Federation Cloning Status

Another thing to be remembered is that Nimue (the copy called Merlin) is alone.

Separated by centuries from everybody and everything "she" knew.

They are long dead and "she" is still around.

"Her" thoughts on "her" PICA status are IMO tainted by this knowledge.

CastleTrime wrote:Comment in OAR on page 248 Merlin thinks it ironic that the last Christian is a machine since lagally thats all autonomous PICA had ever been and wonders weather or not he had a soul or was just a recording and decided that it didn't matter for his task was to restore humanities past including all humanities striving for divine inspiration. He then hopes humanity ability to believe will not be destroyed by the realisation of the lie.

DrakBibliophile wrote:DJMacdonald, then what are you arguing about?

Evilauthor and I were discussing sentience, PICAs, and erasing recorded data -- no arguments at all at all.

DrakBibliophile wrote:This discussion is about matters existing in the Safehold story universe not about what is possible now or in the real future.

What!!!
Not the real future?!?

<faints>

.

Yep, not the Real Future.

DJMacdonald wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:This discussion is about matters existing in the Safehold story universe not about what is possible now or in the real future.

What!!!
Not the real future?!?

<faints>

.

DJMacdonald wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:This discussion is about matters existing in the Safehold story universe not about what is possible now or in the real future.

What!!!
Not the real future?!?

<faints>

.

DrakBibliophile wrote:Yep, not the Real Future.

At least not the near Real Future

DJ Macdonald have you read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick (Pub in 1968)? Hollywood made the movie Blade Runner based on this short story. The short story is actually a true thought provoking story in the old vein of Sci-Fi, in that it asks how do we define if we are alive/sentient?

Currently machines are not sentient and are not alive but who makes that call? Is my computer I am using at this moment alive - as a biologist I will categorically say no; does it have a soul/spark of life/spirit whatever you want to call it again I say no.
But who is to say in the future (if humans get there in one piece) don't make a machine that is alive!

I love the fact that the main character in the series is an 'artificial' life form who Does dream of electric sheep

Thrandir wrote:DJ Macdonald have you read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick (Pub in 1968)? Hollywood made the movie Blade Runner based on this short story. The short story is actually a true thought provoking story in the old vein of Sci-Fi, in that it asks how do we define if we are alive/sentient?

Yes I have -- as well as lot of what are considered "classics" these days. My father had quite an extensive collection of SF paperbacks from the 1950's and onward.

Have you read Asimov's The Last Question?

Thrandir wrote:Currently machines are not sentient and are not alive but who makes that call? Is my computer I am using at this moment alive - as a biologist I will categorically say no; does it have a soul/spark of life/spirit whatever you want to call it again I say no.
But who is to say in the future (if humans get there in one piece) don't make a machine that is alive!

I love the fact that the main character in the series is an 'artificial' life form who Does dream of electric sheep

As an Electrical Engineer/Computer Scientist by both training and inclination I categorically agree with you, and add that in the future that atrificial life form will be only artificially sentient.

As for Merlin, rather than sentience, apply Clarke's Law.

--

KNick wrote:At least not the near Real Future

Of course not! The Gbaba War started in what? The 24th century? IIRC, anything more than a lifetime away isn't NEAR future at all; it's FAR future!

And oh yeah, the events of the series are taking place 1000 years even farther into the future.