THE CLONE QUESTION: CAN A COPY OF YOU REALLY BE YOU?
Getting a clone of myself sounds like immortality, it's fascinating though, it sounds really unnatural. If I have an opportunity like this, I will hesitate first. That's a decision I won't make easier, because the idea sounds like immortality. Just imagine being able to live your life, have your memory after your natural body fails you and can no longer function. A clone now lives having your memory, childhood memories, relationships, experiences, fears, and every memory in your lifetime. Having a clone might sound really good, but it's really a complicated one to respond to, because it's scary to accept, and it's also not bad to accept too.
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Even if I have a clone, my original consciousness won't exist in a clone, it's just living with my memories, not my consciousness, because that's something that can only exist in my natural body.
The fact is that a clone can never be me, it's simply another person who just remembers being me, another person who bears my memory and shares my memory. My original consciousness will live separately from a clone, and it just has to bear my memories. It's definitely not me and I believe I can carry my memories on my own. I don't need a clone to keep my memory, experience, mistakes, and fear.
Transferring my memory to a clone won't make me escape death either. My original body will eventually die, and I wouldn't want a clone to continue my life. There's no way that I will love life to the fullest as a clone, so what's the point of a clone existing and carrying my memory when I cease to exist.
From the outside, people might see the clone and remember me. It would keep me closer to family even in my absence, but would it really be me or bear my personality and consciousness, or would it just be there for the sake of my memory? That would cause more pain than happiness to those that love me.
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My memories might exist, but my personality and consciousness wouldn't continue, and there's no guarantee that they will exist in a clone. A clone is just going to carry my memory and that's something my loved ones share with me. Keeping a clone will only remind them of the pain with constant memory.
Will my family also accept a clone as me? I'm not so convinced or even think that a clone can truly replace a person, even when memories and experiences are shared. Will the clone continue my career, relationship, friendship and identity? It will seem very unnatural because a clone can never be me, it can never replace me. Even in my absent, a clone won't fill the space.
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It will make things a little different. For my family and friends it's more like identifying with a different personality. Apart from bearing my memories and experiences, it can't be similar to me, share the same personality, ideas or even attributes with me. A memory alone isn't enough to define a person. There's more than just a memory. That's why I wouldn't buy the idea of having a clone.
If a clone is created for scientific reasons or experiments, I would understand the purpose better and encourage it, but for continuation of life or achieving immorality, it doesn't sit right with me and leaves me with thoughts and questions. If someone has all your memories but isn't your consciousness, are they really you, or just a clone who remembers being you?