[geeks] [rescue] consciousness immortality [was: Sun Sparcstation 20 hard disks]

[Nate Raymond]

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Steve Haavik <shaavik at soc.lib.md.us>wrote:

> Or just keep re-creating himself, like the character in the Schwarzenegger
>> movie (I forget the name, but it was the one with clones).
>>
>
> The 6th Day (http://www.imdb.com/title/**tt0216216/<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216216/>
> )
>
> I think I liked Multiplicity (http://www.imdb.com/title/**tt0117108/<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117108/>)
> better. Well, maybe not. Don't remember stuff blowing up.
>
> Ghost in the Shell (http://www.imdb.com/title/**tt0113568/<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113568/>)
> did it too in one of the episodes. Plus lots of androids, robots, AIs, and
> cyborgs.
>
> If you want a really disturbing look at where whole person cloning could
> take us, read "Fat Farm" by Orson Scott Card. It's in "Maps in a Mirror" (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Maps_in_a_Mirror<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maps_in_a_Mirror>
> ).
>
> Heck, Doctor Who even had a cloning episode this season. (
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1777783/)


Good recommendations, to which I would add Moon:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/

BTW, I notice you linked to the original Mamoru Oshii Ghost in the Shell
movie from 1995, which while good (and I do like it), deviated in a number
of ways from the manga, so I wouldn't want people to confuse it with the TV
show (same characters, different timelines/universes that don't tie in at
all really).  Here's a link to the TV show, called Stand Alone Complex:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=910

I quite liked the TV show, and the second season, called 2nd Gig:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=8495

At first glance, the TV show may appear not to be as philosophical as the
1995 movie, but at times it very much can be, it just stretches it out over
a lot more time, i.e. there are fast paced action episodes, there are
intrigue episodes, there are detective work episodes, and there are some
that are mostly talking.  In the extras, don't miss the Tachikoma
mini-episodes, sometimes they are just silly slapstick but sometimes they
are serious ruminations and explorations of some fascinating concepts (and
get into the questions of what it would be like to be a group of instanced
consciousnesses that do a daily sync-up and share memories/experiences to
explicitly accelerate learning).

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is a continuation of the Mamoru Oshii movie,
so it's not directly related to the TV series, but also deals with the
concept of disembodied consciousnesses in interesting ways.  Worth watching
after the first movie if you liked it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347246/

The movie Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society is a continuation of the
TV show however, so should be watched after finishing Stand Alone Complex
2nd Gig:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856797/

- Nate