The Sixth Day

I finished watching The Sixth Day for the first time and, although it is a typical action movie with odd discrepancies, such as villains who act out of character without lead up, it does bring up some interesting questions regarding cloning with memories transplanted from the original body¹. On one hand there is the difference in becoming aware as a clone in a natural setting for that person, as Schwarzenegger did in a cab heading to complete an errand, or becoming aware on the lab table, as with the henchmen agents in the movie. The Sixth Day presents the awareness of being a clone as an acceptance of the body and its unique wiring being replaceable hardware, and those people develop a cold detachment normally associated with movie characters who are immortal and have been alive a long time. The question is what it means to be human in this situation, and comes to front when the main villain, after being shot and awakening his "memory-up-to-the-minute" clone, uncharacteristically and morally questions the clone for taking his clothes while he is still alive. Additionally, is there a difference between the cloning of a human using meat and bone and creating a digital copy of their mind?² As long as there is only one of a person, whether it be digital or mechanical or in the flesh, perhaps that is acceptable, and only when there is an increase in the population but not in individuals does our primal hair raise.

¹ “Original” memories being suspect not just because they are copied and placed in the identical body, but because the act of recalling a memory can alter it, meaning as the clone and original remember the same memory, they should begin to deviate and become somewhat distinct from each other regarding the past.

² I'm meaning here a functioning copy of the mind as opposed to a flat record of all memories then placed into a cloned body, which in the movie acts as the "on switch" for awakening.