Dagny's personality is downloaded not at the moment of her death but while she is still alive. Therefore, living Dagny and download Dagny coexist for a period of time during which they accumulate different memories and become increasingly divergent personalities. When living Dagny dies, the by now divergent download continues but Dagny's personality at the moment of death ends. That personality is not recorded, resurrected or reincarnated anywhere. The existing download is not continuous with it.
If living Dagny had a soul, then that soul has entered the hereafter. If the download has a soul (Why should it? Why shouldn't it?), then that soul will enter the hereafter when the download is deleted, erased, destroyed etc. Although we naturally assume a continuity between living Guthrie and download Guthrie, there is no such continuity - the original living Guthrie is dead - as becomes more evident when there is more than one download.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
A fascinating question, since I do believe in the reality of "souls."
That is, CAN a soul be copied via it being downloanded into an artificial neural network? Since I don't in the least believe that to be possible, the question is moot and unanswerable.
Sean
To make the 'download' of a human personality less implausible to me, it would not be a one time copy done quickly. I would have it be some sort of artificial auxiliary brain continuously carried and connected to the organic brain. Over years it would store memories and provide services like calculations for the original. As any deterioration of the organic brain happens with age it would take over functions from the organic. The artificial brain could be backed up in case of damage to the mobile brains, both organic & artificial.
When the organic body & brain dies, the artificial brain would carry on the personality.
Kaor, Jim!
I think Anderson sort of assumed something like this being done with or for the downloaded personalities we see in the HARVEST OF STARS books. Maybe he should have gone into greater detail.
Ad astra! Sean
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