But, Would It Really Work?

[mrjssmithy]

I read your radioplay, 'Resurrection,' some time ago, and today I was again thinking about the concept. While considering the fact that I might attempt to make a short film on a similar idea (the preservation of a person in an electronic system) it occurred to me that the entire concept may in fact be redundant.

If an exact copy of someone is rendered in a machine while they are living, should we assume that the original would have any control of or some share in the consciousness of the simulated? Or, in a subtly different situation, if a person were to die, and then their copy to be loaded on or initiated in an electronic simulation, would their consciousness then somehow be transmitted to the simulation?

Considering a more tangible example: were I to scan and 3D-print myself in the same room as me, would I share in that print-out's consciousness, or, were I to be scanned and 3D-printed an instant before my death, would my consciousness then be transferred to the print-out?

If the answer to these questions is 'no, probably not,' then isn't finding immortality by way of electronic simulation/preservation unfeasible? To the original human at least, the idea would be redundant, as surely their own consciousness is extinguished when they die.

[HarryStottle]

[Stone1]

Hello mrjssmithy and thank you for bringing a topic back on the agenda which has been puzzling me ever since I reached adolescence. I've had a catholic background though luckily my parents were rather liberal and so when I underwent the rite of confirmation, it somehow backfired and instead of fortifying my faith in god and elysium, continously made me abandon all my religious beliefs. Which made mortality a more concerning issue.

For starters, my suggestion for naming the simulated constructs is "virperson", for virtual person, though I concede it sounds a bit awkward and kludged, and might raise gender-justice protest if someone connects the "vir" to the latin word for man. (Gender-just writing is what the sentence google translated so awkwardly from my blog was all about, Harry )

Now I'll start reading the new blog entry, I'm genuinely curious about the protocol.