In media, there are sometimes stories where a person is cloned/duplicated (usually with identical memories) and the clone is murderous towards the original. Usually it’s something like “I knew there could be only one of us, and you would do the same”. Sometimes, they’re able to work things out and can share a single public identity, or duplication gives one copy a chance to do go off and live a new life that they always wanted.

How would you and your duplicate get along? Assume you are living like you do today, in a society where duplication is unheard of and has no legal precedent.

  • CrackedLinuxISO@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    I always felt like murderous clones are a bit different from evil twins.

    From a sci-fi perspective, I’ve noticed that murderous clone stories tend to explore the following themes:

    • Whose life is more valid? Does an original have any more right to life than the clone? What aspects of life can never be split between two people with equal claim?
    • Would the murder ever matter, in the grand scheme of things? As far as society can tell, the world is exactly the same before you are cloned and after one of you kills the other.
    • Could the survivor ever be brought to justice? If the clone tried to kill you because they knew you would try to kill them, does that make it self defence or premeditated murder? Would any punishment would be a net loss for society, when compared before the clone appeared?
    • Could this “self destructive” impulse hide deeply inside even the nicest person? How much does a person love themselves? Can self-love even apply when the “self” is also external?