Free Will in Flux: How Metal Gear Solid 2 Proposes Independence as a Remedy for Misinformation
Metal Gear Solid 2 was released in 2001 to a controversial reception, with some criticizing its long-winded cutscenes as too heady and philosophical, while others, citing the same aspects, hailed it as a postmodern masterpiece. The game follows Jack, a spy with an unclear past, on his search for ideals amidst the battle between an individualistic clone soldier and an AI censorship program. Like much sci-fi, MGS2 has only become more relevant as the internet age progresses, exploring how we retain our free will against mounting provocations.
While impossible to measure the extent of its impact on election results, there is now consensus that the Russian government successfully and pervasively interfered with the 2016 U.S. Presidential race. According to the Mueller Report, Russia’s first objective was a social media campaign fueled by troll farms to sway opinion in favor of Donald Trump. We label this “interference” because the source is obviously alien, and the interests indisputably corrupt, yet it’s crucial to remember that, excluding some attempts to tamper with electronic voter registration and voting machines, Russia’s tactics were not to force anyone’s hand. They merely provided the context from which many Americans drew their political opinions. MGS2’s AI system works in much the same way, albeit with the goal of furthering human evolution rather than serving a foreign country’s interests:
“What we propose to do is not to control content, but to create context. The digital society furthers human flaws and selectively rewards development of convenient half-truths. Just look at the strange juxtapositions of morality around you. Billions spent on new weapons in order to humanely murder other humans. Rights of criminals are given more respect than the privacy of their victims. Although there are people suffering in poverty, huge donations are made to protect endangered species.”
Like the process of genetic evolution, bits of culture, ideas, and memories are selectively chosen by us to constitute what we recognize as human history. However, with the increasing availability of information on the internet, the pools of influence from which we form our opinions and make these selections are becoming correspondingly overcrowded. In an era where a troll farm on the other side of the planet can crowd and even bias the political thoughts of voters deciding a country’s fate, we are justified in questioning our ability to manage this selective process. Russia changed many Americans’ wills without violating their free will.
In the beginning of MGS2, as in many RPG’s (role-playing games), the game asks the player to enter in his or her name and birth date. Often, this is used as an immersion device in that characters will address the player-character by the entered name. In MGS2, however, the entered name makes no appearance until the very end. Jack, the player-character, removes a pair of dog tags worn inconspicuously throughout the game, on which is engraved the entered name and birth date. “Anyone you know?” asks a friend. “No, never heard the name before,” Jack replies before tossing them away. At the end of the rigidly linear game, Jack is able to rise above the influences on his life down to the very name the player attempted to impose upon him. As information and influence become increasingly pervasive, true individuality is reflected in our capacity to rise above these and decide for ourselves, whether in accordance with or against our surroundings. We must measure our free will not by whether we have the right to choose, but by how able we are to choose independent of the context of our lives.