Selecting the title for blog posts. |
On Nirutam's home world, it is common practice for each person to have an artificial life companion that slowly develops into a cognitive copy of that person. While on Earth, it was convenient to disguise her Selfie as a pet cat.
Stranger Than Truth
an imaginary life form (source) |
1958 "Parapsyche" |
Before the development of molecular biology and the discovery of the structure of DNA, the nature of life was quite mysterious and science fiction story tellers wrote a lot of nonsense about it. For example, there is a long tradition of uncoupling human consciousness (or "souls") from physical bodies.
In his 1936 story "Liquid Life" by Ralph Farley, he imagined a scientist having a conversation with a liquefied cat. Even without its normal solid physical structure, the cat's consciousness persisted. Raymond F. Jones still had a liquid protoplasm alien in 1944.
In selecting the first alien to introduce to readers of the Exode Saga, it only seems fair to get right to the task of exploring my view of the issue of artificial life forms and possibilities for life after death.
Consciousness Set Free
Original cover art by Edmund Emshwiller |
Here, 60 years later, many people still prefer to believe in some form of mind-body dualism by which their own consciousness can exist without the support of their physical brain. However, I'm a materialist and I can't write stories about magical minds that exist as migratory non-material entities. Sill, I love the idea of stories in which the minds of biological creatures can survive after death.
Post Life
fun with robots |
In his essay, Clarke assumed that miniaturized computers would some day have vast information storage and processing power. He went on to suggest that in the far future it might be possible to "reincarnate" human minds in other forms, the details of which are currently beyond our imagination. But when has lack of imagination ever slowed the science fiction story teller? Clarke went on to write about the transformation of Dr. David Bowman into a new form of life, a "Star Child", by making use of advanced alien technology.
Future science: hierions and sedrons. |
Asimov and Turing were both restricting their imaginations to the use of hadronic matter as the physical basis for information storage in both positronic robot brains and electronic computers. However, in his 1958 essay, Clarke allowed his imagination to include possible future scientific discoveries that might go beyond human understanding of matter as it existed in 1958.
In my fiction, I image that in addition to hadronic matter, there is also as-yet-undiscovered hierions and sedrons that allow for forms of matter at sub-nanoscopic scales.
Rooms have been added to the bottom (source) |
International Scientific Investigation Organization
Maturin is not interested in the food. |
Maturin does not mind revealing to Nora that she is the "remnant" of Nirutam, but Maturin does not want to do so while the meddling ISIO agents are present. As soon as Nora and Rylla arrive, Maturin goes into hiding. Also, knowing that the ISIO agents are likely to search the premises for Nirutam, Maturin hides the remaining evidence that Nirutam is dead: she left behind her phone and her severed finger is in the freezer in the guest house. The Editor has been planning to perform some alien DNA analysis.
Nirutam's Phone |
The zeptites that hold a copy of Nirutam's mind pattern slip through the hierion tube that connects Earth to Observer Base. The body of Maturin the cat, which is composed of hierions, remains on Earth.
Next: Technology-assisted telepathy
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