Okay, fans of There Is No Antimemetics Division, can we talk about Bart Hughes?
More specifically, the line "Our mission statement is 'Secure, contain, protect'. Somewhere down the line we really should look into adding 'and keep as many human beings alive as possible' to that."
Because this part says so much about him.
DISCLAIMER I have no idea if all this was said before, if it is extremely obvious, and/or if I'm misinterpreting to hell and back.
Anyway.
Let's start with the fact that, when asked about the ethics of killing every sapient being, he turns to the Foundation's mission statement. This isn't about ethics or the preservation of human life, this is about containment. He sees the Foundation's goals as more important than what they were made for: humanity.
We are looking at a STEM major who was not taught the humanities. Tragic, I know.
Secondly, pick and choose much? How about "We die in the dark so that you can live in the light"? He picks the moto that fits his claim, even though there is more that proves him wrong.
He is loyal to the Foundation, even more than he is to humanity, but he also doesn't understand it.
And finally. He's not even correct about the moto.
"Secure the anomalies, contain the anomalies, protect the anomalies. How does it scan otherwise?"
Two of these make sense. Unfortunately, one doesn't. What does "Secure the anomalies" do that "contain the anomalies" doesn't?
Because it's not "Secure the anomalies". It's "Secure information", as in, from the general public. To complete the trio, we have "Contain the anomalies", as he said, and "Protect humanity". How does it scan otherwise?
Anyway, he has very flawed logic, which makes him quite interesting. I had a conclusion to make but forgot it and now I'm too busy rereading Wild Light, so cya.
