Personality Upgrade

Briane Pagel's newest book, Codes, is out, and he's stopped by to do my work for me offer you this week's "what if?"

Liz has been kind enough to lend me her blog for a day so I can try to drum up publicity for my newest book, Codes, which has been published by Golden Fleece Press.

Codes tells the story of a guy named Robbie, who is the subject of a lot of interest from both a corporation and a disgruntled group of ex-corporate employees.  The corporation has figured out how to clone humans, and download their personalities into computers – and then tweak those personalities to create the perfect employee, or wife, or really anything. The group of ex-employees includes the creator of this technology, who doesn’t want to see it used to benefit a few elite people at the expense of the rest of humanity.  And they’re all trying to find Robbie, without anyone (including Robbie) knowing why he’s so important.

I know Liz has covered human cloning and similar topics in her prior What If? days, but my question is a bit different.  When I was sending Codes around to publishers, I wrote a short story that was sort of a take-off on Blade Runner, (called The Thinking Man’s Blade Runner, which was an inside joke as that was how I’d originally thought of marketing Codes).  In that short story, a man gets a ‘code’ girlfriend, a clone with a computer-programmed personality, and she discovers him one day contacting the company that made her.  She naturally accuses him of wanting to trade her in for a new girlfriend, but that’s not what’s going on at all.

(The entire story is on my website, Thinking The Lions, http://www.thinkingthelions.com, today.)

So here’s my question, related to that story and the idea of Codes in general:

What if you could have your personality modified the same way someone modifies a computer program: what would you change about yourself, given the chance?

Remember, it can be anything: you can erase memories, or add them, make yourself more artistically talented, better at math – or kinder, or tougher, or anything-er.

For me, it’s a hard question.  (Probably for everyone it’s a hard question.) The first things I figured I'd take away – insecurities and worries – are part of what make me myself, and I'm not sure who I'd be without them. But if I had to have it done, I think I'd get rid of the part that cares about what other people think – good or bad.  It’s nice to get compliments, of course, but if I could go through life truly not worrying what people thought about what I did or what I said, I think I'd be better off.  Or would I? No more white lies (because I wouldn't care if I hurt your feelings), no more polite excuses, no more pride when someone says good job? On second thought, maybe I'd just be better off fixing that part of me that can't stop thinking about the leftover slice of pizza in the ‘fridge.

Links:

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianePagel

My blog: Thinking The Lions: http://www.thinkingthelions.com

Buy Codes on 

Golden Fleece Press’ site: http://goldenfleecepress.com/catalog/fiction/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Codes-Briane-Pagel/dp/1942195109

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/codes-briane-pagel/1121816078?ean=9781942195115