Week 9: The Great Beyond

For our week on Space Opera I read the short story “The Nine Billion Names of God”. I found it really interesting because of the religious elements in the story as well as what the twist at the end implied. I think that in a lot of Space themed media there are many religious parallels and themes, and that might be mainly because when some people think of what lies beyond our sky they see a gateway to the Gods or even a way of reaching them. A lot of my favorite space movies and games also include religious or spiritual themes. The Fifth Element, Halo, and even the Alien Vs. Predator series all have different interpretations of religion as we know it. But I think one of my favorite instances of this is in the Mass Effect series.

There are a lot of religious elements in Mass Effect, especially concerning the main plot line throughout the trilogy. There is this huge, universally destructive and highly intelligent race called Reapers that’s only purpose is to return every fifty thousand years and purge the galaxy of life that has thrived since they last returned. This is like the short story in that there are people who believe that this is basically the Gods will and that the purges cleanse the galaxies of their sins. The monks believe in Gods purpose and see that their task can be completed as quickly as possible through the use of technology. Maybe the reason why there were nine billion names of God was because they were never supposed to complete this task and effectively end the world. But because of their access to technology they could bring on this calamity that was never meant to happen in the first place.

A lot of media today deals with the theme of our dependence on technology being our ultimate downfall and I think it’s a great thing to examine, especially in regards to how it’s developed so quickly and how it has affected religion.