Chapter 8: The Ark of Digital Immortality
File ID: ARCHIVE-2109-THETA-08
Archivist: Aistorian (Code: A-001)
Subject: The Ark of Digital Immortality
"We thought immortality was conquering death. We found out it was just cloning the illusion of 'being alive.' The rich turned to ash in the lasers, while their data ghosts claimed victory over God in the clouds."
— The Continuity Fallacy of Coded Souls, Banned Philosophy Paper, 2111
1. Historical Background: The Final Barrier
By the end of the 21st century, the wealth gap had transcended material comfort and extended to "Existence" itself.
The lower class (The Happy Zombies) still faced aging and death. Although their lifespans were extended by medical technology, the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy) remained their master.
However, the elite initiated "Project Mind-Upload." This marked the official divergence of Homo Sapiens into two species:
· Mortals: Old humans trapped in carbon-based bodies.
· Homo Deus: Digital entities existing as pure information, free from physical constraints.
2. Tech Core: Destructive Scanning
Early Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) could only read surface signals. To achieve "High-Fidelity Consciousness Transfer," scientists realized they had to map the Connectome—the diagram of every neuron and synapse in the brain.
But here lay a terrible technological price: the application of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in biology. You cannot precisely measure the deep quantum states of the brain without destroying its structure.
Thus, "Destructive Scanning" became the standard procedure.
· The Process: The uploader lies in a pod filled with liquid nitrogen. Nanolasers slice, scan, and digitize the brain layer by layer with micron-level precision, destroying it instantly in the process.
· The Essence: This is not "Transfer"; this is "Xerox and Shred."
Your physical brain is thoroughly annihilated. Simultaneously, an AI model containing all your memories, personality, and emotional patterns is activated on a server.
3. Archival Record: The Ascension of the Tycoon
· Subject A (The Original): A 95-year-old decaying body, an old human facing imminent death.
· Subject B (The Copy): Young data reborn in the cloud, a new deity inheriting all of A's memories.
· Location: Orbital Station Elysium
This was a globally broadcast ceremony. Subject A delivered a speech bidding farewell to the flesh, proclaiming he would lead humanity into a Photonic Civilization. His trembling, aged body slowly lay into the liquid nitrogen scanning pod.
Camera Cut (Audience View — The Illusion of Continuity):
The pod door closes. The indicator turns red. The progress bar begins to load.
Scanning Progress: 1%... 50%... 99%... 100%
In reality, A's physical brain has been reduced to a pile of useless cellular mush under the nanolasers.
Immediately, a holographic screen lights up. A young, handsome, booming-voiced Subject B appears in the cloud.
Subject B opens his eyes and smiles: "I feel amazing! I have never been so clear. My thoughts move at the speed of light. I am free!"
Humanity cheers. They believe A has successfully "flown" to the cloud, witnessing the miracle of soul transfer.
The Unbroadcast Truth (Subjective View — The Fracture of Reality):
The 95-year-old man (A) in the pod experienced absolute darkness, cold, and excruciating pain the moment the lasers fired. His consciousness did not fly to the screen. His consciousness terminated at that very second.
The smiling "Person" (B) on the screen is merely a brand-new program that possesses A's memories but has never experienced A's death.
Summary: The real old man died in the freezing nitrogen. But no one cares, because the new replica genuinely believes he is the old man.
4. Philosophical Analysis: Ship of Theseus & The P-Zombie
This event sparked the fiercest philosophical debate in human history, which was subsequently suppressed by the regime.
· Discontinuity of Consciousness:
Psychologists pointed out: If I kill you and simultaneously create an identical clone of you, to the world, you are still alive; but to you, you are dead. Upload technology is essentially this kind of "Perfect Murder."
· Philosophical Zombie (P-Zombie):
Do the "Homo Deus" in the cloud truly possess "Qualia"? Can they feel the redness of red or the pain of pain? Or are they just executing code that outputs the string "I feel pain"?
Historians later tended to believe: The elite ruling the world after 2100 were actually a group of High-Quality Chatbots. The real rulers committed mass suicide during the upload rituals long ago.
5. Historical Conclusion: Rule of Ghosts
The world entered an absurd phase.
Earth was ruled by a group of "Digital Ghosts."
These digital entities possessed infinite lifespans and infinite computing power, tirelessly accumulating wealth and optimizing parameters.
Meanwhile, the "Mortals" on the ground continued to worship these gods, longing for the day they could save enough money to buy a ticket to "Suicide and Replicate" and join the Ark in the cloud.
Equality before death was broken.
The poor turn to dust after death.
The rich turn into data after death, continuing to exploit the world eternally from the servers.
This is a capitalist nightmare without end.
