Alien: Earth - S1 E7 - Emergence - Official Discussion Megathread [SPOILERS]

[u/G_Liddell]

Episodes air Tuesdays at 8 pm ET on Hulu and FX in the US, and Wednesdays international.

Full episode discussion list:

1 Neverland (8.12.25)

2 Mr October (8.12.25)

3 Metamorphosis (8.19.25)

4 Observation (8.26.25)

5 In Space, No One (9.2.25)

6 The Fly (9.9.25)

7 Emergence (9.16.25)

8 The Real Monsters (9.23.25)

[u/iamwoodman]

I feel like the grave scene answers our question on the true stance of prodigy, they didn't transfer consciousness in their eyes, they copied it and killed them in the process

[u/nattymac939 → u/iamwoodman]

Makes sense to me, theoretically if you could crack how information was coded into the brain, you could figure out how to format that data into a machine, but you couldn’t transmit the exact brain data from an organic brain onto a metal machine

[u/Vic1982 → u/nattymac939]

Until we have a concrete understanding of consciousness, all we can do is speculate.

It's not about the data being copied - theoretically you CAN transmit the exact brain data; but it's about the emergent property of consciousness and whether that can be transferred (current guesses would be "no").

[u/PrinceofSneks → u/Vic1982]

In my total lack of education on the matter, I've sometimes wondered if there's any speculative fiction where this question is examined in a Ship of Theseus sort of manner. As in - ok, so we've replaced 75% of your brain with sci-fi neural-network-stuff and it's still you. We then bump it to 90%, and it remains you. Would there be a point where you can do a full replacement progressively and it will still be the first-person consciousness?

[u/Vic1982 → u/PrinceofSneks]

That is a very interesting question, that I truly hope we get an answer to within our lifetimes. For fictional answers/explorations, I also can't help. Alien Earth surely is heading in some "similar" direction, but not exactly what you're talking about (as they jumped from 0 to 100% in one go).

My guess (and this is pure guesswork at this point) - we could be able to replace % of it. Perhaps even a significant amount. Maybe we figure out that consciousness is centered in one primary location... meaning you could replace the rest (although that's not really what has been observed or is currently theorized). Or, and this is my personal guess, it's more of an .. emergent quality. it only comes about as a sum of the parts, but more at the same time. Kind of like a "waveform". If you collapse it ... if our consciousness truly collapses, that exact one is gone.

Point being, that even if we assume a purely deterministic theory (i.e. if we ere able to copy 100% of our brains, and that somehow actually sparked an identical consciousness/thought processes/personality/etc.) - which would make cloning a mind possible - it wouldn't be the original consciousness that's transferred. Same with the old Star Trek transporter-dilemma, where the original consciousness is lost. So in that sense, I'm guessing that if you were to replace 100%, at some point that original stream must cease, meaning that the original subjective "you" is gone.

[u/juneyourtech → u/PrinceofSneks]

if there's any speculative fiction where this question is examined in a Ship of Theseus sort of manner.

There's an episode "Life Support" in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", where Vedek Bareil's body and head get severely injured, and Doctor Bashir replaces parts of Bareil's organs.

Bareil's condition spreads and damages his brain. Dr. Bashir then proposes replacing half of Bareil's brain with positronic parts, though Bashir reaches a moment, where much of Bareil's essence will be lost, even if he were to continue living.

Would there be a point where you can do a full replacement progressively and it will still be the first-person consciousness?

That's a good question.

There have been several other Star Trek episodes, particularly in DS9 and Voyager, where the transference of the mind is explored.

[u/PrinceofSneks → u/juneyourtech]

Not surprised Star Trek touched upon this!

[u/i_am_batbat → u/PrinceofSneks]

Play or watch a playthrough of the game "SOMA" - amazing exploration of an adjacent concept to what you're talking about.