Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 28 - Clones - A Lasting Morality
It would seem that the greatest gift inherited from 21st century humans, is that somehow, via the Great Confusion, they appear to have delivered us from all wars, and freed us from the tyranny of governmental law.
For some reason (and the historian who finally solves the mystery will surely be one of the most celebrated and wealthiest of all time!), even though early 21st century humans were far behind the modern inhabitants of earth in several ways. They appeared to have left a legacy that is still felt almost two centuries later.
Perhaps war is easier to understand, even though it is something we do not have today, a person can imagine why two groups of people might want to resort to trying to kill each other, after all, we still have disputes to this very day!
However, it is altogether more difficult for somebody alive today to have a true understanding as to why any modern human being would need laws. Of course, we can speculate and intellectualise, but it is difficult to understand motivations that have long-since disappeared.
For instance, in modern society, even though there are different levels of wealth, nobody on earth is in need of food or shelter, and our nanoswarms have seen to it that our bodies remain healthy for a century and a half, and with QSID tech, nobody’s consciousness ever need die.
Theft and fraud are virtually non-existent due to Q-EC security, meaning that all the base reasons for committing crime have been removed from society. That just leaves the moral code of law. Of course our moralistic standpoint is far removed from those of the Great Confusion era, just one look at their baffling drug laws confirms that.
It would seem though, that there is one moralistic point of view we seem to share, and that is our absolute repulsion at the idea of double-cloning. The practice of copying oneself and allowing two or even more versions of you to just run around unattended!
Of course there is nothing wrong with blank-cloning, since the technology has been perfected, it has become fashionable for the wealthier among us to change bodies every couple of years.
However, the double clones (d-clones), sometimes known as splitters, or d-splitters are frowned upon within polite society, although in the real, the practice is still fairly rare, as it is incredibly expensive to obtain a blank clone, let alone a d-clone. Therefore most people who indulge in this vile practice, tend to do so onblock. Which definitely does not make this repugnant practice any more savoury, the user is still creating fully conscious, sentient copies of themselves.
Apart from the moral argument, there is a philosophical one to ponder as well, because once you create a d-clone, then which one is truly you? Can the term you, even claim to have meaning for (ahem) you anymore?
Not only that, one of the biggest reasons that d-splitting is so reviled, is that these splitter types, regularly reabsorb their clones back into their consciousness. It is seen as the ultimate act of ego, to love oneself so much, that one creates a situation whereby you exist in multitude, and then to fully experience that populace as one mind, you reabsorb the other yous.
Whilst there is no actual law against it, there is a consensus agreed block on d-cloning. Meaning that the practice of splitting is prohibited not only in the real, but also on most networks across the wider Qblock.
It would seem that for the foreseeable future, making copies of oneself either onblock or in the real is the only non-violent practice, that anyone living on present day earth could point to as being genuinely illegal.
~ From Life On The Qblock by Maze66
Previous Chapters
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 27 - Primal Loss
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 26 - Shadows Past
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 25 - Mind Loss
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 24 - The Immorality Of Krusher9
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 23 - Descent On Krusher9
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 22 - The Mars Problem
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 21 - Thought Patterns
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 20 - Reality Dysfunction
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 19 - The Lost Scream
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 18 - The empLink Story
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 17 - A Problem With Time
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 16 - Neither Here Nor There
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 15 - At The Edge Of Madness
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 14 - A Sense Of The Real
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 13 - The Search For Truth
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 12 - Empires
Original artwork by @nekromarinist
Original words by Cryptogee
Yes I think the 21st century offers that, people l, governments have vendetta against other government and have a reason to go to war, however I guess the centuries after that, that you brilliantly tried to tell a story seems not to have these things, I Love your plot to your prose.
How ugly to change one's body every here and then.
For me, it would't be very nice to stay at Earth too long. All friends and loved ones go further while I would stay here...there is so many places waiting to be discovered out there in the Universe! All those guys who wish to have 'eternal life', yet in actuality it is ephemerality which grants Infinity..
@cryptogee You have received a random upvote from @transparencybot for not using bidbots on this post and using the #nobidbot tag!