on the minos gate tech:
my vote goes to a tracking machine that follows a person throughout his/her life, so it can be reconstructed completely. It`s not as hard as it seems, because when we think of it, nobody has made a complete reconstruction of the memories of a second lifers to know if those are truly complete, or are a coarse grain representation of it.
Being a computer programming, I tend to think of it in terms of OOP: A second lifer is a cloned object of the original one, made by a specific implementation of a AbstractFactory / Builder pattern. Specific instance of Factory is chosen based on specific templates by sex, race or/and some other criteria. The data for the second lifer is provided by a listener, designed to log specific events or changes in the brain internal structure or social relationships of the object. the rest is simply a matter of matter and molding a new body to translate the State pattern populated. That`s all, no biggie in theory.
Remember, no one knows if memories are completely accurate (living people doesn`t have perfect memories) and the internal physiological changes can be an standard module for everyone, with only the interface of the second lifer and the state of the brain variables being changed.
It`s creepy to found a race with that kind of control and knowledge about our dna, to reduce us to a template. So much for human uniqueness
On the second lifer vs first lifers and stuff:
There is something we shouldn`t leave out of sight here: Second lifers are not the same person they were. It is stated that second lifers undergo a psychological change that tend to made then a true second life being, rather than the extension of the first life. However, the Lee story is the solution to all our worries.
Consider the problems we face right now. For the sake of argument, I`m going to assume an United States solution, since at least Cuba is not going to be benefited for this any time soon, as any of the lesser countries without big participation in the war and the HEA:
1 legal obligations of second lifers: If second lifers are considered the legal representative on to which obligations default in the case of death without will, this automatically considers them the legal representation of the first lifer deceased, with all that it conveys. Not good.
2 criminal obligations of the second lifers: If second lifers should carry out the sentences imposed on then in life. Death penalty is a touchy issue (I`m in favor of it, by the way, but ignore the comment). Killing a second lifer without a retrial or something akin is quite unfair. We`ll discuss this further down.
3 Social and national obligations of second lifers: whether second lifers are responsible for the contracts they held while alive with public offices and services, like army, political posts, and such. Not good, obviously.
So, on thing is certain, second life is different enough for a country not to be able to encompass both second and first lifers. It would be a political, social and monetary nightmare. hence, united States of America and United States of Hell. Now, the USH is not a colony, protectorate, influence area, or allied state. It`s the second life country of the USA, an entirely new relation with an entirely new kind of state. Citizenship can be automatic, treating the popping out of the Gate as the equivalent of birth on Earth (I`m assuming the second lifers are sterile, which would be logical, expected and all in all simple). To change citizenship upon arrival, arrangement should be made before death, if possible, or after the citizenship for the default country is in effect. This eliminates the legal gap that exists now when people arrives and gets to choose, without consequences, the state they want to belong to. This is not mentioned, but if a rich person gets to go with its money, this is creating a money leak for the country that lost that citizen which is HUGE. Consider bill gates, or Sergei Brin dying and taking their money with them. Not cool. So, either a limit must be imposed on the amount of money a person gets to keep, or all the assets of a second lifer must be used in transactions with Earth, so that money comes back somehow. it still is an economical hazard of epic proportions. please someone explain that to me, I`m not good at economy in this (or any) scale.
So, once that is taken care of, back to the mirror state relationship. Hell states are dependent on Earth for their population. Dying is the only way they are getting new personnel, so this tie them to one or several countries on Earth. (O my god someone please stop the Chinese before they mass slaughter a couple hundred million of peasants to release some population pressure from Earth to Hell and establish their mirror state with that base...
). earth states are locked in their Hell counterparts because, well, we are all dying and we better go to some place when we do, right? so it`s a win win... unless the mirror state decides that they are better off getting their new arrivals from somewhere else. we need a new United Nations and such to control this.
Commerce between this countries is not internal commerce. This are TWO different countries, with different laws and interests. They are mirrors, and as such are very likely to uphold the same basic laws and liberties, but that`s it. For example drugs can be legal in USH (there is no prove to show that they are harmful to the environment or second lifers' health or lifespan(deathspan?) ), but are obviously not legal in the USA. Any number of treaties can be signed to bind more tightly these countries together. Now, the economyy models.
Hell states are likely to be heavy exporters of resources at first. War reparations, lack of infrastructure, etc.
As more and more businessmen, adventurers and scientists begin to die, specially if they are allowed to take some money with them, this is likely to change, a la Wild West, I think. This is were things get really interesting. the USH will outdo the USA in ALL fields in a couple of centuries. There will be no secrets hidden for them, no technology unavailable, nothing the USA can do that they can`t, and they can do so much more, with a resource rich land, lower social expenses, virtually limitless lifespans, no unproductive population, and skilled personnel out of thin air. Yes, scientific, technological and productive competition does not look good for Earth. I`m reminded here of the excellent and marvelous Robot trilogy of Asimov (starting with the Caves of Steel), where second lifers act as the space men, and earthlings are, well, just that, poor creatures of fast life and not that much future until they join the other side. Failure to implement a free Hell state matching the USA will flock all second lifers under Caesar`s (or worse, Abigor`s!) banners, with dire consequences in the long run. Defeating a Caesar's invasion of Earth is not something you can pull with a mere nuke or two, I'm sure. Shaping the Hell state into a colony has the problem stated above of second lifers not putting up with it. Plenty of examples of interactions between colonies and metropolis in history to speak of. And finally, having the hell state as an extension of the first one, under the same administration, gathers a huge problem because the populations are just so different. Plenty of ethnic, racial, religious and social internal conflicts to draw examples from IRL.
Now, on the criminal responsabilities. This begs a new legislation entirely. for example, say a person kills another. The motive of the killing must be taken into consideration very, very carefully, because this can cause the penalty to go from 20 years on prison, to life in prison, to death, to death AND prison, to life in prison AND prison in second life, to death and retrial, to death AND DEATH. We have a plethora of choices to exact punishment with here. Now, the issue here is, that the second lifer is a citizen of another country, so as part of the legal binding of mirror states, there must be a clause for legal continuity of verdicts IN THE CASES IT APPLIES. For example, a person that steals to eat, must not be punish in Hell for it, because his motivation has disappeared. He must be given the benefit of doubt. The one that defrauds and cons, must pay repairs of some sort to his victims, and given the benefit of doubt. There is the added benefit that a convicted felon is known to the Hell State, although this is no reason for them to forfeit their social liberties until they commit second life crimes or they remained affected by a cross-gate verdict (the exact scope of which would be determined by a panel of justices, preferably from both parties, and evolve in much the same way they do now).
Retroactivity of such verdicts must be considered in a crime by crime basis. For example, Nazis can be retroactively recondemned to death, if that's the consensus. Common murderers, not so sure. People commiting acts that seem barbaric to us are not to be judged if those acts were acceptable within their societies. for example, mongols massacred the other countries they invaded, but by their standards, they weren't criminals. Should they prove not able to adapt to the new order, they must be either restrained in some sort of reservation, or put in reformatories or at least watched carefully, because they are, for all purposes, unfit to live in society. This is quite a complex subject here.
If a criminal evades justice on Earth, but is caught and proved to be guilty on Hell, they are to do time for their earth bound crimes, and remain branded as a criminal in much the same way convicted felons are. If his crimes warranted a death penalty on Earth, this is obviously not the same on Hell. The sentence can be then commuted to one more proper, previously agreed by both hell and earth high courts.
People committing suicide to avoid fiscal responsibilities are obviously criminals before law, and are to be judged as such before Hell law. they will be held in the same responsibility as those who defraud their customers and flee with the profits to a country with no extradition, for example. In general, people committing suicide while holding financial obligations, without discharging said obligations to a next of kin (with said next of kin explicit, legally binding agreement) is a criminal act and should be treat as such.
for every other kind of crime, they are to be treated as they are treated now by the interpol and such. Laws will cement in time, as cases emerge.
As USH is not the same as USA, dead personnel are not legally bound to their services to their former country, unless their contract specifically said so, and it is legally sound by both the laws of the USA and its mirror state. For example, a soldier can be bound by a contract for five years or until death. Should he die sooner, the mirror state could offer the same position if it is available at the moment, otherwise the new arrival can be presented with an array of choices, or could choose to renew his contract with his original employer, if permitted by the USH law.
for example, a scientist recently dead can have a profound interest in resuming his investigation with the same team he was working with on Earth. If he chooses to resume his work with his USA-based team, he switches his work model from regular worker to outsourced/off-shore/collaborative/remote worker, if both the USH and the USA allows it.
Of course, legal promises of silence to keep corporate and state secrets must be time-bound from now on, but are legally binding in both the original country and its mirror state.
I don't know if this model works for anyone... Sorry for the long post.
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