Mon 7 Apr 2008
If I met my genetic duplicate, would I instantly like him or fear him? What if I was the duplicate?
(Hat tip to robocop is bleeding, who posited this and other questions over in Metatalk recently.)
Posted by Josh Millard7 answers so far!
I think I would without a doubt find myself very annoying. I would consider my duplicate self-righteous, emotional, rash, stubborn and bossy. Whereas in truth, I am impassioned, empathetic, decisive, resolute, and a good leader. Really. No, really.
I would dislike my duplicate and, were I the duplicate, I would dislike the original. This is because that as the original, I would feel entitled to make my copy do stuff I don’t want to do. As the copy, I would feel abused by this notion and would resist. If I were the copy I would likely start calling myself the original just to throw some gas on the fire. My two selves would fight it out, likely creating still yet more copies in order to wage war.
As I assume that a copy of a copy would have some variations, I could see my original self keeping a copy on ice in order to make copies of it (grandkids) that would have some sort of genetic deviation (taller, shorter, etc). The Duplicate Prime would create copies of himself and allow those copies to make copies of themselves, thus creating even bigger deviations (different racial characteristics, gender, possibly extra arms) all the way down to the dog-faced boy.
I expect this fight would continue for some time until the Original is finally defeated by the Duplicate Prime who would use a female version of myself to get in close and strike. This is why I only dated women who appeared to be clearly not similar to me in anyway - you never know when Duplicate Prime may get his hands on a time travel device and send his female agent back to get me. I know this because if I was the Duplicate Prime it is exactly what I would do.
So, as the current original, it is best I don’t copy myself at all.
Well, in this hypothetical situation, am I aware that I have a duplicate before I met her? Because if I am not then I would surely be pretty freaked out and a little scared to run into her but also intensely fascinated.
If you subscribe to the theory that we dislike in others those things we are afraid to confront within ourselves (and I’m not so sure I do) then I would think you would intensely despise a duplicate assuming they have the same personality quirks you do which isn’t a given.
Identical twins seem to do pretty well and they’re genetic duplicates. I think a lot of that bond comes from being raised together though.
Whatever bad feelings I might have I’d probably manage to choke down if only so my duplicate and I could trade off days of work, dates, etc.
The real trouble would come when my double realizes that I am kind of a goofy failure and takes over my life completely, ultimately murdering me in my sleep before I can ruin her new and improved life with my laziness and apathy.
So I guess I would have to kill her first.
For myself I can answer this one with some documentary evidence…sort of, here’s what happened when I met my duplicate.
Ok, but what I wanna know is if I met myself, killed my doppleganger, and had sex with the dead body…
Would it be masturbation? Necrophilia? Homosexuality? Any two or all?
I’d think “the other” is taller and heavier than me, and has a distinctly different voice.
This is remarkably similar to an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head for the last while - why is it that, when I meet guys like me, we first get along so smashingly well, but then end up at each others’ throats?
Guys that are big, dominant, outwardly friendly but also perhaps borderline sociopathic personalities seem to become my best friends and then rivals and eventually bitter enemies. I think I would constantly be trying to one-up and manipulate my twin, and would eventually just want a lot of distance put between us.