Master Chief: guardian of the Republic

Post 2 of 4 in the superhuman augmentation and political philosophy sequence

Of the three methods described in yesterday's post for achieving that which humans cannot normally do, technology is the most familiar, so we will begin there.

The "super soldier" trope is common in science fiction. After all, it is the logical extension of various real-world trends that we can see accelerating around us every day: improving weaponry, machines to enhance soldiers' speed, chemicals to keep them awake, etc. Far and away, the most popular super soldier series is Halo*.

In the Halo universe, as seen in the games and accompanying canonical novels, there are essentially three groups of people: the Colonial Administration Authority (civilian government), United Nations Space Command (military), and the people of Earth and the colonies, subject to the rule of the first two. The former is effectively never seen, either in the games or in the books, outside of passing mentions, and since any civilian control of the military would likely have been noticeable in the games--the main character routinely interacts with high-level officials in the UNSC without any sign that they take orders from civilians--the military effectively forms the active government of the games.

Regardless of the canon details, the upshot is this: Master Chief, the player-character, is a SPARTAN-II super soldier. Genetically enhanced, with cutting-edge armor and weapons, he stands literally head and shoulders above any normal marine.

He and his fellow SPARTANs, when they were alive or if they continue to be during the events of the games, form the elite defenses of humanity. It is clear from the first game that without them, humanity would have been in serious trouble from the outset. Incidentally, the Covenant (the primary antagonists from the first game and part of the second and third) have a similar military caste structure, with the Elites forming the highest level and Brutes and Grunts below, though this structure is disrupted later.

In Plato's Republic, we hear of a similar three-tiered system of government. The top level consists of the philosopher-king--more generally, the wise executive leadership of the state, executing the function of reason in the just society. This group maps to the Covenant Prophets and either the Colonial Administration Authority or the Admirals of the UNSC, depending on the degree of control civilians exert over the military.

The bottom level reflects the desires or appetites of the body politic; they are the general population for whom temperance and obedience are regarded primary virtues. These are the Brutes and Grunts of the Covenant, and the civilian population or standard marines in the human military.

The key level, responsible for the maintenance of the state, is composed of warriors. These are responsible for the defense of the state and the maintenance of order within it. The player-character is representative of this level on both UNSC (Master Chief) and Covenant (Arbiter) sides. They instantiate the spirit of the state, possessing both the courage to defend it and the altruism to make the requisite sacrifices.

The fundamental paradox of the warrior level is problematic both for Plato and for societies throughout history: the defenders of the state must be strong enough to repel outsiders yet not so strong that they turn totalitarian on their people. Particularly when the warrior class may possess a strong comparative advantage only in strength, not commercial or scientific talents, a strong incentive exists for them to expand their ability to command resources from the population.

Plato considers a variety of methods to inculcate a set of values in the warrior and philosopher-king classes (collectively, the guardians of the state). Most turn on upbringing; selective breeding of the current warrior class produces ever-better soldiers, and a universal education system supplements this process by identifying strong civilians and weak soldiers and moving them to more appropriate roles.

Master Chief is an almost literal personification of these methods. Genetically engineered, he is referred to as John-117, reflecting the severing of his history and ancestry in the same way that children of the warrior class would not know their parents in Plato's system. Trained extensively in the military arts, Master Chief is the perfect soldier, a one-man army.

Ultimately, the Halo universe can be read as an implementation of the warrior-guardian system advocated in the Republic. The "noble, selfless defender" model of the warrior class reaches its apotheosis in Master Chief. He repeatedly throws himself into the breach, risking his life dozens or hundreds of times, all to preserve a civilization whose sentiments toward him walk the line between respect and fear.

In short, the Republic model works, in the story. The narrative of the game and the player's expectations synergistically promote the heroic nature of Master Chief--since the point of the game is to save humanity, we couldn't very well see any other side of MC even if it existed. In the narrative as in the philosophical structure, MC is a hero almost by definition.

The technology required to produce Master Chief is rare, and this rarity is precisely what gives him his power. If all soldiers were at his level, he would hardly be "super." Thus, the technological superhuman, as construed by Halo, might be seen as an appropriate analogy to the warrior-guardians of the Republic.

But this is hardly the only model.


Next: Biotech democratization

*excluding Mario games, since despite his violent antics he remains a plumber