The Human Soul Mystery = Duh?

[Xanderman]

Can anyone explain to me how the V's can possibly believe they will find the soul by tearing a human's body apart piece by piece....

Seriously, does it make sense? Anna is clearly a master of human manipulation, she manipulates the entire planet in her broadcasts, common folk and world leaders alike. And yet she is a complete moron about this? lol How is it that they actually believe the soul to be something physically real? Read a dictionary much? There is an unending amount of material on the subject of the soul, and yet they reach the conclusion that it must be something physically real? If they can't grasp the various definitions and concepts in even a basic way, they can't possibly be anywhere near advanced enough to understand the advanced physics/mathematics required to master interstellar space travel, not in my book anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I'm amused by the devices/mass experiment plans they cooked up in an effort to isolate the human soul, the scene between Joshua and Anna discussing his device was in particular quite enjoyable. But this is all just grade A silliness, a pure plot device.

[Glove]

Can anyone explain to me how the V's can possibly believe they will find the soul by tearing a human's body apart piece by piece....

Well, the Brittish didn't do it when they chopped up William Wallace...Anna
should have watch a movie or read a book.

*I always thought of bottling up some Luck and saving it for a future
match in pool. Wouldn't that be nice? Destroying a soul/Bottling up
luck...what's the difference?

[Lightning Strykez!]

Personally, I'll be very glad when this particular plot point is over. It's *this close* from being cheesy.

[darkphoenix21]

The idea that she would be able to find and destroy the soul is hilarious!!! How are these writers going to tackle that without making it seem ridiculous or ludicrous?

[Lauren_17]

I'm probably the odd one out, but I kind of like the idea of the whole soul thing. The V's don't possess faith, that is why they don't understand the concept of a soul. They do not believe in a God or understand that purpose because they are of science.

Anna believes the soul is tied to human emotions, which she is slowly starting to develop. This is scaring her (even though she won't show it or admit it) so she wants to destroy it, so no one will have emotions and future V hybrids won't have them.

[Xanderman]

Well, the Brittish didn't do it when they chopped up William Wallace...Anna
should have watch a movie or read a book.

*I always thought of bottling up some Luck and saving it for a future
match in pool. Wouldn't that be nice? Destroying a soul/Bottling up
luck...what's the difference?

The idea that she would be able to find and destroy the soul is hilarious!!! How are these writers going to tackle that without making it seem ridiculous or ludicrous?

Yeah I also find it amusing despite it being a plothole. It's already ridiculous though. heh

I'm probably the odd one out, but I kind of like the idea of the whole soul thing. The V's don't possess faith, that is why they don't understand the concept of a soul. They do not believe in a God or understand that purpose because they are of science.

Anna believes the soul is tied to human emotions, which she is slowly starting to develop. This is scaring her (even though she won't show it or admit it) so she wants to destroy it, so no one will have emotions and future V hybrids won't have them.

It simply isn't consistent with Anna's level of intelligence displayed (the way she manipulates everyone around her requires "higher level" intelligence, the kind that should have no issue grasping the soul concept). But if you're saying that her own emerging emotions are causing her to act and think irrationally, I guess we can go with that.

[kernel_thai]

Whether or not they get the concept of a soul, it's canon that the visitors have been on earth for a long time preparing for this invasion. The idea that in all that time infiltrating human society theyve gained no understanding of one of the single most important human concepts is ridiculous.

[Xanderman]

The idea that in all that time infiltrating human society theyve gained no understanding of one of the single most important human concepts is ridiculous.

Right, and besides this, Anna and Joshua formed their childish conclusions as if there were no other explanations or material on the subject. How about a two minute chat with any bum off the street or simply googling first you masters of space travel you.

[Lauren_17]

The idea that in all that time infiltrating human society theyve gained no understanding of one of the single most important human concepts is ridiculous.

Religion? Because that's the origins of the soul. And to be honest, there are so many religions out there, that the Vs may be confused.

[Xanderman]

The sticking point for me is Joshua said something like this to Anna as the basis for what they were doing: "There is a commonly held notion that the human soul lives on after the body's death" (or something like that). And then he goes on to explain that the experiment may require hundreds of thousands of subjects. This is quite ridiculous, because they are going by a "notion" that isn't even scientific. Even in religious circles the soul is not necessarily considered to have a physical existence (but rather, meta-physical or spiritual). These and other competing (and arguably "over-riding") notions/ideas were apparently not taken into account, or just dismissed. Emotions don't automatically mean there's a "soul" or confirm a soul, many animals also experience emotions for example (so it is not limited to humans--so why not do safe experiments on animals first rather than risky ones on humans? Isolate the monkey's soul or the dog's soul thru torture.). Lots of different bodies of thought on the soul subject, and yet their final conclusion is that the soul likely exists and can be physically extracted. Simply absurd on various levels.

In Sum:

1) Anna should clearly have the intelligence to understand religious concepts/ideas, even if she herself is not religious. Her interactions with and ability to manipulate humans prove a higher level intelligence. She should be able to get the "soul" idea, or the "God" idea, or virtually any idea.

2) There's no way she could have reached the conclusion she/Joshua did if she did any "real" research on the subject. You'd think she would have covered all her bases on the subject first BEFORE committing to a (ultimately base-less) massive scale experiment like this one.

[kernel_thai]

Religion? Because that's the origins of the soul. And to be honest, there are so many religions out there, that the Vs may be confused.

In Sum:

1) Anna should clearly have the intelligence to understand religious concepts/ideas, even if she herself is not religious. Her interactions with and ability to manipulate humans prove a higher level intelligence. She should be able to get the "soul" idea, or the "God" idea, or virtually any idea.

2) There's no way she could have reached the conclusion she/Joshua did if she did any "real" research on the subject. You'd think she would have covered all her bases on the subject first BEFORE committing to a (ultimately base-less) massive scale experiment like this one.

Most religions share the concept of a soul. That may be Christian term but it predates Christianity. The visitor's also have a pretty firm grasp of religion because they used it as a weapon. One of the early themes of the first season was whether there arrival was a sign from god. They brought healing and a message of peace, also staples of a religious approach.

I do think Anna's observations about the soul and her need to overcome, in essence, the human spirit to achieve victory, is a solid plot point that could be fun to explore. Where I think the writers erred was in trying to have the visitors use a medical approach (which makes them look dumb) as opposed to continuing psychological warfare against the human soul.