this. Yet, what I am has no bearing on who I am, a human.”
“I think,” Mel ventured shyly at first, “that all human beings, whether originals or clones, have divine origin. I read a lot and it got me thinking that never once were we able to create a living cell from nothing. Manipulate yes, but not create. Even when we take the DNA and replace it with another person’s, we’re just playing God, nothing more. So my theory is that the essence of life, the soul, is something given to us and is unique, ours forever and ever. Our memories, our thoughts, they’re external additions. You understand what I’m trying to say?”
“I think I do and I’d like to believe you,” said Lan. “That way I can be at peace with the fact that it’s still me when I have memories of things I’ve never experienced, some of them quite gross, I might add,” he made a puking face looking at Allan, who smiled.
“Why does it have to be a god who has created life, etcetera, etcetera,” intervened Daniel, his face quite intrigued. “It could just be that we were born, we live and we die, end of story. Life could have come from outer space, other planets, you know, via meteors or comets, or simply through evolution.”
“Ultimately, it’s our choice to believe whatever makes sense to us,” Mel continued. “I think that a soul such as mine, experiencing so much beauty and sorrow and pain and love cannot simply cease to exist at the moment of death. And if this is true, then I must have been created by something or someone immortal as well, probably in his image, because it was the best model to copy.” She smiled shyly, as if apologizing for speaking so much, something that was unusual for her.
“ You should know by now that the creation theory does not hold water,” Daniel insisted. “It’s no more real than the boogeyman. Every decent scientist will tell you that there’s ample proof that evolution has been going on for millions of years. The human soul is just wishful thinking. We are extraordinarily ordinary, if you’ll pardon my expression, there’s nothing special about any of us. We will die and the energy field around our brain will disappear, our thoughts will vanish and we will immerse in a great ocean of nothingness.”
“ Stop speaking to me like I’m a child,” countered Mel, her face becoming flushed. “First of all, I call it intelligent design, as well as creation theory, and it obviously implies an intelligent designer. You mock my faith, but what is your conviction if not faith? Your belief that things eventually change if given enough time over the course of billions of years, isn’t that just another kind of faith? The universal law of entropy implies destruction, not creation. Everything in nature mutates, doesn’t evolve, in my opinion. Tell me, if I drop a box with toothpicks on the floor, how many times do you think I would need to drop it before the toothpicks form your name, Daniel? Is a billion times enough? Or if I have all the components of a mechanical watch in a box, how many times should I shake it before it turns into a watch?”
Daniel just stood there, taken aback, Mel’s passion seeming to make a very strong impression on him.
“I wasn’t mocking you, and I’m sorry I upset you. It was just pure scientific debate.”
“No, it was not just that. When we stop seeing the magic in the world, we are truly doom ed, no better than a machine. That saddens me more than I can say.” She went inside, leaving them all without a chance to reply.
“You didn’t need to be so mean, ” Jules remarked. “She’s a sensitive girl.”
“ I noticed that,” Daniel muttered. “I care about her. We were just talking. It wasn’t a personal attack.”
“ But she took it very personally,” Jules continued. “And so do I. We’re not just talking about abstract things, we’re talking about how we feel about the world. We are trying to make sense of our existence. Without a moral
“I think,” Mel ventured shyly at first, “that all human beings, whether originals or clones, have divine origin. I read a lot and it got me thinking that never once were we able to create a living cell from nothing. Manipulate yes, but not create. Even when we take the DNA and replace it with another person’s, we’re just playing God, nothing more. So my theory is that the essence of life, the soul, is something given to us and is unique, ours forever and ever. Our memories, our thoughts, they’re external additions. You understand what I’m trying to say?”
“I think I do and I’d like to believe you,” said Lan. “That way I can be at peace with the fact that it’s still me when I have memories of things I’ve never experienced, some of them quite gross, I might add,” he made a puking face looking at Allan, who smiled.
“Why does it have to be a god who has created life, etcetera, etcetera,” intervened Daniel, his face quite intrigued. “It could just be that we were born, we live and we die, end of story. Life could have come from outer space, other planets, you know, via meteors or comets, or simply through evolution.”
“Ultimately, it’s our choice to believe whatever makes sense to us,” Mel continued. “I think that a soul such as mine, experiencing so much beauty and sorrow and pain and love cannot simply cease to exist at the moment of death. And if this is true, then I must have been created by something or someone immortal as well, probably in his image, because it was the best model to copy.” She smiled shyly, as if apologizing for speaking so much, something that was unusual for her.
“ You should know by now that the creation theory does not hold water,” Daniel insisted. “It’s no more real than the boogeyman. Every decent scientist will tell you that there’s ample proof that evolution has been going on for millions of years. The human soul is just wishful thinking. We are extraordinarily ordinary, if you’ll pardon my expression, there’s nothing special about any of us. We will die and the energy field around our brain will disappear, our thoughts will vanish and we will immerse in a great ocean of nothingness.”
“ Stop speaking to me like I’m a child,” countered Mel, her face becoming flushed. “First of all, I call it intelligent design, as well as creation theory, and it obviously implies an intelligent designer. You mock my faith, but what is your conviction if not faith? Your belief that things eventually change if given enough time over the course of billions of years, isn’t that just another kind of faith? The universal law of entropy implies destruction, not creation. Everything in nature mutates, doesn’t evolve, in my opinion. Tell me, if I drop a box with toothpicks on the floor, how many times do you think I would need to drop it before the toothpicks form your name, Daniel? Is a billion times enough? Or if I have all the components of a mechanical watch in a box, how many times should I shake it before it turns into a watch?”
Daniel just stood there, taken aback, Mel’s passion seeming to make a very strong impression on him.
“I wasn’t mocking you, and I’m sorry I upset you. It was just pure scientific debate.”
“No, it was not just that. When we stop seeing the magic in the world, we are truly doom ed, no better than a machine. That saddens me more than I can say.” She went inside, leaving them all without a chance to reply.
“You didn’t need to be so mean, ” Jules remarked. “She’s a sensitive girl.”
“ I noticed that,” Daniel muttered. “I care about her. We were just talking. It wasn’t a personal attack.”
“ But she took it very personally,” Jules continued. “And so do I. We’re not just talking about abstract things, we’re talking about how we feel about the world. We are trying to make sense of our existence. Without a moral
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