DDO Olympics: Nerd and Fandom Prelims

Thank you to Jonbonbon for the great debate. First and foremost I want to pull a quotation from my opponent’s summary, “The do agree that the clash really comes down to whether the pragmatic methods of the Borg versus the individualistic methods of the Jedi are more effective.” Looking at the underlined portion, I just want to emphasize that, as my opponent admits in the first post of this round in which she states our topic, we are not solely debating effectiveness – we are debating which is more desirable. While effectiveness is an aspect that can play a role in this decision, it does not have to be the main factor for such decision and my opponent has failed to illustrate why it should be. Having addressed that I shall use this post to summarize the two key points of clash in today’s debate, and show why you must ultimately select the Jedi as the victors. Pragmatism vs. Individualism - Individualism is a more unique point to vote on as pragmatism is achieved by the Jedi as well. In her round 2 post, my opponent explained how both organizations valued pragmatism to some extent; she then went on to address how the Borg’s method is more desirable because it is more pragmatic. However, my opponent failed to address my critique stating that she must also explain why, if a base level of pragmatism is achieved, we must evaluate it to a further degree. If both are pragmatic to some extent, a reason why the Jedi methods are preferable are because they also achieve individualism which the Borg do not. - Practical world application. My opponent claims that since I haven’t shown an instance of the Borg method failing this point doesn’t stand. However, what needs to be seen is that the Borg mentality is “assimilate or die” – they’re overly pragmatic approach is too black and white. The Jedi allow people to still exist on their own right. Progress - Cultural progression requires new thoughts and individualism. This is an argument that still has not been taken out. As I state, the process of a culture evolving with new ideas – be them scientific, social, etc – requires individualism because it requires unique thoughts. My opponent admits that the Borg do not allow for individualism, therefore the Borg cannot have progress. - The Borg’s goal is not progress. Looking to my opponent’s summary, “when all people in the universe are assimilated, we will have every piece of scientific data and every known method of innovation known to the universe. Every unique thought that's ever been developed, and every one of the smallest ways to develop or innovate will be known. This can only lead to maximum scientific development in every field.” First of all, we need to see that we can’t only focus on the knowledge we have now. Long term we need new ideas which mean people need to pursue their own goals. If we simply collected all the scientific ideas of people from say the 12th century, we wouldn’t be able to combine those to achieve ideas like string theory. Progress requires constantly moving forward. Second, the Borg aren’t focused on cultural progression as their goal is “assimilate or die” – they don’t intend on putting members into labs to explore new ideas, or expand off of the thoughts they collect. They intend on maintaining that everyone is part of their collective. - The Jedi’s focus. In her summary my opponent claims, “The Jedi are not focused on innovation. Their only innovation is turned toward themselves. Since not every person can be Jedi, innovation will not be universal. Thus, while individualism is upheld, innovation is not.” However this returns us again to the allowance for individualism in the Jedi method – their method of obtaining peace allows others to still pursue their own interests because they allow them to lead their own lives. Therefore, while the Jedi may not actively walk up to someone and say, “since we’re interested in innovation you must research this topic” they, unlike the Borg, allow someone to say that to themselves. Evaluation of these key points of clash show why the Jedi’s method for obtaining peace ought to be seen as desirable over the Borg’s.