Learning To Be Me - Greg Egan

Short Story

Number of words : 5900
Percent of complex words : 11.4
Average syllables per word : 1.6
Average words per sentence : 15.7


READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 10.8
Flesch : 57.7
Flesch-Kincaid : 9.1



PEOPLE

Worrier

A man who stresses about the philosophy and reality of having his own brain and self replaced with the Jewel.

Eva

His first love and girlfriend at sixteen.

Plato and Descartes and Marx

Philosophers.

St. Augustine, Sartre, heard of Godel, Turing, Hamsun and Ki

More philosophers.

Daphne

His wife, a merchant banker.

Cathy

His lover.



TECHNOLOGY

Ndoli Device

The Jewel. A technology that replaces the human brain gradually enmeshing itself in childhood via nanotech surgical robots and teaching itself the brain functions of the person, so the brain can be replaced later in adulthood.


MEDIA

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

A movie.


PLOT

A man worries about his Ndoli Device process and if he will remain himself after the operation to insert it. His parents underdog the process and don't tell him and he doesn't notice. His wife and later lover do as well and seem no different. This causes even more stress when he is a rare case of the Teacher unit process failing. This causes him and the Jewel to get more out of synch - which means there will be a difference on switchover of that time period. Maybe this happens more than people know, and is covered up. His relationship with his former lover is discarded.


3.5 out of 5