Note: I really do mean the eugenics thing to be a bit concerning, I'm not being edgy for some poorly-thought-out humor. The tones aren't as overt as you might think -- and certainly not very well discussed -- but they are certainly there? In the Halo 4 intro, Halsey says "Your mistake is seeing Spartans as military hardware. My Spartans are humanity's next step. Our destiny as a species. Do not underestimate them."
Halo 4's release was built up with many, many books laying out the lore, expanding upon The Assembly revealed in Reach's datapads, The Librarian revealed in Halo 3's terminals, and the entire Forerunner society. Genetic augmentation was a way of life for the Forerunners and their caste-base society, and Halo 4 reveals that the Librarian intentionally encoded fucking magic into human's DNA, a kind of Machiavellian genetic Rube Goldberg Machine such that they would eventually develop AI, find the Halo rings, and Reclaim the Mantle of Responsibility.
Furthermore, that Genesong allows Master Chief to survive "The Composer", i.e. a magic death ray. The transhumanistic storyline definitely involves some genetic modification.
I personally like to think of these ancient genetic meddlings as commented code that needs to be uncommented, and so far removed from eugenics that I don't have to feel :\\ about it when playing Halo 4. A simple genetic hotfix against the composer, and a deus-ex hot, loaded, and ready to fire for whatever other fresh hells are to be seen in the rest of the series. And I also like to imagine that the majority of the transhumanistic storyline will focus on technological improvements, and that we will eventually see the Assembly and the Janus key again.
But my understanding is that the plot and tone shifted greatly with Halo 5 -- a game I have yet to play -- and that it is expected to shift even further with Halo Infinite.
twovests wrote
Note: I really do mean the eugenics thing to be a bit concerning, I'm not being edgy for some poorly-thought-out humor. The tones aren't as overt as you might think -- and certainly not very well discussed -- but they are certainly there? In the Halo 4 intro, Halsey says "Your mistake is seeing Spartans as military hardware. My Spartans are humanity's next step. Our destiny as a species. Do not underestimate them."
Halo 4's release was built up with many, many books laying out the lore, expanding upon The Assembly revealed in Reach's datapads, The Librarian revealed in Halo 3's terminals, and the entire Forerunner society. Genetic augmentation was a way of life for the Forerunners and their caste-base society, and Halo 4 reveals that the Librarian intentionally encoded fucking magic into human's DNA, a kind of Machiavellian genetic Rube Goldberg Machine such that they would eventually develop AI, find the Halo rings, and Reclaim the Mantle of Responsibility.
Furthermore, that Genesong allows Master Chief to survive "The Composer", i.e. a magic death ray. The transhumanistic storyline definitely involves some genetic modification.
I personally like to think of these ancient genetic meddlings as commented code that needs to be uncommented, and so far removed from eugenics that I don't have to feel :\\ about it when playing Halo 4. A simple genetic hotfix against the composer, and a deus-ex hot, loaded, and ready to fire for whatever other fresh hells are to be seen in the rest of the series. And I also like to imagine that the majority of the transhumanistic storyline will focus on technological improvements, and that we will eventually see the Assembly and the Janus key again.
But my understanding is that the plot and tone shifted greatly with Halo 5 -- a game I have yet to play -- and that it is expected to shift even further with Halo Infinite.