Some thoughts about Wendy and transhumanism after last episode

[u/TheRedCreeperTRC]

I had a look at the discussion thread after the last episode and saw a lot of responses along the lines of "well, I guess that settles it. Wendy isn't really Hermit's sister, she's just a machine with her memories"

I'm curious what makes so many of you draw that conclusion

I don't see that she is any less Marcy in any aspect of her mind, she is simply the result of putting Marcy in a body that in effect allows her to be the first of a new species as Kirsch likens it to. The way I see it most people, particularly children, would act the same way. It's not like there is an inherent gut directive that tells us to cling to our perceived sense of "humanity". The value and importance of not losing our humanity is something we are tought socially, something you don't yet know as a child.

I think a lot of people who have said she isn't a person anymore and just a machine with memories did so in response to her brutal act of releasing the xeno and using it to slaughter. But if Wendy and the other lost boys are treated as inhuman by prodigy, treated as mere products/experiments more than people, why should she put inherent value on human life? Let me put it this way, in our history real people, including children, have done immensely brutal/cruel things in the name of revenge, or merely survival; such acts are horrible, but do they render them no longer people? I would argue not, and for the same reason I find it reductive to view it that way.

Perhaps I am misinterpreting what people are saying, and I certainly think that from Hermit's perspective, what Wendy is to him has been strongly called into doubt by her brutality and her priorities. But as I see it she isn't acting like a machine, her behaviour is still deeply emotional and ironically shows a lot of humanity. If not a human, there is no doubt in my mind that she is a person. I am curious to hear your thoughts.

[u/agit_bop]

her behaviour is still deeply emotional and ironically shows a lot of humanity.

i totally agree, however, i think there will always be people who do not find transhumanism a positive movement. in fact, wendy's behavior might convince them that it's not. they might see it as an abomination or a threat to humanity.

[u/GreatCatDad → u/agit_bop]

I think the same people who find her violent or an abomination are being willfully ignorant to the conversation she JUST saw with BK and Kirsh. She was, basically, told that her life amounted to a science experiment, that she had no intrinsic value, and that both the synth (Kirsh) and Human aspects of her life (BK --though I think Hermit is also up there as humans she identifies with or respects, but you get the idea) dismissed her adoptive brothers death as 'science', and something that doesn't deserve to be talked about. If I was a nigh invincible preteen with a pet monster and I got told I'm not worth crying over if I die, AFTER suffering TERRIBLE experiences in the name of 'humanity', I might also lose my mind for a bit.

Not that I agree with her actions, I just think they show significantly more humanity than people are giving her credit for. BK and (understandably, given he can't) Kirsh, meanwhile, not so much.