Consciousness doesn't just reside in the brain. It's the brain's relation to the body that determines the whole person (I think). So new body, equals different person. (In my estimation.)
What if, and this has nothing to do with Dollhouse, an exact copy of the brain is made. Can you duplicate the self that way?
There has been a very active movement in psychology over the last 20 years focused on something called "embodied cognition." Embodied cognition says that we can only understand the mind in the context of a particular organism's (i.e. body's) sensorimotor interactions with the environment over a long period of development. It's a reaction against earlier, abstractly mathematical, traditions in cognitive science that saw the mind as a computational device isolated in the brain. The old view is reflected in traditional ideas of artificial intelligence.
Clearly, the people who created the Dollhouse share the older, abstract view of mind and identity. Extract the algorithms, insert them in a new brain, and you have a functioning person. We'll have to see if Echo's story is more like the new view of embodied cognition.
I think Sierra was created after Alpha went off.
Right, and there was clearly some other incident prior to Alpha's massacre. Because the handler was asking about why the dolls were left defenseless and the programmer says that when they were given skills in their null state, it ended in blood. So something else happened then.
I also think we're supposed to think that Alpha has killed B through D, leaving Echo alive. There are only five pods in the floor we see, so though there may be more people being imprinted at any one time, we're only being explicitly shown the five. There are fourteen more between F & S, so either there are another ten dead, or we're not seeing them. (Three sets of five pods?)
Although, from BSG it's clear I can't do show math, so it's possible none of this is relevant.
On the question of identity, it's an interesting exercise. I think it seems like it would be difficult to be an amalgam of different personalities, all with their different bodies. Even if I think I can rock climb and I somehow have the physical strength to do so, it seems like I would be looking up a cliff face and making decisions based on how long I thought my limbs were and how controlled my center of balance was, things that would be difficult with a blended imprint.
Right, and there was clearly some other incident prior to Alpha's massacre. Because the handler was asking about why the dolls were left defenseless and the programmer says that when they were given skills in their null state, it ended in blood. So something else happened then.
I thought that there was just Alpha. Handler says "why don't they default to ninja mode" Other guy says "we tried that" Handler says "what happened" Other guy answers "Alpha"
Am I remembering that right?
There are fourteen more between F & S, so either there are another ten dead, or we're not seeing them. (Three sets of five pods?)
During the emergency, you see some of them being led to their pods, but then you see several dead in the shower room with Echo, so maybe 5 dead?
Even if I think I can rock climb and I somehow have the physical strength to do so, it seems like I would be looking up a cliff face and making decisions based on how long I thought my limbs were and how controlled my center of balance was, things that would be difficult with a blended imprint.
I was thinking this myself when Echo was pretending to get into climbing trouble -- wouldn't you be assuming different muscle strength than you might actually have?
That might be part of the process of choosing an active, making sure that they have the proper physical attributes (and by attributes, I do not mean boobs)
(and by attributes, I do not mean boobs)
Although, to be fair, those do seem to be a prerequisite.
I'm wondering if, in a future episode, it'll come out that the Dollhouse selected people beforehand and then set it up so they'd be in such a desperate situation that they'll sign up. I mean, as opposed to preying on people who are already in a desperate situation.
Oh, like Le Femme Nikita...hopefully without the gagarific fanfic.
I like that idea, myself.
It seems like a bit too much work... they basically need pretty people in good physical condition and desperate legal or financial situations, right? Surely there are enough such people that it's easier to find them than make them.
