Human Replicant Future
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- GeorgesIV0
The egg
---It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.
And that's when you met me.
"What... what happened?" You asked. "Where am I?"
"You died," I said, matter-of-factly. No point mincing words.
"There was a...a truck and it was skidding..."
"Yup." I said
"I... I died?"
"Yup. But don't feel bad about it. Everyone dies." I said.
You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. "What is this place?" You asked. "Is this the afterlife?"
"More or less," I said.
"Are you god?" You asked.
"Yup." I replied. "I'm God."
"My kids... my wife," you said.
"What about them?"
"Will they be alright?"
"That what I like to see," I said. "You just died and your main concern is for your family. That's good stuff right there."
You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn't look like God. I just looked like some man. Some vague authority figure. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.
"Don't worry," I said. "They'll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn't have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it's any consolation, she'll feel very guilty for feeling relieved."
"Oh," you said. "So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?"
"Neither," I said. "You'll be reincarnated."
"Ah," you said. "So the Hindus were right."
"All the religions are right in their own way," I said. "Walk with me."
You followed along as we strolled in the void. "Where are we going?" "Nowhere in particular," I said. "It's just nice to walk while we talk."
"So what's the point, then?" You asked. "When I get reborn, I'll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won't matter."
"Not so!" I said. "You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don't remember them right now."
I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. "Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It's like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it's hot or cold. You put a tiny part or yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you've gained all the experiences it had."
"You've been a human for the last 34 years, so you haven't stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for longer, you'd start remembering everything. But there's no point doing that between each life."
"How many times have I been reincarnated, then?"
"Oh, lots. Lots and lots. And into lots of different lives." I said. "This time around you'll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 A.D."
"Wait, what?" You stammered. "You're sending me back in time?"
"Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from."
"Where do you come from?" You pondered.
"Oh sure!" I explained. "I come from somewhere. somewhere else. and there are others like me. I know you'll want to know what it's like there but you honestly won't understand."
"Oh." you said, a little let down. "But wait. If i get reincarnated to other places in time, could I have interacted with myself at some point?"
"Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own timespan you don't even know it's happening."
"So what's the point of it all?"
"Seriously?" I asked. "Seriously? Your asking me for the meaning of life? Isn't that a little stereotypical?"
"Well it's a reasonable question." you persisted.
I looked in your eye. "The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature."
"You mean mankind? You want us to mature?"
"No. just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature, and become a larger and greater intellect" "Just me? What about everyone else?"
"There is no one else," I said. "In this universe, there's just you, and me."
You stared blankly at me. "But all the people on earth..."
"All you. Different incarnations of you."
"Wait. I'm everyone!?"
"Now you're getting it." I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.
"I'm every human who ever lived?"
"Or who will ever live, yes."
"I'm Abraham Lincoln?"
"And you're John Wilkes Booth, too." I added.
"I'm Hitler?" you said, appalled.
"And you're the millions he killed."
"I'm Jesus?"
"And you're everyone who followed him."
You fell silent.
"Every time you victimized someone," I said, "You were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you've done, you've done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you."
"Why?" You asked me. "Why do all this?"
"Because someday, you will become like me. Because that's what you are. You're one of my kind. You're my child."
"Whoa." you said, incredulous. "You mean I'm a god?"
"No. Not yet. You're a fetus. You're still growing. Once you've lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born."
"So the whole universe," you said. "It's just..."
"An egg of sorts." I answered. "Now its time for you to move on to your next life."
And with that, I sent you on your way.
- detritus0
‘Thoughts?’?
Ray Kurzweil blabbing in the Daily Mail = a fucktonne of bullshit.
- It's not recent news either, he's been saying this shit for years.Hombre_Lobo
- detritus0
“Wouldn't uploading your mind essentially create an entirely separate person?”
Always thought this too, herewhat.. - this tech would be inherently evil, satisfying the groupmind not the individual, who would ultimately become mere illusory simulcra, born and killed a thousand times.
The only acceptable analogue to current means would be to have a 'neural net' (to refer to Ian M Banks) gradually infiltrate and harden/duplicate existing neuronal structures, making the transition a slow one akin to natural decay/renewal cycles.
Doing it in a flash amounts to vapporisation of the soul, if you wish to couch it that way.
Unless, of course, we could manage to find a way to magically transport a Whole's atomic makeup across spacetime in one piece...
- eoin0
- hektor9110
how many gigs of info can our brains hold?
- oey0
I thought this was another fredddddd thread and clicked almost praying...
sorry, didn't mean to offend you.i will never want to be a machine...unless I can still have sex and feel the same pleasure.
no, never!
- prophetone0
just imagine the ethical can of worms this will open for the human race.
- prophetone0
now think where we are with 3D printing. and imagine one day having the ability to design a new "self" and have it manufactured for you, stored and at the ready. imagine the religious implications of this, not that i want to get into that here mind you.
- It would only offend the religious because of their superstitions.monospaced
- prophetone0
imagine this. as a precaution, every night while you sleep your mind is backed up to a server in your home and stored in the off chance that you meet your end the following day. and if that were happen, you can have your consciousness uploaded into your new self.
and no i'm not numbers guys in case anyone is wondering.
my mind is a little blown after reading that article and i thought i'd share.
- moldero0
sounds like something that will be available for those elite assholes only.
- MrT0
Interesting, although the irony of a Daily Mail article on brain power is not lost on me.
- identity0
I like the emphasis and interest in progressing the science of things!
That said - I dont see anything wrong with just dying.
Scary? Sure. Permanent? Yep.
For all the people who chide religion as a comforting sweater for those afraid of what's next, this seems like the same thing.
- waterhouse0
I can envision it and don't find it an "ethical can of worms." With every small scientific advancement in healthcare, we tiptoe closer to immortality.
- moldero0
we can let the religious people go to heaven while the rest of us do this.
- partayy!prophetone
- Or hell because you know most of them are dirty filthy sinners.monospaced
- LOLmoldero
- prophetone0
ethics comes into play if this cannot be regulated. what if you are just starting high school and pick up a mind transferrence kit at walmart and then go to pirate brain bay, download the illegal hawking brain torrent and dlc it to your own mind. straight a's forever.
what if you are accused of something and authorities simply download and view your thoughts simply because they can.
- prophetone0
what if this becomes commonplace. and some people have chosen or had the means to become replicant selves...
do they retain the right to remain human without their human form?
- waterhouse0
You retain the right to LASIK surgery, piercings and ass implants.
You retain the right to apply for sexual reassignment surgery.It's all a matter of what a doctor/practitioner will offer under the law. Beyond that, I'd imagine you could try your chances in the underground marketplace.
- hereswhatidid0
Wouldn't uploading your mind essentially create an entirely separate person? Unless you prolong the actual physical brain, you still die when that stops working, whether or not you made a copy of it.
Kinda makes me think of the whole Star Trek transporter concept that every time any of theme teleported somewhere, they were being destroyed and an entirely new version of themselves appeared on the other end.
- that's the thing. you migrate your consciousness into another vessel, as needed, and so on.prophetone
- http://en.wikipedia.…hereswhatidid
- but is your consciousness merely a copy of your thoughts at that time and place?hereswhatidid
- i wanna be a lawnmower when i grow up...prophetone
- and then you continue on as a new being, living out new experiences, as a lawnmowerprophetone
- it wouldn't be "you" anymore. It would be your duplicated mind continuing on after you're deadhereswhatidid
- or is it.prophetone
- all that's different is your body is no longer... what makes us what we are?prophetone
- that's the key, we don't really know what makes us "us"hereswhatidid
- hence the sh*t storm of possibility that is this...prophetone
- dbloc0
You think we are overpopulated now....when this comes into fruition we will definitely overpopulate ourselves in no time.
- monospaced0
Oh. Like Freejack. That's all you had to say man. (Great movie by the way).
