Heart and soul

[jianai]

[1]
[In order to get better as a pilot and not wreck a mobile suit each time they're piloting, Ren is doing some good old fashioned physical exercise.]

And one, and two...

[Running laps around Alhambra Base - with a lack of haste that'd cause any drill sergeant worth their salt to pop a vein or a dozen. But what's this - 15, 20, 30 laps around the base done, and Ren isn't even sweaty yet.

Comment? Or maybe join in, if you dare?]

[2]
[Some time after the exercise, but directed at whomever seems willing to listen.]

Do you believe in the afterlife?

Comments

[ugyuuya]

That's an unusual belief. Most people assume that a soul is required for any type of emotion. It's why some people object to robots and and why those people who make hard decisions based on logic get it thrown into their faces by others.

I'd be more interested in hearing why you so readily accept that you don't have a soul. It seems at odds with your personality.

[jianai]

Yes, let's get to the point then.

[Ren glances around for a seat. This could take a while.]

In body and mind I was already an adult when I was born. This brings a question - how I had the knowledge necessary to live in society?

You see, while I developed inside a cloning vat, all that required knowledge was already being transferred into my brain. It was an automated process. It's like copying data into a computer.

Among that knowledge were basics of how my psychic abilities work like. In order to, hmm - how to say it? I am a layman myself so I'll explain from a layman's perspective.

I am tapping into the world as it exists, as a whole. Or maybe it's the unified human consciousness? Either way, a soul has a strong sense of self and individuality. It'd reject this type of power.

Only a soulless being could accept it.

[ugyuuya]

Or a more pure soul than a normal human is capable of. I do not believe that human science could so easily achieve such a feat as creating a living being with no soul.

An AI will always follow programming no matter the situation and no matter how "alive" it seems. You've already proven that you are capable of true sentience and your own will. I do not believe that any entity could have a true will of it's own without a soul.

[jianai]

I'm glad you believe that, Yuuya. You really are a true egalitarian.

I wish I knew more about the individuals who created me. It'd be enlightening, to hear more about their more... questionable decisions.

[Ren smiles sadly.]

Well, in the end we will just have to live with it.