Or maybe cryo-fic. I started reading a new work by John Scalzi and it talked about a man who was an observer in an operating room. The idea of the thing had me buzzing about cryo-fic. Imagine this: You are in surgery and about to die. There is an insurance agent standing there and their job is to recover your body at the moment of death–they are supposed to freeze you until you can be thawed and fixed later in order to pay your bills. This ties into the idea of speculating on futures and the general thought process behind the insurance industry and stock markets, but pushes it to an unfortunate extreme.
At first my thought was: This is not cost effective. However, it is. The workers become chattal slaves of a sort. In truth, if we reach the level of tech required we could argue that the insurance company could employ scans of their brains (rebuilt as AI structures) as digital agents who are working during the time they are frozen. Since we ‘own’ our DNA and brain imagery, the work being done would be done only as a measure to pay for the time they are in cryo-freeze.
There is more to this idea, I think. I might even consider designing a short story around the concept. The key is that it goes back to the standing argument I have made about science fiction–the more you read, the more interesting and creative stuff develops as a result of that. This is especially true of good writing like the stuff Scalzi puts out. I need more good stuff.
Some Thoughts:
- Going to see the Avengers today. Not sure if it is ‘good stuff’ but it will be fun.
- Apparently I am not completely above wanting to be recognized. I recently received an email inviting me to what appeared to be an exclusive workshop for humanities professors. I talked it through with my partner and she patiently explained that it was not at all exclusive. I thanked her for that small vial of reality. I was thinking I was someone again, and that is not remotely healthy or useful.
- Working on the new Jarvis laptop a little today. Not much, but moving into basic design aesthetics phase. Screen images and what not.