Earth and Cybertron: Are We Really That Different?

Mechanical Earth from http://web-roi.org/

Cybertron from http://zoknowsgaming.com/2009/12/17/transformerswarforcybertronmoredetails/

     The modern (mechanistic) view of earth has surprising similarities to that of the fictional planet called Cybertron from the comic book series Transformers. Cybertron was created by Primus, who turned his body into the form of the planet to protect it from his brother and enemy Unicron. Cybertron is a robotic city that can reproduce its mechanical organism. When an organism is at the end of it's cycle or it is destroyed, then their bodies are used to create a new organism or better another one. That process is in line with the mechanistic world-view that believes the human body is made up of interchangeable parts that can be repaired or replaced. Primus and Mother Earth are alike in that they both represent life-giving. In Merchant's "Radical Ecology, she introduces the Chapter on Science and World-views by describing earth "as a nurturing mother with a respiratory, circulatory, reproductive, and elimination systems."(Merchant 41) This view of earth was transformed and changed throughout the centuries to what we now know as the Mechanistic World-view. Like humans on earth, Cybertron has its own inhabitants. These inhabitants were once all the same until a certain few wanted to dominate and control the planet. They were then split into two groups, Autobots and Decepticons. Just like earth, Cybertron's appearance was transformed because of the organisms that lived there. The war between the Autobots and Decepticons weakened the planet's resources. The transformers eventually had to reach out to the universe for other resources to sustain their life force. These two groups represent dualism in human viewpoint on how we are to treat the environment, conserve or dominate. We tend to dominate more than conserve. In this video game trailer of Transformers: War for Cybertron, you can see each's sides viewpoint through their battles and the narration.

     Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, used his power and knowledge of combat to go on an imperialistic crusade to conquer the planet, then the universe. You could compare his actions to that of Europe in the medieval times and age of imperialism. Megatron also wanted to restore order amongst the transformers. In his mind, order was what he, and only he, could control. His favorite motto was "Peace through tyranny." Megatron also believed in survival of the fittest. Merchant believed that “mechanistic science and capitalism have viewed the earth as dead… exploitable for profits. The death of nature legitimated its domination” (Merchant 44). They saw earth's resources as a means of achieving capitalistic gain and national supremacy. Although Megatron has little to no use for money, he was power hungry and saw that overpowering his enemies would lead to his supremacy over the universe. The problem with the mechanistic world-view is that we cannot directly see the effects of our actions towards the planet. As humans, we need to take the viewpoint of Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, and do our best to protect nature and our planet from destruction. If we don't then our planet's resources will continually diminish until we are left to flee in search of a new home.

“This world is older than you can imagine. It has sailed the starscape...tending budding galaxies...forever a buffer to the approaching darkness. And now its fate...is in your hands.”-A voice to Optimus Prime, The War Within #6

In order to find out more about this fictional planet just click the Cybertron link.