Reincarnation & Cloning

In John Locke’s “Of Identity and Diversity,” he discusses the necessary requirements and the restrictions of having an identity, or of being a Person-- a being who is more than “substance” and more than a “man.” A Person is a conscious being. Locke stresses that one being cannot have two beginnings of existence; neither can two diverse beings share one beginning. In the episode of Black Mirror titled, “Be Right Back” we observe a failed attempt of one being trying to have a second beginning of existence. The episode begins with Martha and Ash, a young, happy, and in love couple moving into Ash’s childhood home to start a new chapter of their lives together. Not far into the plot, Ash dies in a car accident. At first, devastated Martha strongly opposes to her friend’s recommendation to try software that learns and mimics a deceased person’s personality via that person’s online interactions. Once Martha does give the software a shot, in desperation to share the news of her pregnancy with Ash, she is immediately obsessed with it. And who wouldn’t be excited about the opportunity to speak with a deceased loved one again? (I asked this in class and surprisingly it seemed that the majority of people wouldn’t want to, I’m not sure if I believe that though…) When Martha takes the technology to the extreme, by buying a synthetic body (Locke’s “man”), at first it appears to be a successful experiment. But the expectations and its limitations did not take long to build. If Martha had been able to acknowledge and accept that this New Ash can never and will never be the Old Ash, then I think it might have been able to work out. But Martha expected and desired so badly for this being to be Ash reincarnated, which is impossible for two of the same identities to exist separately or for one being to have two beginnings of existence. In the scene where New Ash and Martha are standing on the cliff’s edge and they have a confusing argument about how the Old Ash would react in comparison to New Ash, Martha has a realization and asks, “You aren’t you, are you?” This statement expresses Martha’s associating both Ashs to be the same Person, and her frustration with being unable to accept that they are not.

This topic also brought to mind the idea of cloning. I’ve seen an interview of a wealthy older couple that had a beloved dog they never wanted to lose. So before this dog died, they paid for the preparations to have it cloned once it did. It was so bizarre hearing them speak about it; hard to believe it was real. They are extremely happy with their decision. They kept saying how it’s just like having their old dog all over again, from the beginning. They did admit that they know there probably will be personality differences, confirming the impossibility for it to be the same exact being. So in this case, it comes pretty close to one being having a second existence, but because it is an animal and not a complex human being, it is easier to accept it. 
I just found another video of a pet owner who cloned her dog, but she claims they have no differences. Very interesting. She also said she wanted to get him cloned before he even died to see how they would have interacted together. John Locke must be screaming from his grave.


Video of couple I referred to: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUULl7HOws

Second video I referred to: 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pay-bring-back-clone-mans-best-friend-15338091


***UPDATE: I just watched the first episode of a TLC show about this subject called I Cloned My Pet. Very entertaining if you have the time to watch it. If not, skip to 23:00 and one of the cloned dogs has a "Dog Whisperer" come speak to the clone to ask if it is the same dog as before. Hilariously, the dog whisperer says the dog is recalling all his memories from his previous life and that the dog is in fact the same being. Haha! Basically, every one of the pet owners in this show believes that their cloned dog is their dead dog re-born.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7bw0-5ja5Q