Homework:
Quiz 8 Thursday
Good draft of the sci-fi story is due. Good means good, not rough or incomplete. I expect the stories to be of sufficient length. I told sections 1 and 2 that I think two pages, single-spaced is a good start. That is about 1,000 words.
Today:
We reviewed the vocab for the quiz.
Then I read one piece I had written. The first class thought it was totally boring, so I wrote another story. The next two classes thought the idea was good, but it needed more action. Apparently seventh graders love violence and ninjas! Who knew? :) Regardless, I am having fun. It has been too long since I taught creative writing! I love thinking of the story I want to read, not what someone else thought of!
If you feel like it, here is the second thing I wrote. It is not complete:
John sat in the comfortable leather chair of the sales manager’s office of Virtual Eternity, Inc. He felt a little silly, though, being only thirty years old and thinking about his death. But his friends said that he should check it out. Whenever they would talk about dying, they acted like it didn’t matter, like they knew something he didn’t. They seemed to enjoy life more knowing they had nothing to worry about once they died. John thought he wanted what they had.
Sitting across John, Mr. Anderson began his sales pitch for his company’s services. “Digitizing the dead is big business now that the planet has run out of space to bury the bodies. It now takes less energy to scan and digitize a body than it does to vaporize them into ash. With the density of the population increasing, the old fashioned way of cremation would fill the air with smoke day and night. In this world, we know children are born and people die. People know they will die, but they can’t face the reality of not knowing what will happen to them after that, so we promise them eternity. We are Virtual Burial, Inc.”
John must have looked like he agreed with Mr. Anderson’s assessment of his beliefs because he began to explain John in more detail. “Your mind is all you really have, the collection of neurons and electrical impulses that rush through the fleshy material in your skull. Your thoughts are what make you, well, you. When you die, the electrical impulses end, and your brain shuts down and you cease to exist. Heaven? Hell? Rebirth? I imagine that you are here today because you are unsure. Are you unsure? We at Virtual Burial Inc. are sure. We are your afterlife, your eternal life.”
“Through a patented process,” Mr. Anderson continued, “we scan your living brain and record the electrical patterns and connections, like a wiring map of your brain. Through a rigorous, yet painless, process, we stimulate your brain to get a full picture of your life and your memories. This ‘map’ becomes your virtual you for eternity. Once you are scanned into our system, your future awaits your passing.”
“Currently, we offer two options. You can have your brain scanned and saved for your eventual death. At that time, we activate the image we have and your afterlife begins. Unfortunately, you will not have any memories from the time after your scan. The second, but not always successful option, is to have your dead brain scanned. Through an experimental process, we can pump enough blood through your brain for a few minutes. During that time, we stimulate the brain with slightly more electricity to create the map we need for your virtual eternity. From our monitors, we see that these clients have a virtual afterlife, but we are not positive about the quality. For now, we recommend a pre-death scan for the best results.”
“And what do you do with the body again?” John interrupted.
“The body is optional,” Mr. Anderson continued. “Should you want your body you had at the scan, we can map that body and use it for your eternity. Or, if you want something better, we can match your brain with the body of your choice. Of course, you have to make this decision beforehand, and we do have a nice selection. The only downside of choosing a body is there will be a number of people who look like you. It’s up to you.”
“So I can be stronger?”
“Yep! Mr. Anderson quipped. “Faster. A different race. Even a different sex. (Some people want this.)”
“Huh?” John said seeming slightly offended.
“I am just mentioning it. It’s something we can do.”
“Thanks. I won’t be needing that.”
“Of course.”
John continued to question. “So, if I am thirty now, I will be thirty for eternity?”
“You will be as you are now for eternity.”
“And eternity is where exactly?”
“In our computers,” Mr. Anderson answered confidently, opening his arms wide and pointing in all directions.
“Your computers are eternal? Nothing physical is eternal.”
Maybe a little too smugly, Mr. Anderson replied, “Let’s just say our computers are… not physical.”
John wondered, “So it’s a gamble. I have to have myself scanned before I die and while I am healthy because I have to be that person for eternity.
“Correct. Once the map is made, no new connections are made. You would live as you are today for eternity.”
“I won’t make new memories or learn new things?”
Sensing a potential sale slipping, Mr. Anderson quickly answered, “No. However, we are working on that right now, and maybe one day you will be able to, but the software is experimental right now. The ability to create new connections in your virtual brain is very advanced science. But your life in the virtual eternity will be as vibrant and full of life as it is right now, at this moment.”
“Just no better.”
“Nor any worse.”
“Forever?”
“For eternity,” Mr. Anderson said, relaxed, knowing his job was now done.
****
“John, that’s the last thing I remember, too. Strange,” Sally replies as she picks up her coffee, just as she did every day at 9:00. John was a new customer in line behind her the past few days. Normally, she never talks to people in the morning, but John just walked up to her and introduced himself. It’s like he just popped into her life somehow.
Sally leaves the coffee shop and heads to work with the feeling that today will be a good day, almost like she knows what will happen, so she is not worried. She feels like this all the time. She assumes that she is just blessed with a good life. The gods must be smiling on her, or fortune, or angels. She’s not sure, but she is thankful to something greater than herself that she can live the life she wants to live. She lives in the moment and takes life one day at a time, her future unsure and her past unchanging.
“Wait.”
Sally was about to cross the street when she hear someone coming up behind her.
“Where are you going? It’s Sally, right?” John says slightly out of breath.
“I am going to work. John, right?” Sally says a little concerned, but confident that this will only take a minute. She will be patient.
Homework:
