Battlestar Galactica

Whoa, caught up in this series for some time now. It's about an era when humans have reached a level where they are either skillful enough, or cocky enough, or both, and created machines with incredible artificial intelligence. These machines, the Cylons, were designed with just one purpose in mind - precise instruments that would visit death upon all enemies.

In a twist of irony, these machines develop a sense of self and start to rebel, ultimately waging a war to destroy this race of murderous humans. After a long and exacting war, the Cylons suddenly pulled out and disappeared. After a few decades of ensuing strained peace, the Cylons pull off a surprise attack that leaves Caprica, the homeworld of the humans, a desolate wasteland full of radiation.

The nuking of the planet and the destruction of the numerous spaceships of the humans result in only about 50,000 survivors. Among the few spaceships left, one of them is the ageing Battlestar Galactica. It was a relic of the old war, with outdated equipment designed to defend itself against the technological attacks of the Cylons, and was supposed to be decommisioned on the day the Cylons launched their surprise attack.

As they escape in search of a mythical place called Earth, they face a lot of obstacles. One of the most disturbing ones is the presence of next-generation Cylons who look, feel and act like humans. In fact, some of them think that they are humans, and are only activated later on when it suits the Cylon wishes.

Well, there's something that stuck with me when I watched it. Somebody on the show said, "..in our desperation, we looked backward for a way to move forward." Somewhat of a oxymoron..but makes sense. Although he meant that the technology on board the Battlestar are dinasours from the past designed purposely to defeat the assault of the Cylons that could disrupt all modern equipment, history teaches us lots of lessons that would be useful for us to advance. By forgetting the past, its mistakes and lessons learnt, we lose our roots. More importantly, how are we to advance when there are lots of things to learn from our forebears that we have forgotten?

For tomorrow!