"Learning to Be Me" is a

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

short story by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

writer

Greg Egan Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Lo ...

, first published in ''Interzone'' 37 in July of 1990. The short story was included in the collections ''

Axiomatic An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or fi ...

'' in 1995 and '' The Best of Greg Egan'' in 2019.

Plot

In the future, every human gets the Ndoli Device (commonly also called "jewel") implanted into their brain. It maps every single one of their thoughts and actions to fully copy their

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

, hence learning to be them. The brain's sensory inputs are copied to the jewel, and the jewel, which is a sort of

neural network A neural network is a group of interconnected units called neurons that send signals to one another. Neurons can be either biological cells or signal pathways. While individual neurons are simple, many of them together in a network can perfor ...

, is trained to produce the same outputs as the brain. At a freely chosen time, typically when people reach their twenties and their brain is at its height, people go though a surgical operation where the jewel's outputs are connected to the rest of the body and replace those of the brain, therefore taking control of the body. Soon after, the biological brain is removed and destroyed. Unlike biological brains, the jewel is very durable, and can last for a billion years. While many people view the swap as being totally unproblematic and claim to still be themselves afterwards, some fear the swap resulting in their death and the jewel only being able to perfectly fake them. The protagonist agrees with his wife Daphne to go through the swap together, but then escapes in the last minute due to fear, and doesn't return for a full year. Daphne files for divorce and writes him a letter about how easy the swap was, after which the protagonist seeks advice from a

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

, who hasn't gone through the swap herself and doesn't plan to for the rest of her life. The protagonist decides once again to go through the swap. But two months before the operation, the device that ensures the training of the jewel and its synchronization with the biological brain malfunctions. Panicked, the protagonist realizes that he can no longer control any part of the body, and concludes that he is the jewel, not the biological brain. Unaware of this, the biological brain goes through the swap, effectively killing itself, and the protagonist finally gains control and attains immortality.

Translation

The short story was translated into Italian (1993), Japanese (1995), French (1995), German (2002) and Spanish (2006).

Background

The Ndoli Device/jewel also appears in the short stories " Closer" (1992) and "

Border Guards A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diffe ...

" (1999) by Greg Egan.

Reception

Karen Burnham, writing in the ''

New York Review of Science Fiction ''The New York Review of Science Fiction'' is a monthly literary magazine of science fiction that was established in 1988. It includes works of science fiction criticism, essays, and in-depth critical reviews of new works of fiction and scholarsh ...

'', considers the short story to be an "instant classic". In ''Greg Egan (Masters of Science Fiction)'', Burnham calls it "one of his most important stories" and that it "is critically concerned with identity and how it may be maintained (or not) when transforming into an immortal, digital consciousness". Salik Shah, writing in the '' Reactor Magazine'', states that "there are concepts like ego and identity attached to the organic supercomputer that is our brain" and that "science fiction puts the reader in an uncomfortable situation, forcing us to experience the characters’ internal and external struggles." He adds that "by the end of these journeys, we become them ''or'' unlike them", and that "if the jewel comes with the promise of youth and longevity", then he will "sign up for the upgrade (minus the existential crises) any day".

Literature

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Learning to Be Me Australian science fiction short stories 1990 short stories Short stories by Greg Egan