A better-- Oh hell, Hermann. A better model? Wow. So there we go. Now we have it. You're fucking jealous because this new dude with your face walks in and he's younger and more dashing and--
FIRST, and let's get this one on the table right off the bat: YOU'RE the one with a boner for hotshot pilots and space-cowboys and men in uniform, Hermann. Not me!
SECONDLY, YES, I would be super fascinated by a twin or a clone and, NO, I don't know what it would be like to question your sense of self or your special snowflakeness or your place in the universe, because you're not telling me!
[He is, however, starting to question their place in THIS universe. What if the reason that they're here--that they CAN be here--isn't that they've dimension hopped, but that they're clones/created and downloaded with the memories of the people they are supposed to look like? What if the original Hermann Gottlieb and Newt Geiszler are still back on THEIR Earth with the Apocalypse cancelled, living their lives?
It still didn't explain two Hermann-faced men (lab error? limited models to create with, and a restructured memory to accept their new appearance?) but it posed an intriguing theory that Newt wished he could bounce around with Hermann but would probably have to pose to Qubit instead, even at the risk of their friend thinking Newt is nuts.
Nuts or not, still doesn't exclude him from being right. He WAS right about the Kaiju, after all.
But that is not here or there. They think, therefore they are--or some philosophical bullcrap. What mattered wasn't why he and Hermann and Miles (and Igor? Gregor? ...Gregor) were here at all, but that they were still unique individuals because they just were.]
But but-- Most importantly? He's not YOU. He's a different person with a different history-- even if Miles' life marginally, thematically, superficially resembles your life, it isn't like he's been downloaded with your memories! He is not trying to call himself Hermann Gottlieb.
[His tone softened a little.] Because he isn't. He doesn't consider himself to be. I don't consider him to be you. And you shouldn't either.
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FIRST, and let's get this one on the table right off the bat: YOU'RE the one with a boner for hotshot pilots and space-cowboys and men in uniform, Hermann. Not me!
SECONDLY, YES, I would be super fascinated by a twin or a clone and, NO, I don't know what it would be like to question your sense of self or your special snowflakeness or your place in the universe, because you're not telling me!
[He is, however, starting to question their place in THIS universe. What if the reason that they're here--that they CAN be here--isn't that they've dimension hopped, but that they're clones/created and downloaded with the memories of the people they are supposed to look like? What if the original Hermann Gottlieb and Newt Geiszler are still back on THEIR Earth with the Apocalypse cancelled, living their lives?
It still didn't explain two Hermann-faced men (lab error? limited models to create with, and a restructured memory to accept their new appearance?) but it posed an intriguing theory that Newt wished he could bounce around with Hermann but would probably have to pose to Qubit instead, even at the risk of their friend thinking Newt is nuts.
Nuts or not, still doesn't exclude him from being right. He WAS right about the Kaiju, after all.But that is not here or there. They think, therefore they are--or some philosophical bullcrap. What mattered wasn't why he and Hermann and Miles (and Igor? Gregor? ...Gregor) were here at all, but that they were still unique individuals because they just were.]
But but-- Most importantly? He's not YOU. He's a different person with a different history-- even if Miles' life marginally, thematically, superficially resembles your life, it isn't like he's been downloaded with your memories! He is not trying to call himself Hermann Gottlieb.
[His tone softened a little.] Because he isn't. He doesn't consider himself to be. I don't consider him to be you. And you shouldn't either.
You're real, Hermann. You're you.