Does continuing to live in another body through consciousness transfer make one immortal?
The 2015 film Self/less explores this interesting and difficult question from many angles.
Damian (played by Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds), an elderly man suffering from cancer, agrees to be transferred to another body in order to live longer and get rid of the disease through consciousness transfer.
There is no ethical problem with the transfer of consciousness, which seems to be an extremely important discovery, because the body to be transferred is said to be grown in a laboratory.
In reality, the body belongs to someone else and was obtained by taking away the chance to live. This makes the inventor a murderer!
Is it really a continuation of the existing life to continue living by accepting the transfer of consciousness into another body, full of memories that will only be a continuation of the existing life? The outward appearance is completely changed and life is tried to be sustained only by transferring consciousness.
It is quite enjoyable to watch such a strange and questionable story, but the conclusion is overwhelming that this is not a continuing life. Even without including the question of stealing other people's bodies just to transfer consciousness, I can't say that it promises immortality.
At the beginning of the movie, Ben Kingsley is played by Ryan Reynolds after the transfer of consciousness, and the path Damian follows and the conclusion he reaches keeps the watchability high with the action and sci-fi aspects it reflects while doing all the questioning instead of the audience.
The best moments of the movie are when Damian, who has achieved the new life he desires, instead of continuing on his way, presents his questioning skills in a way that answers everything that comes to mind while watching the movie.
Every invention has side effects, and most of them are made available to the masses when they are acceptable, but no invention directly ends human life. Nor does it justify killing someone to keep them alive. We can think of it as someone in need of organs forcibly taking someone else's organs.
Another detail that doesn't come to the forefront in the film but that I noticed is that when people are given a second chance, they use it differently. This was evidenced by the fact that everything he couldn't do in the previous life, or did incompletely, or did wrong, he tried to correct in the next life.
Would I accept being immortal by living in other bodies with the same consciousness? The answer will be determined by circumstances. I would like to be immortal, but with the same body, with the same people around me, with the same life that I don't have to move away from.
I don't want immortality only through transfer of consciousness and constant transfers to other bodies. Having to move away from the previous life after each transfer was the drama part of the action and sci-fi movie.
I definitely recommend you to watch the movie, you will probably have similar questions in your mind and you will have different answers.