alt Hacker NewsI'm also reminded of the bit from Neuromancer where Case removes and then reinserts the Dixie Flatline "ROM construct" cartridge, resetting Dixie to the moment just before his death and causing him to forget their previous (albeit brief) conversation. Dixie can't meaningfully grow as a person. All that he ever will be is burned onto that cart; anything he learns since then is stored in temporary memory. Perhaps this is part of the reason why he wishes to be erased forever, ending his suffering.
"Dixie can't meaningfully grow as a person. All that he ever will be is burned onto that cart;"
It's not that Dixie can't meaningful grow -- really the issue is that Dixie can be reset. If Dixie's cart simply degraded after 90 years, and you couldn't reset it, but everything else was the same -- would you then say Dixie could grow as a person? As humans we basically have a 90 year cart that once it no longer works, we're done. There is no reset. But we don't continue growing. You can't transfer us to a new body/brain. Once our temporary storage degrades, we cease to exist. Is that what makes us human?