The Ascended are Morally Wrong

[Gatefan1976]

There seems to be a hierarchical structure there too. They don't all seem to be on equal footing. And the Q and the ascended ancients aren't all powerful so I don't get why people attribute omniscience to them. They are limited, in power and scope and many things. Although one can maybe argue Voyager kind of ruined the perception of the Q from the way they were depicted in TNG.

If you watch the same Ep when Q talks to Q, he even states they are "all knowing, All powerful" when our Q want's to punish the Calamaraine.
I do agree that Q did get turned into a joke after TNG, and it actually annoyed me.

[StargateMillennium]

There seems to be a hierarchical structure there too. They don't all seem to be on equal footing. And the Q and the ascended ancients aren't all powerful so I don't get why people attribute omniscience to them. They are limited, in power and scope and many things. Although one can maybe argue Voyager kind of ruined the perception of the Q from the way they were depicted in TNG.

Technically, it is impossible to become 'all powerful'. People say the universe is infinite. Powers of an 'all powerful' being would be just as infinite (not affected by time, interact with mortal beings by just downloading the information into their brains rather than actually showing themselves, ability to influence free will, ect). If there are any limits or impossibilities to those powers, then the being is not all powerful. People tend to simply measure the scope of that super being's powers. If it goes beyond a certain point they just simply call or regard the thing all powerful. So, it's more of a technical generalization than a by-definition statement.

[StargateWatcher]

Very well put.

This is why e.g. laws and rules are usually very unforgiving. Give someone a finger and they'll take the whole hand. There will be victims, but there are always a lot of victims of the few that break the rules.

Besides, Our culture dictates what we consider morally right and wrong. It's clear that the goa'uld saw that they were superior and so considered themselves fit to rule us. The whole concept of survival of the fittest, except now we're the ones getting the boot in stead of dishing out the boot. Killing others is fine, but if someone else tries to kill us it's wrong ?

Consider this: in "the other side" we turn on a bunch of space nazi's and murder them all. We have no problem with this, despite the fact that we have no clue who they're fighting. This may very well be Space Nazi's versus Space Nazi's. Or whatever you can imagine.

Now consider the Ascended. They have the Goa'uld and Earth. Earth is the descendant of the Ancients. How can this ever be unbiased? How do they weigh our moral standards? by their own? They blasted their sentient failed experiments to hell. They may be machines but they were every bit as alive and aware as we are.

The Ancients attacked the Asurans, I understand, b/c they started fighting the Wraith in unethical ways that were harming Pegasus Galaxy humans they were supposed to help defend, and who the Ancients made them to help defend.

[StargateWatcher]

Exactly. We think nothing of wiping out entire species of animals on our own planet, but we encounter a race that feels WE are the animals, and therefore deserving of being fed on, we get all antsy and want to exterminate THEM..

well some people don't, but others DO; we have endangered species acts nowadays to prevent the people who don't give a damn about wildlife preservation to do this :-)

The whole non interference is kind of a plot hole in the series. *cough *cough, Maternal Instinct
"Oma, you can't interfere...but you can shoot lightning bolts to blow up two death gliders, kill an army of jaffa, save one of the most important SG teams, and hide the boy that can change the fate of the galaxy"

an ARMY? sorry, maybe being picky; an actual army would consist of usually 100000 troops at least--was a company or battalion at most I think

Might be better to lay down what you consider to be 'morally wrong'. The better you define that and set parameters for that, the better you're able to easily partition the actions of the ascended ancients. But like the rest of the internet, I suspect no one will endeavour to actually do that work lol.

Two concepts that comes to mind that's somewhat applicable here are moral culpability and the acts/omissions distinction (if any).

very good points

There seems to be a hierarchical structure there too. They don't all seem to be on equal footing. And the Q and the ascended ancients aren't all powerful so I don't get why people attribute omniscience to them. They are limited, in power and scope and many things. Although one can maybe argue Voyager kind of ruined the perception of the Q from the way they were depicted in TNG.

the Starga5te Universe CMB beings should be more powerful, considering they had much more time to evolve

Technically, it is impossible to become 'all powerful'. People say the universe is infinite. Powers of an 'all powerful' being would be just as infinite (not affected by time, interact with mortal beings by just downloading the information into their brains rather than actually showing themselves, ability to influence free will, ect). If there are any limits or impossibilities to those powers, then the being is not all powerful. People tend to simply measure the scope of that super being's powers. If it goes beyond a certain point they just simply call or regard the thing all powerful. So, it's more of a technical generalization than a by-definition statement.

so even the CMB aliens aren't all-powerful, but to mere ascended beings they might seem all-powerful; good point you bring up

[StargateWatcher]

I look forward to the day when the designated geniuses can produce a meat-like substance that is so close to the ral thing, no one can truly tell the difference. Yes, we do use animals for food, and in the process maybe are considering them beneath us, and it is hypocritical to some level it's right to admit, but the difference is, unlike the Go'auld, we have laws forbidding exploiting and abusing animals.

[Alterus]

I think the rule is like they told Anubis, you can do anything you could have done before ascending...
For instance as an Ancient Oma was allowed to form the lightning, after all when Daniel had Moros/Merlin in his head he was able to do it...
However it's when you use powers or knowledge you could only gain after ascension... That's when the Other's step in, for instance in Full Circle Daniel could have found out about Anubis and warned Jack as a human, wheras when he tried to use his ascended powers against Anubis they stepped in as he could only have done so as an ascended.

[Anja]

Yes, they are. If you climb onto a godlike position (there is nothing like a god to me) then it would be cheap entertainment sitting or floating around there watching Earth and/or our Milkyway fall to pieces. Having the means to stop that it would be a crime not to do so. It's very self-centered and arrogant of the ascended to mind their own business only. So IMO Oma is the hero she shows real courage (just like Scout's father told her in To Kill a Mockingbird.