Axiomatic

by Greg Egan

Everyone has conflicting desires, and people can grow tired of both wanting and not wanting the very same thing. I understood that, perfectly.

Your body doesn’t contain a single atom you were born with – so what gives you your identity? It’s a pattern of information, not a physical thing.

We think of our lives as circumscribed by cultural and biological taboos, but if people really want to break them, they always seem to find a way. Human beings are capable of anything: torture, genocide, cannibalism, rape. After which – or so I’d heard – most can still be kind to children and animals, be moved to tears by music, and generally behave as if all their emotional faculties are intact.