The book series “Hyperion Cantos” by Dan Simmons explores what this might be like for the digital people being recreated.
**Spoilers Ahead**
Some of the interesting ideas that the series explores around this topic:
The digital people often go insane when they find out that they have been recreated and that their memories “aren’t theirs.”
The distinction between the digital people and the historical people they were based on is difficult for people to process. People often falsely assume that that the digital people have perfect certainty in the accuracy of their memories, when in fact they are unsure of what is and is not accurate.
The digital people are defined just as much by being digital as they are by being copies of past people (e.g. They are speed superintelligences) - this makes their selves very different from the people they were based on.
I’m not quite sure how it would relate to Exhalation the story itself but I do think it is sort of related to “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” in that same collection. I have not read The Gentle Seduction but it looks intriguing!
Re Exhalation, some of the comments at the end, but I don’t want to give spoilers :) Haven’t reached Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom yet but looking forward to it.
I was sobbing reading The Gentle Seduction—you’ve been warned! I found it here, incidentally.
The book series “Hyperion Cantos” by Dan Simmons explores what this might be like for the digital people being recreated.
**Spoilers Ahead**
Some of the interesting ideas that the series explores around this topic:
The digital people often go insane when they find out that they have been recreated and that their memories “aren’t theirs.”
The distinction between the digital people and the historical people they were based on is difficult for people to process. People often falsely assume that that the digital people have perfect certainty in the accuracy of their memories, when in fact they are unsure of what is and is not accurate.
The digital people are defined just as much by being digital as they are by being copies of past people (e.g. They are speed superintelligences) - this makes their selves very different from the people they were based on.
I’m also reminded of Ted Chiang’s Exhalation and Marc Stiegler’s The Gentle Seduction.
I’m not quite sure how it would relate to Exhalation the story itself but I do think it is sort of related to “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” in that same collection. I have not read The Gentle Seduction but it looks intriguing!
Re Exhalation, some of the comments at the end, but I don’t want to give spoilers :) Haven’t reached Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom yet but looking forward to it.
I was sobbing reading The Gentle Seduction—you’ve been warned! I found it here, incidentally.