#robot vs clone

[boreal-sea]

Now it's time for the true poll:

[parlerenfleurs]

The clone vs robot thing is so weird because clone is winning and people are being like "WOULD I STILL BE A PERSON?!?" about being a clone when one would think having a man-made programmation and brain would be a perfect case for that existential dread, whereas being a clone, which is functionally like being a twin, really doesn't call for it in the slightest.

[therealraewest]

One thing about the robot vs clone discourse I've seen that makes 0 sense to me is people saying they have to kill their clone. Like??? That person might share your DNA but they're their own person they're not about to take over your life bc odds are they have their own. If you had a surprise twin would you go on a murder quest to eliminate them?

I know Nightvale's Kill Your Double was a whole thing but I'd rather chat with my clone about mental health and nature vs nurture in an attempt to commisserate on Why We're Like This

[just-a-little-anxious]

Thinking back to that tumblr poll about wether i'd be more surprised to find out i was a clone or a robot, and it's really fascinating to think about.

Because both would come as a shock, and both would make us doubt what it means to be a human.

Clones of animals already exist, but it is only their outside appearance. If I were a clone, i would be asking what type. Is it just my body that was cloned, like those animals? And if yes, why? By whom? Or is it also my mind? Would my memories even be real? If i am made of flesh, but made artificially, then what am I? Am i cursed to live the rest of my life not knowing who i am, or what happened to the 'real' me?

And the perspective of a robot is just as interesting. Because am i a robot, or a cyborg? I would consist of flesh and metal. Do I have a brain, or is it all just code? But who's to say the normal human brain isn't also working on lines of 'code'. With hormones and certain stimuli which activate part of our brain, maybe it would be the same for me, but with zero's and one's. Would I really be considered 'less' human, just for having metal parts? If I am a robot, why make me flawed? What is the point of creating a robot that is exactly like a human, and then not treat it as one? Who are my creators? Do my parents know of this? Do I have free will? Do any of us have it?

So many philosophical questions. So few with concrete answers. The amount of existential dread would be near unbearable, but it is so intriguing.

[writing-biting]

So the funny thing is, I'm team walrus but also team robot.

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

With the robot/clone thing I think a lot of people choose the robot/android option as being less horror filled because a lot of us already feel like we're not entirely human in a traditional sense and discovering you're a robot is like getting a late diagnosis. And kind of an "I fucking knew it!"

Where as discovering you're a clone is almost the opposite. You're human. Just a human that means something else is wrong with you. And depending on which type of clone you're talking that could open up questions of "did someone intentionally make me like this?" "Am I a failed attempt?"

People seem to think the debate is on the horror being about whether or not you are truly a person. But it's about the inherent horror in one's own creation.

Someone makes and raises a robot they spent hours upon hour upon hours of their lives piecing together every bit of you bolt by bolt. There is an inherent purpose to your creation in that design without ever needing to speak with the person who created you. They created you because they wished to make a robot person.

Whereas a clone requires no less work but for you to be human shaped is the standard of that work and there are inherent questions as to why they specifically chose this method to create you.

There is also an inherent love of ones flaws that comes when you are something new. Something nobody has ever done before. A robot having flaws is expected and a triumph that there are so few. Whereas a clone, a normal human produced in an unstandard way, is still but a human and any flaws there in are inherently human regardless of one's creation.

[odinspattern]

Look guys, it isn’t about what is scientifically possible or not.

If I am a robot sure, it opens up questions like why I am not seeing the benefits, and can I download bigger bazoonkas or longer hair, but I’d assume it was an experiment of sorts and move on quickly.

If I am a clone, then that opens up so many other questions. Like. Why did they want a clone, and for what purpose? Organ harvesting?

I got some health issues that are mostly benign all in all but still there, like acid reflux, lactose intolerance, and different vision on both eyes just to name something. Was that on purpose or just bad fucking luck?

And why tell me now? I am in my thirties. Do they need my organs now? Does my family know? Is this goodbye?

And most importantly. There is a person who I am the genetic copy of. A whole-ass person. That is wild. Can I see this person? What are our similarities. Will we get along? Do they resent me? Or accept me?

Ultimately it is the possibility of seeing nature vs nurture in perfect action.

So yeah, personally I am team clone.

[outerspace-iiinnerspace]

My take on the robot vs clone thing is that if I'm a robot, I'm a robot. The surrounding circumstances might well be horrific but the poll doesn't ask about those. I'm also not bothered by the nature of consciousness here - I think therefore I am, a difference that makes no difference is no difference, etc. If I'm a robot, I've always been a robot. There's no actual change in circumstance. It's fine.

However, if I found out I was a clone that's 1000% more upsetting because then who the fuck was I cloned from?!?

[draculasstrawhat]

Been thinking about the “robot vs clone” poll (aka recent iteration of the fairy vs walrus - would you be more surprised if you were a robot or a clone) and I’m struggling to decide.

So, practicalities first: I’ve seen people say, “but we fully have the technology to clone humans, we certainly don’t have the technology to build human style robots, and fair. Except I’m older than Dolly the sheep - like, I was around 10 when that happened - so the clone-me brings up more questions than just “cloning”.

Philosophically, I can see why people are saying clone is more surprising, right? This is Tumblr. The idea of a robot who is a sentient, independent, intelligent being is a big part of our mythos. We’ve got a lot of ND people who find comfort in stories of robots, and a lot of people who actively want to be robots/cyborgs. It doesn’t… disrupt our worldview, I guess? Not in the way that cloning does.

What’s more, for robotics, we’ve got the idea that someone, or something out there (aliens? A black mirror dead-person-replacement service?) have created human-like robots. We can all think of reasons for it, even if they’re not comforting.

But a clone? A clone, you’ve got to ask *why*? Why on earth would you clone a person? And are we talking real-world cloning tech (ie, as a baby) or sci-fi stuff where we’re delivered as an adult? If it’s the latter… well, you can programme memories in to a robot, can you do that for a human? What are the psychological and philosophical implications of that?

Also, crucially, *who’s clone*? Who got a do-over in the stakes my body? Why was it allowed? Is my body now illegal? Does my body belong to someone else - either philosophically or legally? Was I raised for organ harvesting?

Again, this is Tumblr. Okay, I get that robots might “belong” to someone, but we’ve all read stories where they break their programming, become more than property. Clones… clones don’t have any programming to break. They’re just people. But… that view might not be shared by the people that created them, feeding in to a lot of our familial trauma.

Now, for me personally, I’ve had a fair bit of surgery and personal injury, given birth, and taken HRT - which make the robot hypothesis less plausible. Clones presumably wouldn’t struggle with any of that. What’s more, I have joint issues, and as fair as I understand, clones are pretty prone to those, too - whereas in a robot it would just be shoddy engineering.

In a way then, a robot is just not plausible. And if I were given inalienable proof of it, I would maybe just shrug because what the fuck else can you do with information of that magnitude? It either doesn’t change anything, or it changes absolutely everything, and you kinda have to be a bit stoical about that.

Me being a clone is much, much more plausible. And that very plausibility brings a whole host of direct concerns about my immediate, life as lived.

So maybe what I’m getting at is that a robot might be more SURPRISING? But being a clone is volumes more UPSETTING.

[willosword]

yessssssss...... YESSSSSSSS.......

[cranb3rryb3rry]

y'know the clone vs robot thing

metal sonic is both

[eira-kuso]

The post about if ypu find that you are a cline vs if you find out that you are a robot really undermines the fact that people in this site actually want to turn to robots. Like i have seen so many girls longing to be robots and how wanting to be hacked for weird sex reasons, or just wanting to get rid of their flesh.

[kosher-martian]

PB&J (grape) is easily the most messed up. In this household, peanut butter is always paired with strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry. Grape jelly is gross