Nathan Key

For today's blog to work, I'm going to ask my Creationist friends to remember that the world of Heroes is a fictional place where evolution is active and changing people into the "next form" of humanity. This isn't the world that God created, it's the world that Tim Kring created and in it- evolution is the force that changes our DNA. Please consider this before jumping to the conclusion that I've lost my faith (or whatever).

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Does Sylar have an Evolutionary Imperative to Murder?

Sylar, one of the major villains in the Heroes World, is notorious for splitting open the heads of individuals with special abilities, rooting through their brain, and taking their "powers." Instead of feeling remorse over the resulting death of the individuals whose brain he has compromised, Sylar's greed propels him to lustfully hunt down those with abilities so he can claim their power as his own.

Some argue (in fact, I think he's argued) that it's an evolutionary imperative. He was born to take what belongs to others and he's merely living out his purpose by killing and taking.
Does this sound at all similar to the logic the Third Reich used to perpetuate genocide? Anyone?

Two main philosophers have a hold on what we might refer to as "Evolutionary Ethics." The first is Charles Darwin, who argued that human beings (the sociable creatures that they are) must adhere to a path of mutual cooperation in order to survive. In other words, humans are a herd animal that thrives and survives by creating and defending their own lives and the lives of those in community with them.

Darwin, therefore, would argue that for sociable creatures to murder each other would be evil because it would threaten the ability of the species to survive.

The other philosopher who concerned himself with "Evolutionary Ethics" is a man by the name of Herbert Spencer. Spencer is, of course, known as the father of Social Darwinism- that cruel ethic that some use to rationalize the holocaust and any other ethnic cleansing. In it, he argues that since the strongest ideas and cultures are the best ones, that aiding those who are weak, impoverished, and old is destructive to that which is right and good. Or to quote him: "to aid the bad in multiplying, is, in effect, the same as maliciously providing for our descendants a multitude of enemies..."

Back to Sylar- In light of both these philosophers, Sylar is evil incarnate. If he were killing normal humans, we might be able to rationalize that he's protecting his own species and destroying those weaker than himself (thus reconciling Darwin and Spencer). But he doesn't kill anyone without abilities (unless they get in his way). His only interest is in devouring his own species so he can take their abilities.

So, I'm going to postulate that in the Heroes Universe, Sylar is the worst offender of all because according to Evolutionary Ethics- he is destroying the possibility for his own species to thrive and survive. Instead of destroying the weak, he preys on the strong and in doing so, he's the worst of all possible characters.

Sylar does not, in fact, have an imperative to kill.
He has an evolutionary imperative to protect- as we all do.

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