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"If I had to get a new Ph.D. now, I'd get it in polymer engineering - the manipulation of matter."
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In this novel, this particular character was regrown, apparently from his own DNA (why not clone yourself?). But how to make that person your self? Treat your gray matter as if it was a set of flash memory integrated circuits; play back into the developing new brain all of the thoughts and impressions that made you "you."
For a look at what others think about it, see the article "How does human memory compare with computer memory?."
Obviously, the usual questions about identity still arise. Is this just a copy of you that thinks it is you? The real you has died. And what's more, given that you only have whatever has been recorded about you (not the real sum total of your experience) what you really have is a "lite" version of you. Okay, as long as I've gone this far, what if the regrown version of you dies, and you are regrown again, and so on several more times, with only the successive "lite" versions of yourself available for embloking. Ever seen a tenth-generation Xerox copy?
Another twist on this kind of idea can be found in the idea of implanted memory, from We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, by Philip K. Dick. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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