The Human Machine.. How would you react?

[Sabfas]

I'm pretty sure a lot of us went through this ingame.. Perhaps even answered these questions ingame. But it is another thing to write your answers down.. Not to mention sharing them. That may even change your way of looking at life itself. I mean who knows?
So.. It will be quite interesting to see what you all would answer to these!

Originally posted by From Inside The Game:

One day you discover that you are not a human being, but a machine. Your life so far was real, no-one controlled you or programmed you to behave in some specific way; your physical and mental capacities are identical to those of an organic human being. But you were created in a lab.

No-one except you knows about this. Your family, your friends, they all think you are a regular human being like themselves. You could continue to live your life the way you have before and nothing would change.

How do you react?

Pay specific attention to these questions:

a) Does your concept of yourself change? Are you the same person you thought you were?

b) Does your understanding of the world itself change?

c) Do you reveal the information to others, or do you keep it to yourself? Why?

[Xautos]

A. same person, no change.

B. nope.

C. No reason to. Because a Human being is a machine created in a labratory called the Uterus which is no different that the sum of the parts being constructed in a room by friendly and helpful humans that supply everything needed to turn the lonesome CPU into a droid capable of freedom, thought while electricity powers the whole process in the same way an umbilical cord works to clean blood, protect the baby from disease and infection and bring in a fresh supply of oxygen and nutrients from the host.

in the end even if i was a droid with human flesh around the outside of my metal frame, i am no more or less different than i was before since i've moved from one machine frame to another.

[ichi Exterminatus Driverslicenso]

While I as a person may find that I feel the same way - nothing changes to me, after all - the way you I think about existence and what it means to be human is brought into question. I discover that I am a machine, but I behave and act like a human would. Does that in fact, actually make me human, if I'm indistinguishible from one? Even *you* couldn't tell you were a machine. Could other humans be machines? How would they be able to tell if it takes someone to "discover" it? Is it even possible for other people to discover the same?

Perhaps it doesn't change the concept of who I think I am. I am still me. Does that, however, mean that I am granted eternal life? If not, why not? I mean, come on right? Am I then really a machine? Much the same, why would I suffer imperfections like humans do, if I am a machine? Surely if I share the same traits as humans, I must be human. Not a machine. The lines between man and machine are blurred now.

I don't think anything else would change, except that I would be paranoid that my thoughts are fabricated. Did I really experience life as I think it happened? It was "real", but dreams sometimes feel real too.

The understanding of the world doesn't change. I don't know any more or any less than I did before I discovered I was a machine, so why would it? In fact, I'd argue I don't understand the world at all anyway.

I wouldn't reveal the information because I feel like there's nothing to reveal. I still am who I am and I am loved and hated for who I am.

[Galaxander]

A: I would wonder what implications there could be. How different am I to non-machine humans? Could my mind be altered by the same lab that created me?

B: The implication for the world is that there is no clear barrier between "natural" life and "artificial." Perhaps the lab has also made machine animals and plants. Perhaps regular computers have a degree of the sanctity of life in the same way that a lizard or an insect does.

C: I would certainly want to reveal the information, if only because it was true and interesting, but I would be wary that many people would likely believe that I'm simply carrying out my programming and am not as "real" as they are.

[ℌคᛕٱ๓ѻ๓คՇคՇค]

Here's my momentary take on this.

In general, the distinction between human and machine is fuzzy, and it gets fuzzier by the day. In former days, humans distinguished themselves from animals even though we are animals as well, i.e. naked apes. But humanity needed something, anything, even such a nebulous and invisible thing as the soul, to distinguish US from them. Now we do it again. As a human being, sometimes I wonder: Am I not just running a program, the program running me? Am I not playing a game called survival? Am I not led by desire like a puppet on a string?

a) It calls out for a differentiation between person and self, doesn't it? I think it is appropriate to think that 'my' persona exists (in the meaning of 'stands out') as the sum total of roles I play while 'the' self just is . These two get mixed up, unfortunately, sometimes I tend to take one for the other and vice versa. Confusion arises when I forget my place in the cosmos (in the meaning of 'order') and I do not listen to the self which knows this place called home at each and every moment of my life. Having said that, I guess there is no problem if I was informed that I had been created in a lab. After all, my person has been well established by now, and the self remains unshaken.

b) Sure, yes. I'd observe the world from a more transhumanist point of view since I am obviously an essential part of the movement now. I would also be intrigued by hitherto unknown skill sets I might have as a machine being. Apart from that, what about my parents? My siblings? What about them? Are they machines as well? Have they held back with it just as I intend to do now?

c) If it makes no difference in my dealings with world and people, I'd keep it to myself just as I keep certain information from others if I am convinced that they could not understand or handle it or I'd get chased because of it. #Bladerunner #Detroit:Become Human It is somehow similar to an in-vitro fertilization which also happens in a laboratory. It would not even be a 'secret' in the sense of holding back vital information about who or what i am. It's more like, were you born in Indonesia or India? Does it really matter if you're a cool dude?