In
the year 2064 Jim and Emily Lawson were enjoying the third year of
their marriage, which seemed to be going well, even though Emily was
worried that her husband might be having an affair with a holographic
mistress. On one evening Jim asked Emily to sit down on the couch
with him, so they could have a serious talk.
“So
you want a serious talk?” said Emily. “Oh God, don't tell me –
are you fooling around with a holographic mistress?”
“No,
it's not that at all,” said Jim.
“Is
it a real flesh-and-blood mistress?” asked Emily.
“No,
it's not that either,” said Jim. “It's something deeper. I'm
dissatisfied with our marriage.”
“How
have I failed you?” asked Emily, crying.
“You
haven't,” said Jim. “It's just that I'm dissatisfied with a
physical existence in general.”
“What
are you talking about?” asked Emily, baffled.
“Haven't
you heard about the new thing that's so fashionable?” asked Jim.
“It's mind uploading. They connect your brain to some scanner, and
then they upload your mind to a big supercomputer. The scanning
ruins your brain, but you live inside the computer which received
your mind upload. You can then enjoy a wonderful virtual reality
better than real life. And it lasts forever.”
“So
who's stopping you?” said Emily. “You can wait until you have
terminal cancer, and then do that.”
“No,
I want to do it now,” said Jim. “Why be stuck in this
run-of-the-mill physical existence, when you can have so much fun
living in a computer-generated reality in which your every fantasy
comes true instantly?”
Emily
was shocked by her husband's decision. Jim arranged for a quickie
divorce, taking advantage of the laws passed in the 2030's, laws which
allowed you to divorce in only a month. Later Jim told Emily that he
had arranged for his mind to be uploaded into a computer. The work
would be done by a company called Silicon Paradises, Inc.
The
company sent Emily a holographic telegram telling her that the mind
upload had been done successfully, and that Jim had progressed to a
life of eternal computer-generated pleasure. The company told Emily
she could even talk to her ex-husband, by visiting the offices of
Silicon Paradises, Inc.
A
month later, Emily decided to take advantage of the offer. She
visited the impressive offices of the mind upload company.
Entering
the offices, Emily was taken into an office with a large screen. On
the screen she saw Jim's face. Behind him was some strange
computer-generated landscape.
“Jim,
is that you?” asked Emily.
“You
bet it is!” said the smiling face on the screen. “I sure am glad
I had my mind uploaded into a computer. I'm having such fun. It's
like being in Disney World every day. But there's one thing missing.
You aren't here.”
“So
you miss me?” asked Emily.
“I
miss you like crazy,” said the face on the screen. “Why don't you
sign a contract with the mind upload company, the same company you're
at now. They can upload your mind into the same computer as mine.
Then we can enjoy eternity together.”
Emily
had mixed feelings about the offer. It sounded exciting, but it
seemed dangerous. But she finally reasoned that if Jim was so happy,
she would be happy too. So she went back to the company and signed a
contract, choosing April 17 as the day of her mind upload. The
contract specified that all of Emily's money would go to the mind
upload company.
The
fateful day arrived, and Emily nervously went to the Upload Center at
the mind upload company. People at the company had her lie on a bed,
and told her to relax. While she was lying on a bed, they used some
fancy cameras to photograph her. It was almost like having X-rays
taken. Emily was puzzled by why the people asked her to smile while
the fancy camera was photographing her.
While
lying on the bed, alone in the room, Emily got cold feet. She began
to feel afraid, unsettled by the thought of the coming end of her
physical existence. So she walked out of the room. She walked down
the hall, and was startled by what she saw in one of the nearby
rooms.
Inside
the room was a man. The room had a large screen, and on it she could
see a body that looked just like hers. The body was talking.
“I
sure am glad I had my mind uploaded into a computer,” the body
said. “I'm having such fun. It's like being in Disney World every
day.”
Emily
was startled. It was just what Jim had said. But now it was coming
from a face that looked just like hers. And they hadn't even uploaded
her mind yet.
“What
the hell is going on?” said Emily. “How can you have a video of
me saying that? I never said that.”
The
man in the room had a kind of “caught red-handed” look. He then
confessed the truth.
“Looks
like you're on to us, so I'll spill the beans,” the man said. “The
truth is: we don't really upload minds to computers. We just kill
the people who pay for mind uploads.”
Emily
put her hand over her mouth.
“You
see it works like this,” explained the man. “Before we kill one
of the persons who paid for a mind upload, we do a photographic scan
that allows us to create a 3D CGI image replication of that person.
We have that 3D image thing hooked up to some chat-bot software. So
it's easy to create a computer-generated 3D image that looks just
like the person who requested the mind upload. After we've got that
person's money and killed him, we use the chat-bot 3D image to lure
in new customers. That way it's easy to lure in relatives and
friends of the poor slob who paid for a mind upload, but only got a
bullet in the head and a cremation. Those relatives and friends are
our next victims.”
“So
my Jim is really just dead?” sobbed Emily.
“Just
like you'll be soon,” said the man, calling in some co-workers.
They
were about to kill Emily until she stopped them cold by telling them
she was wearing a necklace miniature video camera, and that she had
been live-streaming on the Internet everything that had happened
since she entered the office.
A
manager at the mind upload company put on a fake smile, and tried to
pretend it was all just a misunderstanding.
“My
colleague was just joking when he told you that we don't
really upload minds,” said the manager. “I'll have to fire him
for making such stupid jokes. Come back tomorrow, and we'll get this
all straightened out, so that you're a happy customer.”
Emily
came back to the company the next day, but she came with two police
officers and a detective. But the policemen were unable to make any
arrest. When they reached the offices of the mind upload company,
they found the offices had been hastily vacated. All of the files and
the computers had vanished. All that was left lying around was some
office furniture, and a company sign that proclaimed:
Don't
worry about your eternity ending – our company will be around
forever.
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