The Law and Politics of Battlestar Galactica

privacyprof writes "Fans of the show Battlestar Galactica might be interested in our interview with writers and producers Ron Moore and David Eick. Three law professors at the blog Concurring Opinions have an hour-long interview with Moore and Eick about the legal, political, moral, and economic issues raised by the show. The interview is available in audio files; alternatively, people can read a transcript of the interview (Part I) and (Parts II and III). Part I examines the lawyers and trials in the show, how torture is depicted, as well as how the humans must balance civil liberties and security. Part II examines politics and commerce. It explores how the cylon attack affected the humans' political system, and it examines how commerce works in the fleet. Part III examines issues related to cylons, such as the humans' treatment of cylons, how robots should be treated by the law, how the cylons govern themselves politically."

Comments

Re:what i found kinda interesting ...

[inviolet]

... is that the only character that follows clear moral principles is karl "helo" agathon; every other character on the show has obvious flaws (which are necessary to create tension), but he is the only one that does what he deems right without doubt.

As a general rule, such behavior implies that Helo is the least sophisticated, and therefore perhaps the most susceptible to concrete-bound Bible-thumpish behavior. If you are in a major conflict and find yourself pursuing 'right' without doubt, then your head needs examined.

It's the same idea as we see in CS. The most qualified people I know, are in constant doubt whether their skills are up to the challenge. It's only the fool that is sublimely certain of his abilities... and who then blunders into the code and sublimely breaks backwards-compatibility.

I am not arguing for Scepticism, or any other form of uncertainty-as-an-end-in-itself. Far from it. I am just making the point that other than religion (which is cheating), constant and easy moral certainty is hard even during peacetime.