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2009-04-15: Perfect Copy (box)
More complicated
Just wait until Friday when all hell breaks loose, conceptually. Well, unless I change my mind. Still working on getting that magical "buffer".
This comic is in the following storylines:
- Variations
A long-running series, maybe the crux of the site. Reader submits a suggestion, and I draw three comics based on that suggestion. Originally all three had to start the same, but it evolved. - Perfect Copy
Is it possible to make a perfect copy of someone? It's debatable. But it's also one of those moving-goalpost sort of arguments. What if there is no waveform collapse?
This comic includes the contribution:
- Daniel Adamow suggested: Noel creates a perfect duplicate of herself.
Text transcript
Noel: Ha ha! I made a perfect duplicate of myself!! Rabid: That's impossible! You weren't BOTH at my birthday party, so you're not a perfect copy!! Noel: Huh... Noel: You're probably thinking I cloned myself and then copied my memories. Noel: Then the clone would only REMEMBER the experience, falsely. And you'd be right. Rabid: I guess? Noel: But I made a special box that copied me atom by atom, perfectly! Noel: The thing about atoms is that they are like cheques. If we trade a five dollar bill back and forth we can see if it was the "same" five dollars by checking the serial number on the bill. Noel: Thanks! Rabid: Thanks! Noel: But a cheque just carries a magnitude! You can't ask "is it the same money" any more. Rabid: I'm going to need to see some photo ID... Noel: Make it out to "BEAUTIFUL Noel"! Please. Noel: Each different kind of atom is indistinguishable from any other atom of the same kind: there are no little serial numbers on them. Noel: It was a particular arrangement of atoms that attended your party, and that arrangement transformed over time into another arrangement. It was that later arrangement that was duplicated, and as a result, the copy has as much legitimacy to claim attendance at the party as the original! It's as perfect a copy as can be!! Noel: Not any more! I got a hat!!