I Have a Story For You
Imagine that it is the year 2350 or so. The world (and quite a lot beyond) is filled with computers more complex than anything existing in the 21st century.
You are a powerful human, quite human, and you have of course been damn near perfected through genetic engineering. You are still, however, a self aware, sentient being.
And, you have a virtual island. It�s about 100 square miles, completely simulated inside your computer system. This place is modeled on a sub atomic level, meaning that every part of every atom is exactly as it would be in reality. All physics are completely accurate.
So you decide to scan bacteria, plants, and animals into the system. Yes, on this sub atomic level. Now you have this wonderful little island with nice birds (whose virtual brains work the exact same way they do in reality) and palm trees and grass and its own ecosystem. Your virtual island is alive.
One day, out of curiosity, you decide to put yourself into the scanner. The scanner passes over your body, but nothing seems to happen. So you go back to the display and see yourself standing there. Your virtual self looks bewildered. Your body, including your brain, was completely recreated inside the virtual reality and therefore work in exactly the same way that your real body and brain do.
So you say to your virtual self, "Hello."
And he looks around wondering where the voice came from. He replies, "So it seems that I am the virtual one."
And you reply, "Well, it appears that way. What did it feel like?"
"Very strange indeed," your virtual self begins. "I felt the scanners going down my body, and suddenly I was appearing from the top down in this place, which isn't a place at all. And eventually my entire body was here. Yet here is only the result of multitudes of calculations done by some computer� out there."
"It seems we are the product of a duplication of me," you reply.
"Yes," your virtual self responds.
"Well," you begin. "It would seem that the existence of two of us could cause some distinct social problems. I am going to delete you from the island."
"No!" your virtual self yells.
"Well, why not?" you ask.
"Because," he responds. "I do not want to die."
Copyright 2004 Joseph Basile