WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.360 Is it possible for humanity to create a peaceful society with the means at our disposal? 00:00:05.460 --> 00:00:07.700 Several ideologies could lead to the answer, 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:13.280 but each would require the entire populace to opt in, and none is without disadvantages. 00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:20.160 Were everyone made to think the same way, and to work towards the betterment of society as a unit then it might function perfectly. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:23.360 But to do this would mean sacrificing individuality, 00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:26.338 which doesn't fall in line with the values of most societies. 00:00:26.338 --> 00:00:30.000 On the other hand if everyone was allowed to embrace their individuality as 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.480 much as possible, it would lead to conflicts in which someone's needs come at the cost of another's 00:00:34.480 --> 00:00:38.760 and more willful people would subjugate the weak. Neither of these systems is ideal, 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:42.980 and what we have in most of first world society is a compromise based middle ground. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.380 Everyone is made to follow certain agreed-upon rules, 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:50.420 but is still allowed to make many of their own decisions and represent their individual identity. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:57.000 Absolute peace seems impossible under the system, as individuals disagree about what should be included in the law, 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:03.200 but a general sense of comfort is achievable for most, and so the system is easy to fall in line with for 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:08.720 all but the most extreme psychological outliers. Even if the level of happiness felt by, 00:01:08.720 --> 00:01:16.660 and opportunities available to different people are still unequal. A worthwhile question is of whether it is in human nature to desire individuality, 00:01:16.780 --> 00:01:22.290 or if it is a product of the culture that we grow up in. Were humans raised to believe that there is an 00:01:22.390 --> 00:01:29.909 absolutely correct way to live, would they be happy being made to live that way? Western media is quick to present these societies as 00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:35.579 fundamentally evil and terrifying because as people born into a society which prizes individuality, 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.500 we are terrified of being forced to lose it. 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:45.440 But these presentations are mere punditure, because for a person raised in those societies, their way of life would seem just as natural to them. 00:01:45.549 --> 00:01:51.029 The best way to convince a populace to adhere to these systems is through the idea of objective morality. 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:54.420 Most societies implement this via religion, 00:01:54.420 --> 00:02:00.080 convincing people that there is a higher power making distinctions between right and wrong. In the world of Pyscho-Pass, 00:02:00.090 --> 00:02:05.620 this is done through science, convincing people that morality can be quantified via technology. 00:02:05.620 --> 00:02:10.900 The word 'convincing' is integral here as the civil system is not absolute. 00:02:10.900 --> 00:02:15.240 It is comprised of a literal hive mind of people with differently wired brains 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:20.280 making judgments about what is or isn't moral and deciding who fits into their society. 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:22.560 The populace is complicit in the system's existence 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:28.200 because it does such a good job of making most people happy with its judgments that they have no reason to question it, 00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:33.800 and after a generation born brainwashed into complacency with it, its dominance has taken hold 00:02:33.820 --> 00:02:38.920 Psycho-Pass poses for us the moral question of whether or not it is justified to build a happy society 00:02:39.100 --> 00:02:45.119 on the foundation of lies and the destruction of dissent. Is it okay for the civil system to exterminate 00:02:45.220 --> 00:02:51.239 those who it isn't fit to save in service of the greater good? Is happiness based on lies and having your identity 00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:55.900 Shaped by the system sustainable? Or will it actively drive people insane? 00:02:56.020 --> 00:03:01.780 Psycho-pass is one of my favorite anime because it does not attempt to provide a clear-cut answer to these questions. 00:03:02.040 --> 00:03:05.340 Our knee-jerk reaction to the civil system is revulsion 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:12.040 Many including myself have criticized that it makes no sense for the Dominators to kill people in such an over-the-top fashion, 00:03:12.040 --> 00:03:17.400 as it is pretty obviously a bad look for the system and would only traumatize anyone who saw it. 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:21.239 However, I will also defend not only that it looks cool as shit, 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:28.620 but also that it is symbolically helpful for the viewer making clear in no uncertain terms that these people are being fucking horribly murdered, 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:34.060 whether it's justified or not. You could say that this is both pandering and hand-holding, and you'd be right, 00:03:34.140 --> 00:03:37.040 but as an aesthetic choice it's one that I enjoy a lot. 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:40.900 But is the civil system particularly different from what we already have? 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:45.520 Our society already passes judgment on individuals based not only on their actions, 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:54.280 but on suspicions and prejudice. Instead of from the top, the power comes from everywhere, and no one has matching information, 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:58.900 or even coherent information most of the time. Psycho-Pass presents us with a society in which crime is so rare 00:03:59.420 --> 00:04:07.040 that citizens within the system literally can't even recognize a crime when it's happening right in front of them. And while this is negatively exploitable, 00:04:07.160 --> 00:04:14.160 can we really say it's worse than a more chaotic system in which tragic mass killings happen so often that people live in fear of them? 00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:20.520 It is integral to the message of Psychopaths that the civil system is not inherently or objectively evil. 00:04:20.520 --> 00:04:25.880 Crime in this society is at an all-time low, and standards of living are at an all-time high. 00:04:25.880 --> 00:04:32.080 For the average citizen, the system does such a good job of managing their lives that they have no reason to question it. 00:04:32.260 --> 00:04:33.660 Most people are content, 00:04:33.669 --> 00:04:39.249 and those who aren't will either be counseled into contentedness, or otherwise fall into the cracks of society, 00:04:39.249 --> 00:04:42.900 which are the places that the series sets out to explore most thoroughly. 00:04:42.900 --> 00:04:47.820 The reason I'm explaining all of this is that, while Psycho-Pass is a massively entertaining cop drama, 00:04:47.820 --> 00:04:51.140 with one of the most memorable rivalries in modern anime, 00:04:51.140 --> 00:04:54.240 between a hugely magnetic villain and a badass hero 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.920 that anyone can rally behind, when I think about what makes the series a favorite I always come back 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:05.740 to the scene in the final episode, when Akane decides to continue working within the system and trying to help improve it. 00:05:05.740 --> 00:05:12.360 At the core of Psycho-Pass's narrative and much of Urabuchigen's writing is an ideological conflict 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:17.760 the Sybil system represents absolute control, while Makishima represents absolute chaos. 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:21.760 Makishima's rebuttal to the highly functional society of brainwashed drones 00:05:21.760 --> 00:05:27.440 is that a life which isn't felt, or based around one's individual identity is meaningless. 00:05:27.440 --> 00:05:33.060 He sees no purpose in the betterment of society if it comes at the cost of the individuals emotions, 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:37.480 and ability to express themselves, even if that expression comes at the cost of others' lives. 00:05:37.580 --> 00:05:40.820 In between these extremes we find Kogami Shinya, 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:47.320 who represents the middle ground that humans most often arrive at. A ground in which - while there is belief in the need for some degree of 00:05:47.380 --> 00:05:53.020 Order and rules within a society - those cannot be enforced in ignorance of human emotion. 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:56.300 In his case the desire for vengeance against a criminal 00:05:56.300 --> 00:06:00.680 overpowers his ability to logically follow along with what will most benefit society. 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:05.580 He cannot bring himself to bend to the will of a system, which he disagrees with morally, 00:06:05.580 --> 00:06:08.380 and this eventually drives him out of that system. 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:15.120 Kogami reflects the feelings which most viewers will have going into the series - that Makishima must be punished for his evils, 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:20.120 and that it would be unreasonable to reward his actions, even for the supposed benefit of society. 00:06:20.200 --> 00:06:28.100 Akane's rebuttal to the Sibyl systems cold logic is that it ultimately misrepresents the spirit of humanity's creation of the law. 00:06:28.300 --> 00:06:34.280 Mankind's trepidation towards forgoing individual liberty in service of the greater good is not merely selfish, 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:41.700 but out of hope that there is another way - that perhaps there truly is an agreeable middle ground in which everyone will be happy, 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.720 and no one has to lie, or be cast aside in order for things to work. 00:06:46.010 --> 00:06:51.459 Akane witnesses firsthand evidence that there is more which can be done via counseling and the human touch 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:56.840 to communicate with supposedly incurable criminals than what the Sibyl system currently Implements. 00:06:56.840 --> 00:07:01.200 She knows that while the current system is more functional than what was there before, 00:07:01.280 --> 00:07:05.799 and therefore cannot be destroyed wholesale, it can clearly be improved upon. 00:07:06.190 --> 00:07:10.449 Or perhaps alternatives can be found which function even better without being founded on lies. 00:07:11.260 --> 00:07:19.460 Ultimately the biggest flaw of the Sibyl system is that it is rushed. It claims to be a perfect system so that the populace will comply with it, 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:25.160 But it is only functional to a point, and seeks to hide the parts that don't work via lies and brainwashing 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:32.220 which makes it that much harder to think about fixing. The more we see cracks in the system the more clear its dysfunction. 00:07:32.220 --> 00:07:35.440 Until the point where it seems that a replacement is outright necessary. 00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:38.520 But it is at this realization where the series concludes, 00:07:38.520 --> 00:07:45.700 not accounting for the dreadful sequel that you should not watch, nor the okay movie which does little to expand on the show's ideas. 00:07:45.700 --> 00:07:52.780 Psycho-Pass had me at 'hello' with its awesomely realized and functional cyberpunk world, and later got its claws in me with it's gripping narrative, 00:07:52.880 --> 00:07:56.760 memorable characters, and the wonderful love ability of Tsunemori Akane. 00:07:56.760 --> 00:08:00.080 And i've spent no shortage of breath discussing the strengths of the series, 00:08:00.260 --> 00:08:04.779 especially as compared to its dismal sequel. My first time watching it I spent much of the viewing 00:08:04.970 --> 00:08:09.700 abjectly terrified that it was eventually going to become a show about dismantling the Sibyl system, 00:08:10.099 --> 00:08:14.679 culminating in some huge stupid action scene in which the building that houses the system is blown up. 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:20.889 When I got to the vastly more nuanced conclusion I was so ecstatic that it became an immediate favorite. 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:23.319 I'm sure that there are many details about the story 00:08:23.320 --> 00:08:28.389 which I could nitpick, and just as many which I could praise for their imagination which I've never seen elsewhere, 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:34.980 but ultimately it's the presentation of the Sibyl system, and its pros and cons, and the decisions made by the characters within that system 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.940 which have left such a lasting impression on me. 00:08:37.940 --> 00:08:42.880 This video is the fourth in a series about why each of my favorite anime has earned its spot amongst the others. 00:08:42.880 --> 00:08:46.580 If you find after watching it that you would like more context into my views on anime, 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:51.540 then I recommend watching this playlist of what I consider Essential videos to understanding my viewpoint. 00:08:51.540 --> 00:08:59.100 If you enjoy my content, then consider supporting me on Patreon where you'll quickly be introduced to the insanely vast amount of it, which I release on a daily basis. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:01.900 Thanks again for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.