MovieChat Forums > Self/less (2015) Discussion > Shedding -- Just a copy, not real immort...

Shedding -- Just a copy, not real immortality

posted 9 years ago by beauwilshire-52931
13 replies | jump to latest

Shedding would sound interesting in real life, but the movie seems to indicate that you are just copying your mind, memories and skills of your brain into another person's brain. It's not really you. You are dead. So even if the new being feels like you, has the same memories as you, they are still not you and you will be and feel dead. Therefore to me it would be useless.

I much prefer if they could transfer my real brain into a new body or probably easier into a robot that I could still operate. I hope someday this becomes a reality.

[–] creatorof2002 9 years ago

1. Brain in a robot is creepy as hell.

2. Problem with transplanting brain is the brain itself will eventually grow old and die.

3. You might be confusing this with THE SIXTH DAY with Arnold S. In that movie you really do just die and get replaced. In SELF LESS it TRANSFERS your mind. It WAS him.

4. you are aware right that the same argument has been used for Star Trek teleportation? That you "die" and then just get REPLACED by an exact copy? Some people have theorized that. If so every trek character is "dead" in a sense.

[–] Luca_Toni_Almeida 9 years ago

Teleportation in Star Trek does pose philosophical problems, but it's not a good example in this context. In Star Trek they actually transport all of your molecules to the new location, for one thing. In Self/Less they showed a machine that copied Damian's brain and then burned the information onto a new human canvas. They even made sure to kill him by stopping his heart before he went in so he wouldn't still be alive when the clone regained consciousness.

There's nothing in Self/Less that would lead you to believe that Ryan Reynolds is anything but a cloned version of Old Damian's mind. Of course the doctors claimed that Damian had been transferred to a new vessel; that was their game. That's how they made their money. No one would have paid them 250 million just to make a clone of their consciousness.

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

1. Star Trek teleportation is up for debate. The descriptions I read is that they destroy you but record your "pattern" then recreate you at the new location.

2. You do not know for sure how "shedding" works. There might be a reason you have to stop the heart before the transfer.

3. If it is not really "you" why did the main villain even bother doing it? As the creator he would know.

[–] cashmccall 8 years ago

The process shown in this film is immortality. All he has to do is transfer to another body when this one grows old, and do it on and on forever.

It will be the same way when scientists invent a pill that lets you live to 200. If you are 21 and you take the pill it's basically an immortality pill in the sense that when you reach 200 there will likely be a 500 year pill and so on, that's immortality, you will live forever. That's the interesting thing about life extension, it can be forever.

However, since no pill or process like this exists, and may not for hundreds or thousands of years, no one watching this film will see or experience any of it in their lifetime. Thus, a fantasy, far future movie.

[–] nickatnoon61 (247) a month ago

cash mc, Creator already does that by transferring our IMMORTAL SOULS into other physical beings after our bodies wear out and die. I trust Creator/God over ANY human, ANY day!

[–] nickatnoon61 (247) a month ago

cash mc, That 'PILL' probably exists NOW! It's called our WILL, spirit, or soul. It is ETERNAL, and just moves on to another being after our bodies wear out or are prematurely 'killed'. If we want to EVOLVE into a HIGHER God-consciousness, we need to LIVE in that HIGHER consciousness, by RAISING our 'frequencies'. We can do that by thinking, speaking, and LIVING/behaving in a frequency of...LOVE. Anyone who has had a "spiritual experience" like I have had in 1992, will automatically shift into a HIGHER realm, or resonance, IF we TRUST our HIGHER POWER to help us along that journey. In MY experience it was/is a LOVING Creator that is helping me to achieve a piece of 'Nirvana.' That is a HIGHER(benevolent) state of BEING. I CHOSE/choose that way of LIFE, (most of the time at least) I'm also 39 years vegan. My life actions now reflect those choices I made and still make today. Choose LOVE over FEAR, and REALLY start living! Start by doing baby steps, and soon after you will see, and FEEL yourself morphing to higher levels. I don't think there is any QUICK-FIX, but the process goes at God's speed. Methinx that is why the adage..."ONE day at a time." It usually takes us years to degrade ourselves, so it will take time to HEAL, and repair too... (=.

[–] TerraFirma69 (2352) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] plainstyle (172) 7 years ago

Yeah, I still can't believe that reveal. :/ But could you maybe put a spoiler tag on this? Anyone who hasn't seen [spoiler]The Prestige[/spoiler] should go into it with as little foreknowledge as possible (and perhaps the advice to pay close attention since it's rather fast-paced).

[–] TerraFirma69 (2352) 7 years ago

Good call, my bad. Actually I can't really find a good way to cover spoilers for that movie, even vague ones, in this context so I'm going to delete the comment. Thanks for the heads up.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

An Orson Scott Card story, "Fat Farm," dealt with this directly

It's acknowledged by everyone, including the customer, that the younger "you" is just a physical copy with a duplicate of your mind at the moment of transfer.

The old "you" gets discarded, but does so willingly with the knowledge that another, younger "you" is released out into the world with all your memories and property

The "Outer Limits" revival also dealt with this in an episode I think called "Think Like a Dinosaur." Interstellar teleportation is possible, but the original remains behind; the "equation must be "balanced" by killing the original

In both versions, the subject knows what's going to happen. Maybe they know it here, too, or at least turn a blind eye to the implications

[–] janoss (214) 5 years ago

I've had real panic attacks many years ago about the idea of my consciousness being transferred to another brain, knowing full well that the real me was dead.
It went away after I was about 15 but I remember the existential dread of knowing that the real me was dead and it was my fault. I was merely a simulacrum.
I thought of it like an engine swap. It acted the same as the old one, but it wasn't the same at the same time.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 4 years ago

It's not an engine swap - it's an engine duplication. That's what's so scary. All the original physical material of "you" is gone.

However, looking back on this film, it's implied that "consciousness" is a form of energy that can be transferred. The energy constituting your consciousness "sheds" its old body to get housed in a new one.

It's likely BS in the film, though, since they lied to Damien about so much anyway.

[–] nickatnoon61 (247) a month ago

A.I. is not a 'natural' phenomenon. It's NOT from Creator, as is Mankind, so I do not trust A.I. So far modern technology has been MIS-used, and is a weapon against us. Why would anyone want more of that?
If God, or "the Gods" wanted us to BE Gods, He/They would have made us Gods in the beginning. My hope is that us gods (small g) strive to be more like God, by living in a place of LOVE! That is why I strive to RAISE my vibration in that direction. By doing so, I affect other gods around me, (and other sentient beings), and that RAISES their consciousness as well.
I am DOING that with my cat ATM, and I have SEEN him change for the better so far! We are more in SYNC now, and we comprehend each other better. So far, so good! Of course, I ask Creator for help regularly, through sincere prayer.