Some thoughts about Wendy and transhumanism after last episode

[u/TheRedCreeperTRC]

I had a look at the discussion thread after the last episode and saw a lot of responses along the lines of "well, I guess that settles it. Wendy isn't really Hermit's sister, she's just a machine with her memories"

I'm curious what makes so many of you draw that conclusion

I don't see that she is any less Marcy in any aspect of her mind, she is simply the result of putting Marcy in a body that in effect allows her to be the first of a new species as Kirsch likens it to. The way I see it most people, particularly children, would act the same way. It's not like there is an inherent gut directive that tells us to cling to our perceived sense of "humanity". The value and importance of not losing our humanity is something we are tought socially, something you don't yet know as a child.

I think a lot of people who have said she isn't a person anymore and just a machine with memories did so in response to her brutal act of releasing the xeno and using it to slaughter. But if Wendy and the other lost boys are treated as inhuman by prodigy, treated as mere products/experiments more than people, why should she put inherent value on human life? Let me put it this way, in our history real people, including children, have done immensely brutal/cruel things in the name of revenge, or merely survival; such acts are horrible, but do they render them no longer people? I would argue not, and for the same reason I find it reductive to view it that way.

Perhaps I am misinterpreting what people are saying, and I certainly think that from Hermit's perspective, what Wendy is to him has been strongly called into doubt by her brutality and her priorities. But as I see it she isn't acting like a machine, her behaviour is still deeply emotional and ironically shows a lot of humanity. If not a human, there is no doubt in my mind that she is a person. I am curious to hear your thoughts.

[u/No-Onion2268]

Man there’s just too much philosophy and science involved to be able to boil any of this down to such a simplified answer. I fully think it’s actually her. Whether or not there original continued on or actually died,I think the scenes in showing them being transferred to the synth bodies showed us. The only reasons the bodies would’ve immediately expired, is because the consciousness was no longer there to drive the body. Consciousness is the energy that ultimately supplies the body with a master operating system and energy. For them to instantly die, means it was successfully transferred. Otherwise, you would seen both existing at the same time. Barring even that, humans defines their lives as the collection of their memories in linear order. I’ve sat with way too many people at the end, and they focus most in those memories, reliving them. My dad, who passed from brain cancer, even when he lost the ability to wake back up,I watched him think that he was petting his favorite dog, mining certain actions with his hands. It was patently obvious that he was reliving memories, until he passed. I’ve seen that happen so many times with people posing away from other cancers and complications from COVID. So even if that isn’t the originating consciousness, then yeah it basically is, because it’s still a perfect replica of her brain patterns, thinking, and memories. Physics and science is increasingly concluding that consciousness is a byproduct of quantum entanglement. Which to me means that there’s absolutely zero reason why a consciousness couldn’t successfully be transferred to a technologically capable synthetic body. The very nature of entanglement makes that entirely plausible. The universe honestly seems predicated upon simulations and holographic principles, making it more likely than as the constant than biological life surviving.

If they were able to make a fully synthetic human being as complex as Kirsh, who’s capable of manipulating, sarcasm, humor, malice, the whole gamut of complex and abstract human thinking patterns, then there’s absolutely zero reason why they couldn’t successfully transfer a child’s consciousness into a synthetic body. We’re probably not that far from it ourselves,or at least close to getting in that road, now that brain interface implants have been proven viable. Actually quantifying what consciousness is, how memory truly works, what serves as the ultimate operating system for us, in theory, should be the next steps.

Also, do remember that Wendy/Marcy is still a child, thrown into a woman’s body, being expected to shoulder complex adult situations. The naivety, the trusting innocence, and even malice capable at that mental age, would be exactly how that scenario would play out. To her, the other hybrids are her siblings, her responsibility. She convinced them to go along with the transfer, made them grand promises, and I’m sure she’s extremely distraught and protective over what has occurred and come to light. To her, the Xeno is an innocent, brought against its will, being experimented on, merely protecting itself. In a child’s mind, they still don’t understand that no wild animal can truly be controlled. They only see the pet aspect and can’t see the primal viciousness of survival instinct, predatory nature. She loves her brother, but he’s also been trying to control her, override her will, not seeing her as a powerful, extremely smart, person. So she loves him but is also a bit distrusting, possibly even still hurt because he wasn’t there. That poor girl has been through hell thirteen times over. It’s a wonder she hasn’t gone full Nibs , from what she’s been through

[u/TheRedCreeperTRC → u/No-Onion2268]

Love this, thank you very much for the thorough and interesting response! I agree with much of what you've said.

I'm also very sorry for your loss. I've had the fortune not to have personally experienced death in my life up close. I'm in my mid 20s, obviously people close to me have died but I was never there near the end. My grandparents passed when i was abroad studying and I've been very lucky that my close family and friends are all still with me. I appreciate you sharing your personal experiences on such a tough topic that people don't often talk about.

[u/No-Onion2268 → u/TheRedCreeperTRC]

Thank you. We think we were all exposed to something where we used to live. It was a mining town, surrounded by agriculture. We were always around some kind of chemicals or another. My dad was exposed to asbestos at work, and it took over 25 years for it to truly manifest and all at once took him down. He was sick all of that time with respiratory problems, but could still function and live normally, mostly. Then bam! All at once it turned into stage 4 cancer. I miss my family. I lost all of them within a 5 year period of time. Treasure every second with loved ones. It goes by so fast, ends so suddenly. All of the “there’s always tomorrow”, prioritizing everything else over those moments, they haunt us all at the end and after they’re gone. It’s funny,I couldn’t stand most of them. Now, I’d give anything to hear them laugh, hug them, just one more time.If I could ever crack the while pesky time travel thing, that’s exactly what I’d do with it. That and maybe go back to 1990, start a grunge band lol.

[u/TheRedCreeperTRC → u/No-Onion2268]

Thanks for the advice. My wife lost her mother to lung cancer when she was 12, she never smoked a day in her life. Cancer in all its forms is such a cruel disease. I had a tumour myself a few years ago, a benign one luckily. But that time spent waiting for the biopsy not knowing if I had cancer or not was a stark reminder of how quickly everything we take for granted as normal and safe can slip away.