Institute or Railroad?

[Corvus]

I'm honestly at a big moral dillemma here (Don't read onward if you haven't gotten this far at risk of spoilers)

So I've gotten to the point of institute missions where I have the option of informing the railroad of Institute operations, but based on what I've seen of the Institute I'm not so sure anymore. Sure, the institute may be doing things on some morally questionable grounds, but the railroad is basically entirely revolving around the ideal that the latest Synths are somehow sentient (There is absolutely no proof or basis for this). At the same time, seeing what the Institute is doing and what they're researching gives me the idea that having them around would be far more beneficial than whatever the Brotherhood of Steel (Seriously, I liked them in 3, I hate them now. I didn't play NV) and the Railroad (Minutemen seem like the neutral party, mostly) are doing. Literally the only thing I liked about the Railroad was them giving you the ability to modify clothing, and the minutemen are just pretty alright in my book.

What choice did you guys make?

[Corvus]

Holy cow this forum is scrolling fast.

[Vash The Stampede]

I went with brotherhood of steel lol. Now I have men in power armour everywhere ha.

[Straybow]

Brotherhood as well :)

Still what is your view on sentience, what needs to be demonstrated to prove it?

[TheSaboteur]

Well the root of the problem are the synths. A machine designed to be humanlike. The question conflicting the two parties is: Are synths humans? Do they deserve the same rights as humans?

That lies within what synths are. Machines. They are programmed to be humans, to act and infiltrate their society. What we end up seeing in game are two sides. Synths that are good humans and bad humans.

The railroad shows synths as regular humans wanting a better life. While the Institute shows you Gabriel a synth, whose memories were wiped, who thinks he's human. Gabriel ends up leading a raider band in Libertalia and ends up killing innocents for gain. It's a clear example of what a Synth could be. COULD BE. You've played Fallout 3, and have probably met Harkness. A synth who escaped via the Railroad to live in Rivet City as guard chief. He too, has had his memory wiped. Except that he didn't become a raider, but a successful part of a burgeoning culture.
So therefore, the conlfict of what a Synth might do if free is lack luster. It all depends on the circumstance.

The next topic is if Synths can act human. Drawing from several examples (Gabriel, Harkness, Danse, Nick, Mayor Mc d i c k h e a d), we have a pretty clear conclusion. Either they know, or they don't. I honestly don't get how this works but whatever. If a synth believes he is human, will he not learn and become one? If you design something to be human like, it will eventually become a human. The Institute denies this, saying that machines cannot evolve and are static in programming. Yet we have constantly seen synths forge their own fate. Have feeling and make decision based not on code, but on experience and beliefs. Danse if pressed, will offer himself without a fight to be executed. Nick comes to terms with his synth origin and starts to help people. Gabriel learns to survive by raiding. ETC. It's pretty clear that Synths are indeed human like and shows aspects that no machine can replicate. In fact, if you take away the fact that these people are synths, they would be no different than any other human (As some believe themselves to be).

So it really boils down to this: Is the Institute right or the Railroad right? They're both right. Synths are humanlike yet pose a threat to society. They are machines and prone to malfunction. The solution comes from not what synths do, but who controls them. The institute says they want to better humanity, yet they deny its most basic rights. How can such people who think themselves as better possibly know what is best for the common man? They've been locked up in a fantasy realm where they have no problems, yet they think they know what's best for everyone. The Railroad assumes that synths will behave and act accordingly to what they think a human is. But human nature is not that simple. Things change and so do humans. With the flip of a switch we can turn into animals. A misled synth could end up doing more harm than the good of many other synths combined.

Additional stuff:

Institute uses FEV. Same stuff the Enclave uses and the Master to make super mutants. Logs from Virgil and another scientist clearly state that Father (Lord d i c k head) wanted to continue it. And that dozens of people were kidnapped, tested on, and killed. You know, for the betterment of humanity.

Virgil says that the Railroad might want to free the vending machines or the protectrons. The fact of the matter is that the Synths are machines, tools, to be used by humans. Not free to their own devices as the consequences of a super powered being can be terrible.

Institute bases their ideas on their own standard. Not the standard that others want. They will impose their will on the commonwealth and kill anyone in their way. One can say words, but it does not show their intent. Action speaks louder than words.

TLDR: Kill the Institute. Kill the Railroad. Go Minutemen.

[kagai_yami]

there are some synths i believe are sentient. nick valentine for instance. but harkness from 3 as well. glory in the railroad. and while i do believe they should be watched if they are indeed sentient it would be wrong to deny that they are. i will say that the gen 1 and 2 synths are not sentient. they are just tools. but the gen 3 and further could develope sentience.

i did however face a similar moral dilemma when i went the brotherhood route. because i somewhat support the railroad and i liked deacon. but i resolved the moral issue by telling myself next time im going minutemen and the time after that railroad so that wont happen again till i eventually do the institute.

[Yemto]

I didn't agree with the Institute at all, since they just seem to care about building androids, and not help the population. I was going to help the Railroad. But sadly how I took the dialog options made that impossible, so I'm now stuck with the Minutemen.

Ever since fallout new vegas I hated brother hood of steel, so I will never side with them

[VonZiben]

I think the railroad is a bunch of idiots imo. I hate the institute because if my ratinoal phobia of robots and AI. ♥♥♥♥ it's not alright that they look and act like humans.

[VonZiben]

Minutemen or BoS for sure.

[kill kevin]

I did institute, and it was well worth it in my opinion.

[Sotj]

I would go for institute. Railroad is bugged and might get you stuck to the point where you have to just choose institute anyway.

[CheechWizard]

Railroad makes no sense to me, they are kind of like Fallout 4's versions of SJWs in my opinion.

I mean their ideology doesn't make a lick of sense. Who founded them? Why were they founded? Did a bunch of humans living in a nuclear wasteland all of a sudden decide to help out machines? Wtf for? I just don't get it.

Of course there could be a quest or terminal explaning it but I haven't found it yet.

[ryuk359]

But Shaun (I refuse to call him Father, I am his father) wants you to lead the institute after he dies. So I feel like I have a far bigger advantage siding with them. I can run it as I see fit as least in a role playing sense. I know not so much in game play.

[GunBoat]

A big moral dilemma? You're joking right? It's a game, play both and see what happens. There are no morals in a game.

Do I? Uh, hell yes!

[Relic62]

The Railroad does not make sense as if they take down the Insitute no more synths to rescue so they become redundant. The Bos are just warmongers in my opinion either join em or die. The institute is pointless also, who wants to live undergound and get robots to do their bidding when they could be saving the planet and the people, and that brings us to the minutemen who just want to help the people and thats it. So none of them resolve the issue of going forward for everyone for a better future.

[Bad Bob the Albino]

Curie. Enough said.