Whoah!
Whoah! So Devra Bogdanovich really kicked over a hornets nest today. I'm just seeking the truth here, but what if what she's saying is true. What if she really is the victim of a smear campaign by hostile forces recklessly leaking XM into the world for power and profit? I'm not saying I believe that, I am simply asking the question. We have to ask questions. If you were to offer a defense for her, what would it be? We have to think all the way around problems. And consider this. Even if she is wrong, does it make the other side right?
There's no doubt she was a political target, but that doesn't make her a saint. Still, she seems to be putting effort and energy into refining her arguments, one can only hope that there is as much effort put into refining her position.
ReplyDeleteShe can now empathize with Oliver Lynton-Wolfe
ReplyDeleteH. Richard Loeb her actions have been focused on elimination of XM even at the cost of human lives.
ReplyDeleteWether she is right or wrong her blatant disregard of the value of thinking, volitional humans is reprehensible.
Wether there has been a smear campaign or not, there is no defence for taking or wasting lives.
How many people who believed they were "doing the right thing" or "just following orders" have been tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity?
Remember Devra Bogdanovich was giving orders for human trials of the XM vaccine, with disastrous results and yet she pushed forward with this.
I'm not saying that she is a mass murderer or a war criminal, merely that she has followed a path that has led to unforgivable actions.
There's no doubt in my mind that there are people out there using XM for their own personal agendas. That she is standing up to these people is noble. However, the collateral damage may not be worth it. It's like getting rid of all the water so that companies can not shamelessly profit from it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she maybe has been targeted by this political conspiracy, but her interview has seriously freak me out, she has lost any empathy or touch with reality, and since anyone exposed to XM has already been manipulated, no one can tell her that maybe she is exaggerating or her data could be wrong, since that would be the XM exposure talking...
ReplyDeleteReading the comments on IR, my first thought was: "This is actually about ethics in games journalism."
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, your last question is the easiest.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious answer is "nope.avi".
Despite being #Resistant through and through, even I am beginning to realize that those polarized 'sides' we cling to are wrong.
ReplyDeleteScorched earth approach to XM is wrong, since debating that 'XM is harmful to humans' is just as valid as 'solar radiation is harmful to humans'. In the wrong amounts, yes. Doesn't mean you'll catch me arguing to blow up the sun. We don't know what impact, truly, pre-scanner, pre-anomaly levels of XM have had on us, and what dependence we might have on it.
The proliferation of XM is also wrong, just as much as increasing the solar radiation we soak in.
I believe knowledge, questioning, and neutrality is a demand more than anything else. We need to get back to pre-scanner levels of XM, study this responsibly.
Also: #GreyFaction
ReplyDeleteNiantic Project still gets leaked documents from the unknown source. It's common knowledge among agents who read the leaked files that it planned by the big three to derail Devra's project and ruin her reputation through bad press.
ReplyDeleteThe standards to judge "right" and "wrong" will always be prejudiced when the values and interests of the groups are not aligned. There's no absolute, unambiguous benchmark. So to judge whether she's right or wrong, or if the otherside is right or wrong, depends on the side of the line you're on.
ReplyDeleteShe is obviously the victim of a smear campaign. We saw it hatched. That doesn't make her right any more than Dan Savage has proven that the namesake if a certain frothy discharge has the only valid insight into the nature of human relationships. Devra turned fear into funding and funding into potential disaster. Publicizing the risk she poses was an attack on the root of that equation. Not all wars are faught with guns.
ReplyDeleteMike Wissinger There's a clear disconnect when she speaks, and there's the definite tone of the extremist in how she comports herself and her views. While I understand and mostly agree with WHAT she purports to fear, there is too much of the reactionary to her responses and actions, without any clear sense of consideration of all facts on the matter.
ReplyDeleteH. Richard Loeb Here are my thoughts on the matter:
ReplyDeleteI think that today's reaction was one based on frustration--frustration of both not being heard & being told to just trust her yet again. There are only so many times when you can use trust to bypass the need to explain. Too often Devra makes a statement and doesn't back it up or explain why she thinks/feels that way--as if we are just supposed to take her word for it.
And initially, I think we did. When the leaked memo regarding her inoculation program at the CDC was leaked, I believe that many (including myself) still trusted her to do the right thing, to continue to hold on to her principles & ethics as she had done in the past despite little reason or evidence being presented. Even with the idea that she would force an inoculation against xm, with a 20% mortality rate on the entire world. The idea that an unknown entity was trying to make Devra look bad seemed more likely than Devra actually tossing her infamous ethical backbone to the wayside.
Then Devra unleashed her portal virus. That I think was more controversial than the news of her inoculation program, yet there were still a significant number of influential agents that either stayed on the sidelines or supported Devra in her efforts. Many found her portal virus, as an alternative path for humanity, more appealing than Ada's or Jarvis'. Her reasoning for this was not detailed, other than appealing to a fear of the shapers. When asked in the comments to explain why she fears them, there was silence. As this was happening, Devra had yet to address concerns raised by this alleged "smear campaign".
Now Devra seems to be using the same reasoning as before: She must combat the "Shaper threat" and that "desperate times call for desperate measures". Except that she's used up all the trust she has built up over the years; I don't think that many trust her to defend the same morals & ethics as she did when the Niantic project was in its infancy. Some even view Devra as being mentally unstable--she seems to be so fixated on finding a way to eliminate xm from the human equation that she no longer is thinking straight. And the idea that she is going to do whatever it takes to get her way is quite frightening.
As to her being a victim of a smear campaign, that really is insignificant. She hasn't defended herself against the piling evidence, she hasn't told us what's at stake, & she hasn't explained her reasoning for her actions.
If Devra can address what she failed to address all of this time, then maybe...just maybe...the trust that she has lost could be earned yet again. But until then, the hornets are in the air & their eyes are set on her.
How can you be sure you're seeking the truth unless you already know what it is
ReplyDeleteYou want a way to defend her? That's easy. Take one of those people writing a crappy background story nobody cares and let her character die due to XM infection or her own virus. But just be sure to let her die in a way no story writer can resurrect her any more. Her dead must be final to save the game.
ReplyDeleteH. Richard Loeb Did you even watch the interview? She has completely lost it. There is no excuse for her actions. She is going to hurt more innocent people.
ReplyDeleteI'm not happy to see anyone drummed out of their job for political reasons, but it saved a lot of lives.
ReplyDeleteThe right course of action would be to see her face charges in the Hague for crimes against humanity -- because her lethal human experiments are straight out of the Nuremberg trials.
The good doctor does seem.. affected.. in her interview. I would say she's been Shaped, but then, she's serving a different set of masters now isn't she?
ReplyDelete