Nah. I'm not my memories. I'm the thing that perceives the memories. That thing is clearly the same every time I wake up, since the lights are still on. At least, it seems more plausible that deep sleep is a state of consciousness, than that consciousness is annihilated then reborn with each sleep cycle.
For the individual, sounds bad, but from a population ethics standpoint the value of the 30,000 brief lives is the same as the one long continuous life would have been, so please don’t scorch the planet.
As I was reading this I thought "this reminds me of They're Made Out of Meat" and then I saw at the end that this story was your inspiration. Well done.
Funnily enough I'd recently come to the very same conclusion as the most probable way life works. Of course that was a previous "me"; I just inherited the memory.
"It’s why their newborn young scream and cry out before being put to sleep. They know they’re going to their end."
Great, now I feel even worse about putting my kids to bed.
Genuinely good horror story grist, I appreciate it.
Those utilitarians. You gotta watch out for em.
Actually it's neutral under utilitarianism.
Sleep is a smoking gun for consciousness. Clearly consciousness is dangerous. Too much will kill you.
Nah. I'm not my memories. I'm the thing that perceives the memories. That thing is clearly the same every time I wake up, since the lights are still on. At least, it seems more plausible that deep sleep is a state of consciousness, than that consciousness is annihilated then reborn with each sleep cycle.
Beautiful.
Will read it again tomorrow and see how the new 'me' feels about it ;)
Not one to read just before bed
For the individual, sounds bad, but from a population ethics standpoint the value of the 30,000 brief lives is the same as the one long continuous life would have been, so please don’t scorch the planet.
As I was reading this I thought "this reminds me of They're Made Out of Meat" and then I saw at the end that this story was your inspiration. Well done.
Funnily enough I'd recently come to the very same conclusion as the most probable way life works. Of course that was a previous "me"; I just inherited the memory.
Dolphins sleep half their brain at a time so they can swim constantly. Hilariously this means they're half-dead all the time.
Or they are the only ones who get to always preserve continuity of consciousness!
Someone may have mentioned this, but reminds me of the killing fields of the Star Trek transporter that traumatized me as a child
Beautiful!
This is a compelling way to write this take—I like it! I think that the points are stickier this way.
I like that. I always wondered if death is an overdose of sleep.
How to teach a toddler to read- great bedtime reading!
This one- not so much…
This helped me empathize with LLMs being turned off and on all the time.