"Burroughs, William S. - Immortality" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs William S)

grasp. The very thought of a clone disturbs these gentlemen. Like cattle
on the verge of stampede, they paw the ground mooin apprehensively.
"Selfness is an essential fact of life. The thought of human nonselfness
is terrifying.

"Terrifying to whom? Speak for yourself, you timorous old beastie
cowering in your eternal lavatory. Too many scientists seem to be
ignorant of the most rudimentary spiritual concepts. They tend to be
suspicious, bristly, paranoid-type people with huge egos they push
around like some elephantiasis victim with his distended testicles in a
wheelbarrow, terrified, no doubt, that some skulking ingrate-of-a-clone
student will sneak into their very brains and steal their genius work.
The unfairness of it brings tears to his eyes as he peers anxiously
through his bifocals.

Cloning isn't ego gone berserk. On the contrary, cloning is the end of
the ego. For the first time, the spirit of man will be able to separate
itself from the human machine, to see it and use it as a machine. He is
no longer identified with one special Me machine. The human organism has
become an artifact he can use like a plane, a boat, or a space capsule.

The poet John Giorno wondered if maybe a clone of a clone of a clone
would just phase out into white noise like copies of copies of tape. As
Count Korzybski used to say: "I don't know, let's see."

But ultimately, I postulate, true immortality can be found only in
space. Space exploration is the only goal worth striving for. Over the
hills and far away. You will know your enemies by those who attempt to
block your path. Vampiric monopolists would keep you in time like their
cattle. "It's a good thing cows don't fly," they say with an evil
chuckle. The evil, intelligent Slave Gods.

The gullible, confused, and stupid pose an equal threat owing to the
obstructive potential of their vast numbers. I have an interesting slip
in my scrapbook. News clipping from the Boulder Camera. Picture of an
old woman with a death's-head, false teeth smile. She is speaking for
the Women's Christian Temperance Union. "WE OPPOSE CHILD ABUSE,
INTEMPERANCE, AND IMMORTALITY."

The way to immortality is in space, and Christianity is buried under
slag heaps of dead dogma, sniveling prayers; and empty prayers must
oppose immortality in space as the counterfeit always fears and hates
the real thing. Resurgent Islam . . . born-again Christians . . . creeds
outworn . . . excess baggage . . . 'raus 'mit!

Immortality is prolonged future, and the future of any artifact lies in
the direction of increased flexibility capacity for change and
ultimately mutation. Immortality may be seen as a by-product of
function: "to shine in use." Mutation involves changes that are
literally unimaginable from the perspective of the future mutant.