The Singularity Trap

by Dennis E. Taylor

The doctor had that skill that physicians seemed to cultivate everywhere—the same noncommittal “mm, hmm” on each test that gave no indication of whether he’d aced it or was about to die.

“Ivan, there’s an old saying that you replace every atom in your body every seven years. Reality isn’t quite that simple, of course, but if you could actually tag atoms, most of me wasn’t me a decade ago. Cells die, get replaced. Food comes in, builds more cells, and so on. I’m literally not the same person I used to be. So it’s not the specific matter that makes you, you.”