. This cycle is proposed to be fundamental unit for understanding complex systems from cells to ecosystems to societies. The four phases of the Adaptive Cycle are the 1) exploitation/growth phase, 2) the energy conservation phase, 3) the release/collapse phase, and 4) the reorganization phase. They are typically illustrated by a lazy-eight figure endlessly cycling back through each phase.
In contrast to 1970s-style General Systems Theory, the theory around Adaptive Cycles emphasizes the inevitability of both stability and transformation in complex systems. These systems (e.g., political systems, cultures, ecosystems) may appear static for long periods of time, but transformation of some sort is inevitable. Subsequent iterations of the cycle can repeat configurations, possibilities, and dynamics. It's technically possible to skip the often destructive release phase of the cycle and reorganize a system before a collapse. In almost all empirical cases though–whether it's a tiny ecosystem or a large-scale political one–big systemic changes result from the collapse of a preexisting structure.
A big part of Resilience Theory, which grew out of Complexity Theory and ecology, uses this model to understand system dynamics and learn how large social systems can reorganize before collapsing.
It’s more interesting that Tenebaum implied she created little sisters because that’s the only way little girls could survive in an Objectivist Society. Making them immortal and unable to be injured protects them
Kaden is based
Casen with the Bill Clinton impression! That part was too funny!
Around 56:40, you guys mention you can't wholly abandon a faith or ideology truly if you simply adopt another variation of the same concept.
The example you used was obviously Ayn Rand jumping from communism to objectivism.
This might be s essentially politics in a nutshell lol. Both sides are of any type of philosophy in a nutshell, and Bioshock does a fantastic job of illustrating this.
I work with alot of Leaders, Teachers, Parents — people in positions of authority really — and many really struggle to understand that when you have a vision or a goal, the reaching of that goal means you almost always have to undermine the message of the vision that you're trying to convey. Like when an employer says their business is "like a family", and they go on a firing spree and never talk to you again afterwards =P
Einstein put it best when I think he said something like the same level of thinking that created a problem can not solve it.
Great video! Great discussion! Great game!
This is fantastic
One of the reasons why I like this podcast is that while some common talking points are brought up, it’s always placed in a more intuitive lens than most other critics or analyses I’ve seen. However, I would like to present another viewpoint, coming from a Catholic perspective.
A serious chunk of this episode is spent discussing how extremes are similar, or in some cases, the other side of the same coin. I do think that it is important to note that even when we intellectualize this as such, we don’t as humans actually act like we truly believe it.
A good example would be the saying “the opposite of love isn’t hate, but rather, apathy or ambivalence.” The implication being that love and hate are “two sides of the same coin.” However, this disregards the degeneration of one’s soul and personality when consumed by hate, as opposed to the self-evident goodness of love (in this case, love being “willing the absolute good of another.”) One brings us closer to the transcendent, while the other further separates us. I would word this as “one more closely aligns us with Logos, where as the other misaligns us.” When we are misaligned with Logos, we end up living in a world of absurdity and confusion because we have separated ourselves not just from truth in general, but the greatest truth of all.