Memories of My Time as a Human

No one wants to die—death is a flaw of biology; it should be abolished. Perhaps one day we could upload our personality onto a computer? What sounds like an absurd idea to most mortals is a central motivation for the transhumanist community, driving the development of AI. They dream of eternal life, independent of the fleeting vessel of the human body.

“Memories of My Time as a Human” takes this idea seriously and explores it thoroughly using modern technology. At the Institute for Mental Upload, the final session begins, during which the crucial step is to be carried out: in front of the audience, the actor will be uploaded onto a durable substrate. In this last session, a decision is made about which memories will be transferred to the new immortal self. Should negative memories be deleted, or are they part of one’s identity? Should they be overwritten with new, better memories? And where would we even get these new, better memories?

An experimental theater piece, it brings current technology into collision with existential questions about the future. The audience witnesses firsthand what AI is already capable of and is drawn into a moral dilemma that could become reality in just a few years.