total noob to BSG question

[synchrow]

i watched some of the first series few years ago but semmed to miss everything else. just watched about half of 2nd series and i have a question-
WHY CAN'T ANYBODY TELL A CYLON FROM A HUMAN [obv not the metal guys]? i mean.. surely they are robots? every character talks about that. but they can't tell? why not?
so, they are not in fact robots/androids or even cybernetic/human, right? they are clones based on human DNA?
which makes them human with some kinda subliminal programming to hate other humans [ie, non clones].
so. they are human clones. NOT bots of ANY kind whatsoever.

am i missing something really obvious here [apart from half of the first series]?
this really seems to be a bad plot flaw. a civilisation that can build FTL drives and self conscious AI for butlers/workers/whatever to rebel CAN'T spot something man-made .. sorry cylon-made?
ok, they're stuck in space and don't have a lot of high tech but still they got top medical facilities for the military ships.
please someone explain why cylons can't be singled out? no metal parts, right? all blood and guts and brain, right?
so.. they're human. clones.. but still... human. which means they can be deprogrammed..er.. right?

apologies for this question but this makes very little sense to me. if they are flesh and blood then they are human. but cos they're didn't come from a womb they must be robots or things? the arguement could go that humans are pissed with ANYTHING cylon related cos they nuked everybody - but that would be like shooting every civilian of a warring nation just because they are the host nation of the enemy troops. inhumane. these cylon 'clones' ARE human. unless the docs in the fleet are fantastically stupid and can't tell metal bones from biological, or a neural interface from a squishy grey lump.

i got a lot more questions that i wanna ask but i should really watch everything first... right?

anyways, hello.
and, btw, i AM enjoying the show.. just some things don't make sense.

[Prolescum]

Ha ha :D. Welcome to the forum.
Well, to answer your question as best I can without giving stuff away, they are biological Cylons. The term 'Cylon' should be taken in a broader context than just the soldiers; the hybrids are Cylons, the centurions and raiders are Cylons, as are the humanoid models. Their DNA and origins are discussed toward the end of the series' run, but they are not Colonial.

The Colonials, (well Adama and Roslin) know that there were twelve models produced, and they know a few already. They're also quite distracting, all long legs and high cheek bones or dimples and puppy dog sad eyes.

Colonial society shunned certain types of technology after the first Cylon war due to fear. Half a century passed and they were only just reaching back toward their previous technical zenith, having not seen the Cylons in decades, when the second Cylon war (the one at the beginning of the show) destroyed their civilisation.

Although, you are right that the question of what being Human actually is, is one posed by the show.

[thevarrior]

The Cylons are biological androids. They look human right down to the cellular level but they have a few key differences
- their molecular makeup is synthetic and as such doesn't exactly match humans
- they have light-sensing diodes on their skin and can apparently interface with fiber-optics
- they are a hell of a lot smarter - i recall an 8 in the webisodes reading star patterns with her eyes to figure out where they were
- they can resurrect
- their cells react differently to kinds of radiation

Pretty simple.

[Major Sveinsson]

Good question. :) In the RMD, the main cylons characters are the humanoid cylons. There are 12 models, number ones: Cavils, number twos: Leobons, number three: D'annas, number four: Simons, number five: Aarons, number six (My favorite cylon, and favorite character): Caprica-six, number seven, damiel, number eight: Sharons. FINAL FIVE: Tyrol, Saul, and Ellen Tigh, Foster, and Anders.

The humanoid cylons can act like humans in everyway, they cry, they laugh, they eat (though they don't have too), they sleep, and they can have sex.