American photographer Monie Mast paid $50,000 to clone her deceased daughter's Labrador, Billy, as a way to preserve her memory. The clone's heartbeat was registered on what would have been her daughter's 38th birthday. The text explores the philosophical and ethical implications of cloning, consciousness, and personal identity. It questions the reliability of memories and self-awareness, citing experiments by cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus on memory distortion. The narrative also delves into the concept of philosophical zombies and the potential for cloning humans, drawing parallels with animal cloning which is already a reality. The text concludes by pondering the essence of self and the unanswered questions about our existence.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Monie Mast paid $50,000 to clone her deceased daughter's Labrador, Billy, about a year ago.
2. Billy was cloned 11 years after Monie's daughter, Mia, committed suicide due to depression caused by a breakup.
3. Monie's daughter would have turned 38 years old on the day the clone's heartbeat was registered, November 11, 2017.
4. The cloning process involved veterinarians registering the clone's heartbeat.
5. The narrator questions the concept of consciousness and whether it can be transferred or replicated.
6. Elizabeth Loftus, a cognitive psychologist, studied the phenomenon of false memories and their distortions.
7. Loftus's experiment showed that people's descriptions of events depend on the wording of the questions asked.
8. Another experiment by Loftus involved telling a teenager, Chris, false stories about his life, which he later remembered as true.
9. The narrator discusses the concept of dualism, which suggests that consciousness is separate from the material body.
10. The theory of philosophical zombies is introduced, which proposes that a being can look and act like a human but lack consciousness.
11. The narrator questions the possibility of copying a person's consciousness and memories.
12. The concept of teleportation and the paradox of the dead double are discussed.
13. The narrator mentions that cloning is already happening in reality, and Barbra Streisand has cloned her dog three times.
14. The narrator references Alexander Bunchon's book, "Defense Against the Dark Arts," which explores the world of paranormal phenomena.
15. The narrator discusses the idea that our knowledge about ourselves is much less ordered than we might think.
16. The narrator questions the value of personal experience if it can be fabricated.
17. The narrator concludes that the main question about ourselves, "what is the meaning of life," might be formulated incorrectly.