[Anonymous, but in his natural handwriting]

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

When I came here I was a little scratched up, but all the injuries are gone. What kind of medical treatment are they giving us?

Also, why bother? I was hurt, but it wouldn't have been a problem. It's different for my fr It's not like I was half-dead; just a little burned and bruised, that's all.

Comments

[unsigned, anonymous liek woah]

[winged_moon]

Or worse.

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

What do you mean by 'worse'?

[winged_moon]

No longer existing.

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

How do you mean 'no longer existing'? Body destroyed?

[winged_moon]

Exactly what I said. Erased.

A body, though dead, still exists.

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

So if I went back in time and killed my father I still would have ended up here?

Good to know. I'll be sure to tell Marty McFly.

[winged_moon]

I don't know what you're referring to, but I suspect you're trying to be facetious.

You were the one who asked.

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

Wait. Are you telling me that you were 'erased' before you got here?

How would you remember that?

[winged_moon]

I knew what was happening, and what the result would be.

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

You erased yourself?

[winged_moon]

No.

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

Then isn't it more likely that the person erasing you just didn't do it right? Wouldn't that better explain why you're still here?

[winged_moon]

It was not a person.

And it is incapable of "not doing it right."

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

Either way, if you were erased entirely, you wouldn't be here. The whole concept of you wouldn't exist to be brought back. Something of you must have been left behind.

[winged_moon]

If that's what you want to think.

[numberii.livejournal.com]

More'n likely you'd just create an alternate timeline where you never existed. But hey, if you ever get the chance, lemme know... or not, if I'm wrong.

Anyway, it's possible to completely remove somethin' from existence, whether you want to call it erasing or making it Nothing or whatever. Seems like, even if there's absolutely nothin' left, you can still be brought back.

Also, the medical treatment's great now, but it's not perfect. Get yourself banged up again an' you might be out of commission for awhile. Just a little friendly heads-up.
-II

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

So. If you can be brought back from absolutely nothing, then wouldn't that suggest that the people here were from a higher dimension, or something?

[numberii.livejournal.com]

Or they just happen t'have a secret or two the rest of us don't have. Heck, now that I think about it, there was a theory goin' around that we're just clones or copies of what the 'baseline' person was. Dunno if I believe that, but if that's true, then there's nothing special about what's going on.
-II

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

That'd make more sense, I guess. It's like that old thought experiment my Master told me about, with the teleporter that just kills the original and creates a perfect copy somewhere else.

Even so, I know it's theoretically possible, but it doesn't seem practical to do it on so large a scale. Besides, if you could scan all of someone's physical properties and mental state, wouldn't it be a hell of a lot cheaper to just run a computer model?

[bullygeneraleva.livejournal.com]

Ever read Parfit's approach to the problem?

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not familiar with it.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Considering the technology required to find and either abduct or copy the original person, despite their location in time and space, I doubt practicality or cost have much influence on the matter.

Though a computer model would be an interesting solution. If it were indeed well made, how would one be able to tell?

- Brainiac 5

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

There was a movie about that earlier this year which was pretty good. The guy out of Speed was in it.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

...what are you talking about? I thought you wanted to discuss theories.

- Brainiac 5

[stiffserpent.livejournal.com]

Sorry, this is just a little out of my experience.

I guess if it's a perfect computer model, there'd be no way any of us could tell, so I don't think it's worth thinking about; it would mean that there's no way out, and, besides, if we're here, it's 'reality' anyway.

If we were real clones and we got out, that might cause a problem. An escapee would head for home and find themselves, and then what happens? Even with the high security, that sounds far too risky.

Are there any significant differences between the bodies of people here and how they were before they came here? Someone here said they can bring people back from the dead.