Eric Trautwein Altered Carbon (spoilers if you plan on watching it)

Let me preface this blog post with a warning; I give away some major plot points to the show Altered Carbon, so my apologies. So I just finished binge watching the Netflix show Altered Carbon last week, coincidentally right before watching Blade Runner with the class. Throughout the film Blade Runner, I kept seeing similarities between the show and the film.

The Netflix show, Altered Carbon, takes place on a dystopian Earth, but most of society seems to be blind to all of the wrongs that surround them. Altered Carbon is built on the premise of these devices called "stacks" that fit right into your spine, in them contains your identity, memories and life. Essentially everything that makes you, you is inside these discs. On top of that, "sleeves", or empty human bodies, have been developed so that if your original body is harmed or destroyed your stack can be put inside of a sleeve and continue life, but most of the time it is not your original body. These two inventions have led humans to the possibility of a never ending life. The people in power, who helped create these inventions, have unimaginable wealth and are able to create exact duplicates of their bodies to ensure that they do not have to be put back inside of a lesser sleeve.

After finishing the series and then watching Blade Runner, I see how humans have once again assumed the role of God through the advancement of technology. They have discovered a way to cheat death as well as create human bodies to be used like clothing. However, there are a group of people in the show that agree to not be "restacked" if they were to die, similar to "do not resuscitate". It was their belief that once you are transferred into another sleeve, you lose your soul and will be denied access to heaven. Shortly into the season, the viewer sees where the conflict lies with someone choosing not to be restacked. The police are trying to solve a murder, which could be quickly solved if they were to restack this individual to get a testimony of what happened. 

After watching both watching this Netflix show I was left with several questions, similar to the ones I had after watching Blade Runner. If humanity were to invent the technology needed to create artificial bodies in order to transfer the soul from one body to the next, would we continue to believe in God? If we no longer had to fear death or meeting our creator, would we continue to believe in God and act accordingly? Do you see any similarities between the stacks and our own perception of souls? 

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