Swan Song

by Nicholas 

Disclaimer: this post discusses a deep topic that may be triggering or overwhelming for some.

I just finished watching Swan Song (2021) with my best friend since middle school (admittedly, he fell asleep halfway through due to a 12+ mile run earlier in the day - I nearly spontaneously combusted after one mile trying to keep up with him). Anyways, the movie ROCKS. The Martian has always been my favorite book (and movie), but this is now my new favorite! Basically, it's all about a guy who is terminally ill and has two choices -- tell his family and die soon with them knowing and living with the pain, or be replaced by a perfect clone copy of him (with his memories transferred -- I question the technology/science of how they did this, but it's an interesting concept) so that his family does not have to suffer. I'll *try* not to spoil the movie too much (no promises) so that you can watch it yourself, but it really got me thinking about life, death, love, family, happiness, etc. -- the classic existential crisis. Gotta love it. 

Cameron Turner (played by the wonderful Mahershala Ali -- Awkwafina is hilarious in this movie and Naomie Harris is great too), with his terminal illness, could drop dead any day from his seizures. So, after much deliberation, he signs an agreement with a company that has created a clone of him. Despite signing it, he is constantly deliberating his decision, saying things like - "You're not me!" and in disbelief that someone else (technically -- that's the real debate -- the dog in the movie seems to know it's not the original Cameron somehow) will be replacing him and taking his life over for him. The scariest part for me was thinking about if my best friend, my family, or I were put in that situation. What would I do? What would they do? What would you do? It's an excruciating decision. The only thing I could think of is why couldn't they save Cameron? Reverse the illness? They have such advanced tech that they are able to create a clone of him (a process which likely took millions of dollars, if not more) and have such advanced tech and AI. That was my first concern, because if I were in that situation, I would just not want to die. Period. Forget stupid clones. Plus I don't want to ever die anyways, in my current situation included. As I've explained in a previous blog post, I am mortally scared of dying and would love to not die in the first place, or at least have my brain frozen so some future tech can resurrect me. I would love for no one, especially my family and close friends, to live forever (if they wanted to -- at least give them/yourself the choice, don't ya think?). Death is scary, man. Comment down below if you agree lol. 

Sorry I'm getting sidetracked, I guess I'm sidestepping the dilemma by presenting a completely different alternative. The point is, that part of the movie disappointed me and kinda pissed me off. The other thing that I thought was how horrible it was that his family would never know that he was about to die, or that he died at all, once his illness took his life. That was the most depressing and unfathomable part of the movie for me. 

Welp, I'm not gonna say anymore. It was a really interesting and amazing movie, whether you're in it for the science/tech or the feels/drama. Go watch it!! I highly, highly recommend it. Like I said, it's now my new favorite movie. It's on Apple TV but it's worth the money. Or maybe you can find it elsewhere *wink* 

A couple other questions and thoughts I had:

<Where can I get that tech?! It's so cool!!> 

<How does the memory transfer work? Doesn't seem very realistic to me in the movie. What is consciousness? What are thoughts? What is memory? How does it work? It is a purely physical thing? An illusion? I'm very confused, someone explain this please lol> 

Yeah, I was pretty much bawling in the last few minutes of the movie. The movie hit me hard emotionally, especially during a couple particular interactions which I won't spoil. Be prepared to have your mind blown and your heart torn to shreds. A good cry and an existential crisis or two are coming your way. 

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