Cylons With Names

As we work our way through the Battlestar Galactica saga, we keep thinking about the nature of the Cylons, particularly the "skin-jobs" who have biological and personal qualities that make them hard to distinguish from humans. It is significant that cylons who exist only in the community of the other cylons are known to one another only by their model numbers: she's a six, she's an eight, he's a two.

But as the cylons mix with humans, we, and they, learn to make distinctions that are associated with names. This eight is Boomer, not to be confused with that eight, who is Athena. As the story progresses, each model feels a pressure, as it interacts with humans, to personalize at a new level. They identify with their new names, they form strong relationships, even of love, and they make choices and commitments that end up confusing and redefining their loyalties. One of the most fundamental questions of the whole series is "can you trust a cylon?"

As long as the cylon is a model number, it is an it. But when the humans and cylons alike begin to distinguish the individuals by name, things change.

Naming is fundamental to relational existence. God named Adam. Adam named Eve. Jesus named Cephas Peter. To the one who conquers, Jesus will give a stone written with a name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

The fact that I struggle with names is convicting. As long as I think of the other person as a model -- the guy with the bald head and glasses; the kid with that red hair; the woman who wears those long dresses -- I'm working at a cylon level. I'm not seeing the person as a person, but as a placeholder. But we are created with names. To know and use names creates a relationship that is personal.