Outside the window

"Jin sat waiting, silent and still, as the full-brain digital back-up neared completion. Above him, the consciousness scanner buzzed quietly, reading every memory, mapping every neuron, preparing to create a cloud-bound digital self. The process of bestowing an immortal digital life on humans was expected to take about half an hour. To pass the time, Jin looked out of the window."

"Suspended above his head, the halo-like scanning ring evoked an old memory: the first time he got a perm as a teenager. Jin remembered the feeling of the heat coils, the nervous shuffling in the salon chair, the ring-shaped machine resting awkwardly on his scalp. His best friend had walked with him out of the salon, grinning and teasing: "Look at us! Curly-haired punks now!" But the laughter didn't last."

Jin undergoes a full-brain digital backup while a consciousness scanner maps his memories and neurons for cloud transfer. He studies his white hair and feels the weight of mortality that led him to this procedure. A scanning ring triggers memories of a teenage perm and a best friend who died in the war after urging him to live well. He remembers a love tattoo and a beloved's promise that her name would live on his body. Outside, a young couple flaunts gene-tattoos, contrasting youthful coded love with Jin's lingering grief and nostalgia. The process offers possible digital immortality amid unresolved sorrow and remembrance.

Read at Nature