Decided to give Altered Carbon another shot on Netflix. Season one. Not sure if I’ll try the second season.

It was better this time. Because I think it’s about an idea that’s on a lot of our minds lately: transhumanism. The idea that man and machine can and should become one and the same.

Is it ethical? Is it wise?

I remember liking both the book and the show, but I had a hard time suspending disbelief the first time around. The hard sci fi part of me wasn’t didn’t buying their method of space travel.

But this time around I realized I’d been looking at it all wrong. Whether it’s possible or not is irrelevant. These are the important questions: What is a human being and what is it worth? What, if anything, is the human soul? How are we different from animals or machines?

It has become common these days to think of the mind as software running on the hardware of the human body. Something that could be digitized and kept alive in an actual machine.

Is that possible and if so, what are the ethical implications? Especially if you think of the mind and the soul as essentially the same as I do?

I suspect that even if you could upload your mind into a machine or another body – something would be missing. Something important.

My outlook on that topic has changed over the years. Back when I was reading a lot of cyberpunk, I used to think I wanted that. Not anymore. Since it turns out we don’t understand consciousness, I don’t think they could get it all. And I don’t think that’s possible. I’m afraid I’d be giving myself a kind of lobotomy.

And if I’m wrong, if the soul CAN be copied, what does that imply? That it’s nothing special, only software. Would an exact copy of a person have rights ? The same rights as the original? Black Mirror has been all over that topic. The White Christmas episode… Shudder.

Assuming you could treat the human body as an expendable “sleeve,” what would that mean for society?

One obvious implication is massive disrespect for the human body.

And a massive loss of empathy. Especially from those who could afford multiple re-sleevings.

Which gets into the REAL point of the show as I see it: the immorality of immortality.

Notice the decadence of the Eternals. Notice the suffering in the world and how little they seem to care. Even the rich kids can’t grow up because there’s no place for them. No reason to be responsible.

Society is kind of that way as it is. The wealthy live longer than the rest of us. Better healthcare, better food, safer neighborhoods. Is that fair? And do we really want to make it eternal?