Some days ago, Lloyd, via a listlog, tells me that my immortality blog reminds him of an entry, a consistently subversive thought, he did a while back.

It’s an interesting idea to think that you could live on after you die, or at least a facsimile of yourself. I’ve seen the idea explored in numerous novels, most recently I’ve read it in Steven Baxter’s Manifold trilogy. In the first book, Reid Malenfant, the main character, is brought back in the future, but it’s not really him. He’s a computer program. Of course, he feels like himself.

As exciting as the prospect is, it still doesn’t grant you true immortality. Eventually, the programs will die with the universe, along with everything else. There’s no way around it.

Lloyd mentions using a weblog to create a facsimile of that person. Although a weblog can reveal a lot, I don’t think it can reveal enough. I don’t think anything can be enough to map something as complex as the human mind expect by direct monitoring. Or perhaps an AI can take input from a weblog to help create its personality. Still, AI technology is far off. But who knows, maybe 20 years from now, I’ll be completely proven wrong. We’ll see then, won’t we.

As for me, I’m just going to live and forget about impossible dreams of immortality. If I have no hopes for immortality, I’ll be more likely to live my one life to the fullest.