The Sword and Laser discussion
If you could, would you?
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To answer my own question; If I wanted to play it safe I would choose Will from the Rangers Apprentice. If I wanted to go with interesting I would choose Rand Althor from The Wheel of Time series (as long as I wouldn't wake up a madman) Perin Aybara from the same series could be interesting as well.
My first instinct on considering this would be to not upload some fictional character's life into my head, but that of a true historical figure. Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, or maybe Nikola Tesla come to mind. Perhaps all of those individuals and others as well. If the algorithm can fill in fictitious gaps, then I'm sure it could make up theoretically factual ones as well.The one problem though, what if you're also stuck with those people's attitudes and false beliefs as well? Since you have their entire lifetime in your head you'd have all their education (formal and informal) stuck in there too. I'm not sure what those might be for the people I've selected, but Henry Ford, or Charles Lindbergh had some truly hateful ideas. And as you go further back in history, you'd have some serious social forces to contend with as well.
Nifty concept!That said, there isn't someone whose story I would want in my head like that, even if it did come with cool powers. But I wanted to say that sounds like a cool idea for a story, and I'd be interested in reading it if you ever decide to share it or otherwise publish. :)
Ryan wrote: "To answer my own question; If I wanted to play it safe I would choose Will from the Rangers Apprentice. If I wanted to go with interesting I would choose Rand Althor from The Wheel of Time series ..."If you picked Rand, you'd also have to deal with Lews Therin; you'd effectively have someone in your head who also has someone in his head. It'd be like Being John Malkovich meets Inception.
Mercutiom wrote: "My first instinct on considering this would be to not upload some fictional character's life into my head, but that of a true historical figure. Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, or maybe Nikola Tesla ..."This is food for thought. There are scores of real people who's memories could be very beneficial. Although not a real person, having the mind of Sherlock Holmes would be amazing.
aldenoneil wrote: "If you picked Rand, you'd also have to deal with Lews Therin; you'd effectively have someone in your head who also has someone in his head. It'd be like Being John Malkovich meets Inception. "Good point. That would probably lead to some freaky multiple personalities. I think I need to revise my decision and go with someone a little less volatile. I do love Being John Malkovich but I don't think I am ready to live it.
terpkristin wrote: "Nifty concept!That said, there isn't someone whose story I would want in my head like that, even if it did come with cool powers. But I wanted to say that sounds like a cool idea for a story, and..."
This is a submission for the Writers of the Future contest. I would be happy to send you a copy once I give it another edit and a bit of polish.
I would only do it if I knew I could retain my original personality and it would stay dominant... As described I think the logical sequel to this would be some neo-nazi group kidnapping people off the street and uploading Hitler into them.
The third book would be some guy who added like 50 personalities to himself (including Gandhi and Jesus) saving the day :) Gives a whole new meaning to WWJD.
Of course you could really mess this guy up by throwing a David Koresh in there instead of Jesus.
My personal choice would be Quentin from Magician King
I would totally upload Conan the Cimmerian, by Crom!
Sounds like a really cool idea Ryan, but maybe you could consider (just a friendly suggestion! :-)) making the unavoidable dilemmas more central/interesting, by having a more ambiguous presence(s)? "The dark one" would make me think "oh another good vs evil story" and this seem to me to have a much more complex and original potential. I'd probably choose (historical) Moliere or (fictional) maybe Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle
Louise wrote: "Sounds like a really cool idea Ryan, but maybe you could consider having a more ambiguous presence(s)? "The dark one" would make me think "oh another good vs evil story" and this seem to me to have a much more complex and original potential. "I agree 100% and if I ever turn this into a novel, that is exactly what I will do but with a 1500 word limit, I am unable to get to complex with the ending.
There needs to be limits to this effect. My first thoughts were how it could be missused if people kept the dominant attitudes of the character in the book, regardless of their prior believesThink about what would happen if you Uploaded Mein Kampf to a legion of Israle street people and then let them loose.
aldenoneil wrote: "If you picked Rand, you'd also have to deal with Lews Therin; you'd effectively have someone in your head who also has someone in his head. It'd be like Being John Malkovich meets Inception."It depends on which book you picked, he's relatively normal in the first couple books. I wouldn't want to be downloading him during The Gathering Storm. I won't say more to avoid spoiling anyone.
Interesting concept. I just read a science fiction novel where this type of tech was used as a training method: a character "lived" out the life of a character in a particular TV show or movie in order to learn that character's skill set or knowledge.
You wouldn't need to fill in every memory automatically. The human brain would do it on it's own. It's a weird trait it has. "No data, best make it up to fill in the gaps." It's why sometimes when people are lying they don't even realize it. They're just misremembering.Personally, I wouldn't. The reason being humans are the result of their experiences. I would no longer be me with someone else's memories.
I hear that they are going to remake Total Recall. Can't say that I am pleased with that. I always prefer the originals to any of the new remakes because most if not all the new remakes are crap.
Anyway, I always thought that at the end of Total Recall the guy would wake up back in the dream and memories shop and realise that he had paid for a really good deal.
Anyway, I always thought that at the end of Total Recall the guy would wake up back in the dream and memories shop and realise that he had paid for a really good deal.
Remakes that were as good or better than the original:- Ocean's Eleven
- The Lord of The Rings (I'm counting the cartoons)
- The Italian Job
- The Magnificent Seven
- The Good, The Bad, The Weird
- 13 Assassins
- The Departed
- Gone In 60 Seconds
- The Omega Man
- Insomnia
- Scarface
- Solaris
- True Lies
To name a few...
That being said, one look at the IMDB page fro Total Recall (2012) and you see a lot of... Depressing things. The writers and director don't leave much room for hope.
But, then again, the original isn't exactly stellar cinema. It's an action movie with hammy acting and an obvious story. However, that is kind of the point. So maybe it'll be good. Who knows? There are a few good actors involved.
I would pick Dr O'Mara from Mind Changer who is a psychologist who's had an alien life uploaded into his brain (and over time he gets used to it, so he knows the ropes). Plus he's a nice but gruff guy.
Matrim Cauthon of Wheel of Time fame. Genuinely would have to have that guy in my head. Most of SF/F characters have some kind of crippling personality flaw or at least a neurosis that i would never let in my head though.
Doug wrote: "Remakes that were as good or better than the original:- Ocean's Eleven
- The Lord of The Rings (I'm counting the cartoons)
- The Italian Job
- The Magnificent Seven
- The Good, The Bad, The ..."
The Italian Job and Magnicent Seven remakes as good as the originals?
In what universe? You're having a Turkish mate!
The Italian job is well done and quite fun. And, in the case of Ed Norton, well acted. The original is the exact same. A very fun, more than a little camp film that's highly enjoyable. The new one is still a good movie.The Magnificent Seven is one of the all-time best westerns. It is a classic in every sense of the word. Even Akira Kurosawa commented on how well done it was. Though, it was kind of a thing at the time for western cinema to rip off Kurosawa and for Kurosawa to borrow from them.
Ah, I stand corrected as far as the Magnificent Seven are concerned but you should have quoted the Seven Samurai rather than the M7. The original Italian Job is considered in the UK to be a classic, a real icon of sixties style. The remake was at best a routine affair and like so many remakes you have to ask the question....Why??????
But Seven Samurai was the original, Magnificent Seven was the remake.I still enjoyed the new Italian Job. Granted, it's no where near as good as the new Ocean's Eleven is when compared to the original (which has the big selling point of the Rat Pack) but it's still an enjoyable movie. The reason I like it so much is because they didn't try to remake the film outright. They did something new.
Ewan wrote: "Matrim Cauthon of Wheel of Time fame. Genuinely would have to have that guy in my head. Most of SF/F characters have some kind of crippling personality flaw or at least a neurosis that i would nev..."
Sure, but he has a similar problem to Rand above, except much worse, as he has dozens if not hundreds of memories/personalities in his head.
While they were designed to fill up existing gaps in his own mind and thus do not cause any (significant) mental instability, the initial criticism still applies.
Faiz wrote:"Sure, but he has a similar problem to Rand above, except much worse, as he has dozens if not hundreds of memories/personalities in his head.While they were designed to fill up existing gaps in his own mind and thus do not cause any (significant) mental instability, the initial criticism still applies. "
But there is a huge difference. (view spoiler)
Yeah, I would probably be the type to OD on this tech and withdraw from reality to contemplate all my uploaded fantastical histories.For all different reasons:
Phedre from the Kushiel's Legacy series
Shevek from The Dispossessed
Witch Baby from the Dangerous Angels series
Nadia from the Red Mars trilogy
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Mind Changer (other topics)The Gathering Storm (other topics)
In my story, the protagonist chooses to have the life of the main character of his favorite epic fantasy uploaded into his memories. When he awakes it is not only with the memories of two lifetimes but also with some new and unnerving skills. Not only can he now use a sword, ride a horse and speak to girls without having a panic attack but he seems to have awoke with the ability to use magic and sense the presence of the Dark One, a presence that feels much to strong to be computer induced memory...
Writing this really got me thinking. If this technology were real, would you be willing to use it? Keep in mind that you would wake up with real memories of another life, including all the loss, heartbreak, pain and ultimately the experience of death. If you would use this technology, which book and what characters life would you want to experience?