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13 September 2015

Counterfeit Human

This short story follows the last day of a counterfeit human.

I once mentioned that in this particular future humanity has been spread too thin by self-propagating machines and their constant need for maintanence and upgrading.

Consequently, the services of cloning centers are in high demand and tightly regulated. They cannot afford to waste time raising people inadequate to the work. Unlike all other resources, human development cannot be accelerated by improved techniques.

The story follows this young man on the eve of his graduation from the center and culminates in the sudden intrusion of an authority figure to single him out as non-human, followed by his immediate demise.

If it walks like a human and talks like a human, does it have human rights? The sanctity of life has no basis in science, so how can any creation of science hope to attain it?

This question has been often raised in science fiction, and the answer always falls short. Nevertheless, I have examined it again.