Discourses on the Edges of Life

In this paper I will discuss two ways of extending the human life-span that have been used in Science Fiction. The first involves uploading the human mind onto a computer after physical death. The second involves a sinister scenario in which clones, doubles or virtual simulacra or simulations are created to emulate living or dead human beings. My aim is to explore these two options and examine their epistemological and ontological implications: being human without a body; the nature of an upload