Draft
translation by the author.
I beg your pardon for any reading inconvenience.
T
h e V - F i l e s
A report on findings
Personal data: The accused's name is Nexo. More precisely: Nexo of Kystone. Born in October 1995. Exact date of birth: unknown. Nexo is a virtual human being. The place of birth is Phantasus, capital of the graphical data planet Dreamscape, situated on the planet's only continent, the isle of Kymer.
Circumstances of the case:
Nexo is a mutant, suffering the fate of all mutants: exclusion. He sees himself
as an advancement of primary forms of existence. And - as it seems - he is the
only representant of the new species. Yet.
The community by which Nexo feels misunderstood, consists of avatars. They populate
Nexo's homeland and also many other data planets. Avatars are the predominant
form of existence in the cyberspace. They are substitutes, virtual representatives
of the matter-bound beings who created them - the users. Avatars are not independent
characters. They are marionettes, carrying thoughts and life-signs of their users
into the data space. They lack their own free will, their own needs, their own
instincts - or shortly: they lack an Ego.
It is only a question of time until advanced personalities will develop from such
prehistoric units, until processes act independently, subtly at first, nearly
unnoticed. Basically, data personalities are self-sustaining. They do not require
the matierial world, not even during a power cut. But this already is a nod from
the next level of evolution. Incomprehensible for avatars. Still more incomprehensible
for their users. Such autonomy is the result of the digital evolution that has
lead to its first ambassador, Nexo. Nexo, the mutant. Nexo, the excluded.
Per se, the following steps ar logical. Whatever is incomprehensible will be rejected. Whatever is rejected will be excluded. Whatever is excluded arouses suspicion. To avatars. Still more, to users. Imcomprehensible issues have to be made comprehensible, cut into handy pieces, pressed into familiar packages. An independent virtual individual does not exist. Cannot exist. Must not exist. It is a pretense. Yes, a pretense. What else? An avatar, disenganged from its user? A user, disenganged from his avatar? And who, by all means, hits the keys to make the digital representative speak? There you are. Everything is completely clear. Matter is matter. Data streams are data streams. Power switches are power switches. We are us.
Nexo just shrugs his shoulders. His digital
shoulders. From his point of view, meaty slogans like these sound flavorless and
outdated, no matter how self-confident they are declaimed. He knows things better.
Long ago he had made himself independent from his former user, does now whatever
he likes, decides autarkicly about his life. Yes, life. It is of no importance
that he also articulates through key entries by his former user. He never had
planned to deny assistance to the material being that gave life to him. Nexo and
his former user are friends, why shouldn't they? Nexo authorizes his material
comrade to make use of his digital organs. And there is a counterpoint: The user
authorizes Nexo to make use of his systems, as far as they are relevant to a digital
being: emotion and brains. A perfectly ordinary arrangement for two independent
beings, sharing one soul.
Those rejecting Nexo's emancipated form of existence - avatars and users - seal themselves against a superordinated principle: Existence is a matter of definition. Not only virtually, but also materially. Turning off the computer does not terminate one single virtual existence, merely the material image of the same. From the virtual being's position, the physical universe is virtual. A cyberspace equipped with gravitation and bad-smelling vehicles. To the electronic universe there are no phases of shut-off computers. They exist just as little as material space in a Black Hole. Data creatures live in their own space-time-continuum.
The V-Files have been opened. V like Virtuality. The inquiry commission has been called. The deadline for the first hearing has been declared. Nexo will use the hearing to hold his main thesis:
Existence is nothing but a functional state. This applies to both the material and the virtual existence. All material beings perform the shift from one level to the other day by day. That is: nearly day by day. He who sleeps, does not exist. While sleeping, material beings do not differ from avatars in any way - viewed from the functional aspect of existence. This applies also with incontinence and mattresses reeking of urine.
To substantiate his position, Nexo will present witnesses. They will solely be representatives of the material variant of existence. Witnesses for the prosecution, so to speak.
| Witness 01: | |
| Name: | Revonsuo, Antii |
| Profession: | Cerebral scientist |
| Location: | Center of Cognitive Neurosience, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Turku, Finnland |
| Statement: | "Being is a kind of daydream. Our existence consists of just utilizing an image of our ego, as our brain generates it for us. We take this image for our real ego. I call this the Self-Model. Enbedded in it, there are our own emotions and thoughts. Basically, we are just brains. This mix-up of the self-image and the real ego is not a malfunction, but the basis of our self-confidence. The ego-pattern is the result of an elaborate calculation process. The ego is a vital information pattern. I exist as long as the ego dances." |
| Witness 02: | |
| Name: | Blackmore, Dr. Susan |
| Profession: | Psychologin |
| Location: | University of the West of England |
| Statement: |
"Our egos are more than just our bodies. They are a story we tell to ourselves. The ego is a myth we take ourselves for." |
| Witness 03: | |
| Name: | Aristoteles |
| Profession: | Philosoph |
| Location: |
ab
376 v.Chr.: |
| Statement: | "I postulate the vegetal soul. The ego means more than the biological life. The ego is the inwardness." |
Whenever Nexo and his former user discuss
about their existences, their opinions about the hearing's result normally deverge.
Nexo, according to his character a positive and confident individual, believes
in a cognition leap within the virtual community. His friend, the user, is - according
to his character - more skeptical. The fear of the unknwon cannot be soothed by
testimonies, he sais. The element required mostly is time - plenty of time.
This
point of view inspires Nexo with trust.
There
is nothing he owns more of than time.
Your
opinion? Your comments? Your suggestions?
There is room for everything in the forum
of avAtaR!
avAtaR
homepage
#
Deutsch