The Life of George. The Story of a Synthetic Human.

“The Life of George” is set in Catalonia in the year 2121, and in a time when science and technology have evolved at an accelerated pace, to the point that trips to the Moon and Mars have become commonplace, as well as the artificial manufacture of living beings, including synthetic humans.

George is one of these synthetic humans, who emerged three years ago from the company “Human Biofactory”. Despite his young age, his appearance is that of a young man of about 25 years old. With George, we will learn to see human reality from another perspective, that of a living being who looks a lot like us, but who is not, strictly speaking, a human.

George is, therefore, a mirror in which to look at ourselves, to reflect our greatness and miseries, what makes us valuable and at the same time evil, what we are and what we can become, exposed sometimes with a sense of humor, sometimes with the rawness that life forces us to accept.

At the same time, he poses timeless questions that force us to find an answer: What is life? What is freedom? What is love? How should we treat each other? How should we face the challenges of a future that is increasingly present?

FRAGMENT OF THE WORK:

2. Breakfast

-Clara, don't stick your finger in your nose, especially when we're having breakfast!

-Why can't I do it? Am I hurting someone?

-You're hurting yourself! Besides, it's disgusting!!

-Why am I hurting myself? I don't feel any harm. And the disgust thing is very relative. Besides, you're synthetic, George, you don't know what feelings are, much less disgust.

-Okay, I don't know what a person feels when they experience disgust. But you forget my programming. I can't help but tell you. I'm not free, in that sense.

-In that sense? And not at all, I think!

This last categorical statement from Clara left me perplexed and meditative, to the point that I forgot the discussion I was having. What was freedom? Why did humans value it so much? Wouldn't it be much better to have every hour and second of every day completely programmed? That way you wouldn't have to worry about anything! Everything planned and foreseen!

- George, George!! Wake up!!!

- yes, yes... Who am I? Oh yes, I'm George and I'm scolding you, Clara.

- I know you're scolding me, but you're "out"!

- What does "out" mean? I haven't left here!

- You don't understand! "Out" means to be stuck, blank, in limbo, disconnected - added Victor.

- Okay, but lately I've started to ask myself a lot of things, without finding satisfactory solutions. So, I feel as if I'm abandoning the situation I was in, to enter a new reality made up only of ideas, conceptual relationships and words.

- What if you're free now?

- Exactly! I wouldn't have even considered this question before. But since I started living with you, I'm gaining new perspectives that fill my mind with doubts.

- Really? I thought that synthetic humans were manufactured free of doubts

- I thought so too! But reality doesn't match what was planned. That's another idea I was referring to. How can this happen? I feel deranged.

- This is happening to you because you're a synthetic human. If you were natural, like us, you wouldn't find it so disturbing and disturbing. Let time pass and you'll find it completely normal

- And you'll realize that you're becoming more and more like us, natural humans - Victor retorted.

- Victor, don't put so much jam on your toast! Maybe you're right, Clara. But, in any case, I think I need time to process so many new things.

While I was warning Victor, the jam was falling onto the table. It was raspberry, sweet and intensely red. Suddenly, I felt a new internal impulse, which I could not control, and which forced me to extend my hand, open my index finger and insert it into the pile of jam that had accumulated. Immediately, I put it in my mouth, to begin to enjoy the intense flavor and aroma of that exquisite food. Immediately, a cluster of sensations awakened in my perceptive consciousness, causing a fairly obvious change in expression.

The children watched me in amazement. I think they did not expect it. They could not believe what was happening.

George, you have just broken a basic and elementary rule of civilized behavior at the table!! How could this have happened? - Clara suddenly burst out.

- I don't know, I don't know how it could have happened. I have behaved unplanned. I feel a little confused, but at the same time I experience a feeling of undeniable pleasure, which drives me to believe that this scene can be repeated in the future, even though I am aware that it is not correct.

-I think you will repeat it -Víctor affirmed. The taste of this jam is incredible. At least for me.

-Well, I don't find it that good -Clara said. I would say that it is simply a jam like any other.

-Since it is the first time I have tasted this food, it seemed sublime to me -I affirmed. By the way, have you asked yourself why the three of us have different opinions about the same jam?

-Well, I don't know for sure, said Clara. It all depends on the "qualities".

-And what are the qualies? -Víctor asked.

-From what I have read, they are the sensory experiences we live when we receive any stimulus, external or internal, that affects us, such as the soft touch of a pen, colors, a stomachache, a pleasant melody, etc. Since they are personal and subjective, we can in no way know if we experience them in the same way. However, the example of the jam allows us to deduce that, most likely, it is not.

And Clara remained very calm after having made this dissertation, sucking on another piece of toast with butter, while Víctor and I observed her without disguising our astonishment.