Two posts in one day? What's up with that?
It's a Puzzle
I've had something on my mind for the last... say... six months. But I can't decide which of two doubtful choices I would ultimately make... I can't make up my mind. (Not that any of this is real, mind you, and I know that, but I can't resist a good puzzle...) So, in the hopes that you will give many opinions, and that those opinions will influence me one way or the other, here's the most recent mental puzzle that has been slowly drving me crazy. (As if I'm not half crazy already.)
To understand this puzzle, you have to have a brief synopsis to the background story I'm thinking of, and you have to completely suspend your desbelief (This may be harder for some to do than for others to do):
I've been watching the series Stargate, SG-1 on DVD since a friend gave me the first season for my last birthday. Now, I knew nothing about this series, other than that it was science fiction. I discovered that this series, which is now in its 10th season on the Sci-Fi channel, was originally based on a 'B' movie called Stargate, with Kurt Russel and James Spader. The idea of the original movie was fairly simple: the Egyptian God known as 'Ra' was actually two beings in one... an alien with a human host. Now, 'Ra' was the first alien, and he was as bad as they come (stereotypical bad guy). Enter Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill (stereotypical good guy) , who was sent to where 'Ra' was currently conquering his slave nations, where Jack was to destroy the alien, even if it meant killing himself in the process... As he had just buried his son, the idea of suicide was not so much of a problem for him. The alien was rather stock, and so was the Colonel (he was simply 'military' without much character development), but the problem posed by the movie was, in and of itself, fairly real and interesting.
The series Stargae, SG-1 is based on this 'B' sci-fi movie (thus, the names Stargate versus Stargate, SG-1), but it's much more complex, complete, and intriguing. There's much more character development... for example, the alien bad guys are now an alien race known as the Goa'uld (say that name ten times fast, I dare ya!)(I can't say it at all!) who harvest hosts after breeding them specifically to become hosts, and once the alien (a snake-like creature who wraps around the hosts' spinal chord and enters the brain from there) takes a human host, the takeover is complete... There's supposedly nothing of the host personality left... the Goa'uld (the alien) personality takes over... until the host body is killed. Not a pretty life for the Americans who watch this show... They prize individuality as a high commodity. Plus, for some odd reason, we all are taught to distrust snakes.
My current puzzling conundrum is this: given the two choices, do I have a stroke and force myself to relearn... well... relearn everything, or do I become a Goa'uld, and let an alien entity steel my individuality, while I spend my extra long life (a Goa'uld gives its host excellent health, something I've never known, and extra long life) , but knowing I will spend that extra long life killing and steeling other host bodies for other Goa'ulds... So, do I live with the effect of the stroke (and let's face it, they're pretty devastating) or do I become Goa'uld and accept all the baggage that comes with it, all the while knowing that to become a Goa'uld means that 'blending' with an alien will cure all the effects left over from a paralyzing stroke? What a hard choice to make! I can't do it! Even after six months of thought, I haven't been able to make up my mind... (Not that this ultimately matters... But it's fun to puzzle out what I would do, given the choice) On the one hand, you have individuality, but no health, and on the other hand, you have health, but no individuality... Which would you choose... What do you all think?
To understand this puzzle, you have to have a brief synopsis to the background story I'm thinking of, and you have to completely suspend your desbelief (This may be harder for some to do than for others to do):
I've been watching the series Stargate, SG-1 on DVD since a friend gave me the first season for my last birthday. Now, I knew nothing about this series, other than that it was science fiction. I discovered that this series, which is now in its 10th season on the Sci-Fi channel, was originally based on a 'B' movie called Stargate, with Kurt Russel and James Spader. The idea of the original movie was fairly simple: the Egyptian God known as 'Ra' was actually two beings in one... an alien with a human host. Now, 'Ra' was the first alien, and he was as bad as they come (stereotypical bad guy). Enter Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill (stereotypical good guy) , who was sent to where 'Ra' was currently conquering his slave nations, where Jack was to destroy the alien, even if it meant killing himself in the process... As he had just buried his son, the idea of suicide was not so much of a problem for him. The alien was rather stock, and so was the Colonel (he was simply 'military' without much character development), but the problem posed by the movie was, in and of itself, fairly real and interesting.
The series Stargae, SG-1 is based on this 'B' sci-fi movie (thus, the names Stargate versus Stargate, SG-1), but it's much more complex, complete, and intriguing. There's much more character development... for example, the alien bad guys are now an alien race known as the Goa'uld (say that name ten times fast, I dare ya!)(I can't say it at all!) who harvest hosts after breeding them specifically to become hosts, and once the alien (a snake-like creature who wraps around the hosts' spinal chord and enters the brain from there) takes a human host, the takeover is complete... There's supposedly nothing of the host personality left... the Goa'uld (the alien) personality takes over... until the host body is killed. Not a pretty life for the Americans who watch this show... They prize individuality as a high commodity. Plus, for some odd reason, we all are taught to distrust snakes.
My current puzzling conundrum is this: given the two choices, do I have a stroke and force myself to relearn... well... relearn everything, or do I become a Goa'uld, and let an alien entity steel my individuality, while I spend my extra long life (a Goa'uld gives its host excellent health, something I've never known, and extra long life) , but knowing I will spend that extra long life killing and steeling other host bodies for other Goa'ulds... So, do I live with the effect of the stroke (and let's face it, they're pretty devastating) or do I become Goa'uld and accept all the baggage that comes with it, all the while knowing that to become a Goa'uld means that 'blending' with an alien will cure all the effects left over from a paralyzing stroke? What a hard choice to make! I can't do it! Even after six months of thought, I haven't been able to make up my mind... (Not that this ultimately matters... But it's fun to puzzle out what I would do, given the choice) On the one hand, you have individuality, but no health, and on the other hand, you have health, but no individuality... Which would you choose... What do you all think?
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