Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
NeverarGreat said:
... the implication is that the more midichlorians a person has, the more power they have with the Force,
...and...
Vader says "the Force is with _", a practically meaningless statement considering that according to the PT, the number of midichlorians in a person's blood determines how strong they are in the Force.
Correlation doesn't prove causality. In TPM that midichlorians were a way of measuring the force in someone, not because they cause it, but because they happen to respond to it. It's like seeing if someone has HIV by measuring their white blood cell count -- the white blood cells aren't HIV, and they don't cause it, but they respond to it and thus can be used to measure it.
It was a stupid, stupid idea that took an age-old spiritual idea, and made it scientific and cold. Even LFL must have realized this because they didn't mention them in prequels 2 and 3.
QUI-GON : Midi-chlorians are a microcopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force.
ANAKIN : They live inside of me?
QUI-GON : In your cells. We are symbionts with the midi-chlorians.
ANAKIN : Symbionts?
QUI-GON : Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the
midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force.
BEN: Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy
field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us.
It binds the galaxy together.
There are two important points in these statements.
1. The Force is created by all living things (organisms).
2. Midichlorians are life forms (that they are described as microscopic entities that can be scientifically measured implies that they are definite organisms).
According to the first two statements, Midichlorians are described as organisms, and thus create the Force.
They may not be the only organisms to create the Force, but they definitely contribute. So Midichlorians definitely cause the Force.
By the way, if Midichlorians are life forms, and life couldn't exist without them, how did they arise? Are they the fundamental unit of Life, from which all life is built? But if that's the case, wouldn't every cell be made entirely of Midichlorians? Or perhaps other forms of life were able to grow after Midichlorians arose, by operating symbiotically with them. However, if Midichlorians were the first form of life, they would be originators of the Force, as the Force is created by all living things. Thus they would have created the Force, and would communicate the will of the Force, or the will of themselves, to other life forms. Consequently, the will of the Force is the will of a microscopic life form within all cells.
Oh wait, I forgot about the other reference to the Midichlorians:
Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life...
But...but...they would have to do that anyway, right? ...and what does that even mean...and...?!!!*^#