Hypothetical: We suddenly live in a world with Star Trek technology. A transporter mishap accidentally creates a double of you. Do you trust your double?
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Absolutely. And with 2 of me I can procrastinate twice as much, so technically I trust both of us more than I would trust only one me, sounds like a good time.
Would I even get in the machine that kills you and makes a copy of you somewhere else, I ask myself... and the answer is probably yes, just for the convenience.
I would love to experience living with me. I would be able to identify the frustrating aspects of cohabiting with me in order to improve myself. I could also note the charming, valuable parts of myself as an outside observer, which would encourage me to love myself.
I am now horrified and intrigued of the thought of a me without years and years of social masking habits. He would either conquer the world or end up in prison.
Like, the basic problem of trust is not knowing a person's internal life - are their motivations as they say, is their reasoning what they claim it to be, what in their deep psychology & past experiences could cause them to behave in unexpected ways...
If you can't trust someone for whom you have as much clarity on all that info as you have for yourself... Who *can* you trust? What are you even doing as a member of this social species?
I would know pretty quickly if they were authentic or not…. if they know my fantasy of meeting a body double and if they know the sexy sex secrets. For sex! Time to call up some past partners too for sure, this is a much discussed opportunity! Is there telepathy? Ok stopping now.
I think it's lovely that some of you are sure you would get along well with your double and have productive collaborations. I envision me having a double as having more of a horror movie vibe. Lots of spiraling insanity, philosophical breakdowns, and us trying to kill each other.
I, too, would start down an existential crisis with reckless abandon. Not knowing if murder is even on the table, though, would be scarier than the threat of it being inevitable.
Thanks for this!—I don't even need to *be* duplicated for the philosophical breakdown to kick in. 🫠
If there’s one human truth I learned observing my family growing up, it’s that the traits that you’re dissatisfied with in yourself, when reflected in others, will drive you to madness. I suspect most people would actually hate their double.
You might like Micah Johnson’s The Space Between Worlds. Parallel universes. You can only enter other earths if the other you has died. So they (yup, the usual They) recruit marginalized people who tend to be more in harm’s way in every version of the world, as the worlds only vary slightly.
I envision I would start out optimistic about the fellow, but over time be filled with growing unease and distrust, eventually going utterly mad and ending in some sort of tragedy. It would turn out that I was the bad one all along and my transporter twin never did anyone any harm.
Oh god no. Well, maybe.
We’d see in each other our worst traits, that we are most self-conscious about, and it would be a depressing nightmare.
But I would probably trust her when the chips were down. We just couldn’t hang out regularly.
I would definitely be the basic person with a clone where they can’t agree on who takes charge or gets credit leading to inevitable resentment and violence. Just like Riker and Steven Universe. So no.
We'd be stoked to go kayak some whitewater or go backpacking together. And we'd each definitely want the other one to shut the hell up once in a while.
No. Mostly assuming I hadn’t anticipated this scenario and made a very solemn promise to myself. Without a clear memory of that in us both, who knows what he’s thinking.
Total copy, until diverging experiences start to create distinctions, which I imagine would happen quickly. Just knowing you're someone's double would be a bit of a reframe, philosophically.
Are we assuming that we know (or at least agree between the two of us and with any external observers) which is the double and which is the original? I’m curious whether people’s answers would be the same if they thought they were the double: could they trust the original?
I mean if he's ME me, they know I have a low baseline of expectations, and I would know that he's too much of a bitch to go through with anything so I guess yes?
Hell no. I'm a (generally harmless) instigator and I hate backing down from silly and juvenile dares (my friends know this). Double and I would put Florida Man headlines to absolute shame. Nonstop, it would be the grown up version of "Why are you in the vice principal's office THIS time?"
There's this xmen character called Multiple Man whose power is to make copies of himself, and this panel here of a conversation between his copies is about how I think cohesion between my copies would go
well... duh? yes? I mean I'm sure we'd get in the same kind of disagreements I get in between fragments of myself but we'd get through them the same kinda way. i hope the same for everyone
That depends if it’s a transporter double that is like me or a mirror universe transporter double if like me, we would move in together and pretend to be one person so we’d only have to do half the work.
Weirdly enough, I’m literally watching the evil Kirk transporter double episode of TOS right now. But given that Trek has shown transporter doubles to be dirty bastards, no. No, I would not trust my double.
my double and I would side by side play in my ceramics studio, get everything I need for my next craft fairs done but then fight over who gets to use the wheel while the other one does slab building
The real question is to do what? Not be evil? Sure. Watch the cat? Absolutely. Be somewhere specific tomorrow at 4pm sharp? Hahahahahano. We both have long covid.
This. There would be things I'm fairly certain they could and would do, and things I'm absolutely certain they would try and fail to do.
I'm more curious about who we'd become. Would our interests diverge, the same way twins and siblings interests often do? Would we chose different life paths now?
Honestly, if I had a double, we're running tag team wrestling moves on fools. Hot tag, run the ropes, knock their ass down, put em in the Doomsday Device, 1,2,3, ding ding ding :p
Yes, we would pivot hard into music rather than writing. It's my other major passion. I play a bard in my current main D&D campaign who likes to use illusions to create loop layers with illusory copies of himself and phantom sounds.
We'd recruit a third bearded fellow and be the Beard Man Group.
Oh shit, good point. No I wouldn't trust that dude to get anything done, ever. Unless it's like, Star Trek situation emergency - he'd be reliable but would definitely get killed, so that I guess solves the identity crisis for now
In a way I'd say yes for the same reason. I can 100% count on the fact the other me would be completely unreliable... and take that into account ahead of time.
Brings to my mind the devil/angel scenario, I would not trust my double, we may look alike on the outside but the inner workings not so much. I'm the one and only me.
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No
We’d be boning each other in about 7 minutes
Me and Other Me (in unison): “this isn’t gay right”
Thanks for this!—I don't even need to *be* duplicated for the philosophical breakdown to kick in. 🫠
It's a tricky question. I'll say no. I will ally with myself. But keep myself under a watchful eye. Which is fine. He's doing it as well.
Sure, there's hate in my heart, but I also know I'm not gonna do anything stupid.
Maybe.
Actually, he’ll need to get a second job. Fat bastard.
We’d see in each other our worst traits, that we are most self-conscious about, and it would be a depressing nightmare.
But I would probably trust her when the chips were down. We just couldn’t hang out regularly.
Clone 2 "Already? Ugh! We need to have another mishap!"
We don’t hang out together but we keep in touch via text about home repairs and taxes.
One me is a neurotic mess.
Two mes is a neurotic support group.
Which is... not as comforting to me as he seemed to find it
Or do we not know?
Especially now, after we've both thought about it already.
If you walk off the platform and another you materializes moments later then... You both have already had different experiences.
I'm not sure anyone could accept being the double.
Then you step out to see a copy that insists they are the original, and everyone says, yeah sorry copy you're the copy.
That would be a lot.
Only question is if she brought her ADHD meds with her or we have to share mine.
and I have to think about it, but I don't think I trust anyone who says "yes."
I'm more curious about who we'd become. Would our interests diverge, the same way twins and siblings interests often do? Would we chose different life paths now?
unless they have a goatee, then i'll be suspicious.
😢
We'd recruit a third bearded fellow and be the Beard Man Group.