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.
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.
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.
How imaginative... for a too-frequently recycled trope of an old chestnut: "Their book 'To serve man' is not a treatise on their devotion to Humankind... It's a cookbook!!" (Cue crashing cymbals.) After having outgrown my childish fascination with wiz-bang gadgetry, I eventually grew tired of pseudo-anthropology disguised as "speculative fiction" as well. Not so much derivative as repetitive: Humanity was evil and loathsome, and its comeuppance would come at the hands of an "advanced intelligence", who curiously enough, reflected some of the more egregious qualities of the humans whom they were here to dispatch: Boundless hubris, for example. And thus, I gave up on "science fiction" altogether. Why insist, ad nauseam, on positing 'advanced beings' who turn out to be evil caricatures of ourselves?
That's a superficial way to read it on so many levels.
Most trivially the advanced beings were not evil, they were trying to do good (tho they hadn't done the Utilitarian maths properly).
The main point of the story was that our awareness only lasts for a day and the reason you wake up feeling fresh and new each morning is that you are fresh and new. The rest was just a hook to hang it on.
1. "Superficial", really? 2. "On so many levels", what might those be? 3. Scratch "evil", and you'll reveal "good" intentions. 4. If you're going to introduce your own personal vocabulary, e.g., "Utilitarian maths", the least you can do is to define it –for group use. 5. I understood the point of the story, thus my opinion that it was a "recycled trope" (naive humanity vs. "advanced beings") –fresh perhaps, when used by Damon Knight in his 1950 short story, but 'beat to death' in attempts at "profundity", in any number of "Star Trek" episodes. See Episode 2 of its latest iteration: "Strange New Worlds". –Malcom, does any of this strike you as going beyond the "superficial", whatever that might mean?
Utilitarianism (sorry, omitted the "ism") is basically a mathematical construct. My fault for misspelling it. :(
The point of the story was the idea that we live each day as whole life. The rest was just window-dressing. Your comment was superficial in that it concentrated on the window dressing, but I don't deny that you're making quite deep comments on the window-dressing! :)
Yes, "deep comments on the window dressing" of "scorch[ing] the surface of [the Earth] clean". For reasons left unexplained in the mumbo-jumbo of "moral cogitator", "utilitarian analysis", "unwitting charnel house", "deeper into negative utils territory" and "the injustice of their origins", Planetary Biocide is decided upon with all of the nonchalance of ordering a Grande Latte at Starbucks. And yet you opined that these Interstellar Nazis are not evil, but merely "trying to do good". God help us all if you are old enough to vote!
Outside of Bond movies, nobody believes they are evil. They just make "hard choices". It doesn't mean I support their position, but, as an atheist, I don't really hold with the concept of evil as such. There are just different world views with differing effects on other people which are more less good or bad from the other people's viewpoint. Utilitarianism gives you a way of assessing the merit of different world views, buit it's not the only way.
I'm sure if man ever gets into space he'll be wiping out alien species much faster than these "Interstellar Nazis".
But these aliens are a fictional creation so I can't get too upset about their actions (nor the Vogons, Daleks, Changelings or Vidiians).
Yes, I'm old enuf to vote (only 4 years younger than you and I remember Dr Who with William Hartnell).
The key to dealing with existential horror is to not deal with it.
We're always seconds away from non-existence! Death is inevitable, even if we prolong our lives as much as possible!
If seeing reality clearly entails accepting that we're in a perpetual state of inescapable unsafety leading to inevitable oblivion, the only practical option for a life containing anything more than constant terror is not to think about it.
When I was about 7 I was briefly (a week or two) saddened by the realization of my own mortality. My dad asked me what was wrong, and when I told him, he tried to comfort me by saying “You don’t have to worry, dying will be just like going to sleep”
"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.
Beautiful.
Will read it again tomorrow and see how the new 'me' feels about it ;)
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.
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.
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.
This is a compelling way to write this take—I like it! I think that the points are stickier this way.
Someone may have mentioned this, but reminds me of the killing fields of the Star Trek transporter that traumatized me as a child
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.
Beautiful!
I like that. I always wondered if death is an overdose of sleep.
How imaginative... for a too-frequently recycled trope of an old chestnut: "Their book 'To serve man' is not a treatise on their devotion to Humankind... It's a cookbook!!" (Cue crashing cymbals.) After having outgrown my childish fascination with wiz-bang gadgetry, I eventually grew tired of pseudo-anthropology disguised as "speculative fiction" as well. Not so much derivative as repetitive: Humanity was evil and loathsome, and its comeuppance would come at the hands of an "advanced intelligence", who curiously enough, reflected some of the more egregious qualities of the humans whom they were here to dispatch: Boundless hubris, for example. And thus, I gave up on "science fiction" altogether. Why insist, ad nauseam, on positing 'advanced beings' who turn out to be evil caricatures of ourselves?
That's a superficial way to read it on so many levels.
Most trivially the advanced beings were not evil, they were trying to do good (tho they hadn't done the Utilitarian maths properly).
The main point of the story was that our awareness only lasts for a day and the reason you wake up feeling fresh and new each morning is that you are fresh and new. The rest was just a hook to hang it on.
1. "Superficial", really? 2. "On so many levels", what might those be? 3. Scratch "evil", and you'll reveal "good" intentions. 4. If you're going to introduce your own personal vocabulary, e.g., "Utilitarian maths", the least you can do is to define it –for group use. 5. I understood the point of the story, thus my opinion that it was a "recycled trope" (naive humanity vs. "advanced beings") –fresh perhaps, when used by Damon Knight in his 1950 short story, but 'beat to death' in attempts at "profundity", in any number of "Star Trek" episodes. See Episode 2 of its latest iteration: "Strange New Worlds". –Malcom, does any of this strike you as going beyond the "superficial", whatever that might mean?
Utilitarianism (sorry, omitted the "ism") is basically a mathematical construct. My fault for misspelling it. :(
The point of the story was the idea that we live each day as whole life. The rest was just window-dressing. Your comment was superficial in that it concentrated on the window dressing, but I don't deny that you're making quite deep comments on the window-dressing! :)
Yes, "deep comments on the window dressing" of "scorch[ing] the surface of [the Earth] clean". For reasons left unexplained in the mumbo-jumbo of "moral cogitator", "utilitarian analysis", "unwitting charnel house", "deeper into negative utils territory" and "the injustice of their origins", Planetary Biocide is decided upon with all of the nonchalance of ordering a Grande Latte at Starbucks. And yet you opined that these Interstellar Nazis are not evil, but merely "trying to do good". God help us all if you are old enough to vote!
Outside of Bond movies, nobody believes they are evil. They just make "hard choices". It doesn't mean I support their position, but, as an atheist, I don't really hold with the concept of evil as such. There are just different world views with differing effects on other people which are more less good or bad from the other people's viewpoint. Utilitarianism gives you a way of assessing the merit of different world views, buit it's not the only way.
I'm sure if man ever gets into space he'll be wiping out alien species much faster than these "Interstellar Nazis".
But these aliens are a fictional creation so I can't get too upset about their actions (nor the Vogons, Daleks, Changelings or Vidiians).
Yes, I'm old enuf to vote (only 4 years younger than you and I remember Dr Who with William Hartnell).
The key to dealing with existential horror is to not deal with it.
We're always seconds away from non-existence! Death is inevitable, even if we prolong our lives as much as possible!
If seeing reality clearly entails accepting that we're in a perpetual state of inescapable unsafety leading to inevitable oblivion, the only practical option for a life containing anything more than constant terror is not to think about it.
When I was about 7 I was briefly (a week or two) saddened by the realization of my own mortality. My dad asked me what was wrong, and when I told him, he tried to comfort me by saying “You don’t have to worry, dying will be just like going to sleep”
I swear I have not slept the same since then.