P
Paradoxy
Guest
The G-Man's Employers:
The Combine are aware of the G-Man's organisation. You've got to wonder what relationship they have with it: Is it a threat to The Combine? A rival player/empire? I don't think so - all the talk of contracts, bidders, and employment, there's the strong impression that this is business, that the G-Man's organisation is a for-profit organisation of time-manipulators; offering their services to a pan-dimensional pan-temporal market. The entire Half-Life 2 story is an example of how their business works. It's Determinsim - they are able to speculate all the factors and find out the most expedient means to get something done - The Right Man, In The Wrong Place, Can Make All The Difference In The World. All they had to do was insert a certain individual in a certain place at a certain time and events would proceed from there which would achieve the desired ends.
Is The G-Man Human?
I think the G-Man himself IS human, although I will be interested to see if his organisation is a human one as well. If it is, this opens up the interesting idea that, at some time, somewhere, in some dimension or state of existence, humans are technologically embued with the power to toy with time and space. And yet of course, naturally, they still pursue what human society does best: capitalism and offering their values and service for gain - in this particular case the fascinating product they offering is the chance to buy the past or future, changing events along the causal timelines to get desired consequences. If a person can own belongings, or land, or intellectual ideas, why can't a person buy past and future states of events?
If The Organisation IS Human:
Why shouldn't this organisation feel any loyalty to the humans suffering under the Combine? Surely they could have routed the combine before this ever began? Why didn't they? One could ask the same question for ALL the people throughout human history suffering under slavery, dictators, genocides, famines, climate changes and wars. They must treat the history of human suffering amorally and as a commodity, just as for example a meat industry must treat the lives of animals amorally and as a commodity. In Half-Life 2, a particular set of events has been pruchased, and this organisation simply uses the most expedient method to get the job done, and considering their powers to manipulate and forecast the causes and consequences of events - they are able to tell when the right man in the wrong place will make all the difference, whatever that difference turns out to be.
The Combine are aware of the G-Man's organisation. You've got to wonder what relationship they have with it: Is it a threat to The Combine? A rival player/empire? I don't think so - all the talk of contracts, bidders, and employment, there's the strong impression that this is business, that the G-Man's organisation is a for-profit organisation of time-manipulators; offering their services to a pan-dimensional pan-temporal market. The entire Half-Life 2 story is an example of how their business works. It's Determinsim - they are able to speculate all the factors and find out the most expedient means to get something done - The Right Man, In The Wrong Place, Can Make All The Difference In The World. All they had to do was insert a certain individual in a certain place at a certain time and events would proceed from there which would achieve the desired ends.
Is The G-Man Human?
I think the G-Man himself IS human, although I will be interested to see if his organisation is a human one as well. If it is, this opens up the interesting idea that, at some time, somewhere, in some dimension or state of existence, humans are technologically embued with the power to toy with time and space. And yet of course, naturally, they still pursue what human society does best: capitalism and offering their values and service for gain - in this particular case the fascinating product they offering is the chance to buy the past or future, changing events along the causal timelines to get desired consequences. If a person can own belongings, or land, or intellectual ideas, why can't a person buy past and future states of events?
If The Organisation IS Human:
Why shouldn't this organisation feel any loyalty to the humans suffering under the Combine? Surely they could have routed the combine before this ever began? Why didn't they? One could ask the same question for ALL the people throughout human history suffering under slavery, dictators, genocides, famines, climate changes and wars. They must treat the history of human suffering amorally and as a commodity, just as for example a meat industry must treat the lives of animals amorally and as a commodity. In Half-Life 2, a particular set of events has been pruchased, and this organisation simply uses the most expedient method to get the job done, and considering their powers to manipulate and forecast the causes and consequences of events - they are able to tell when the right man in the wrong place will make all the difference, whatever that difference turns out to be.
