We are, each of us, multiple people: a composite of diverging traits, a constant battle of wills, a mind regarding itself. This truth echoes throughout history, from myth to religion, from philosophy to modern science. There is no unitary self, only the desire to become one.
This struggle to become one’s self – possibly the defining struggle of our lives – has been especially suggestive to modern artists who have made the airy notion of multiplicity palpable in painting, sculpture, literature and cinema.
The science fiction film is especially suited for this existential drama. 2001, a thriller that pits man versus artificial intelligence and then man versus a superior intelligence, ends with the protagonist standing over his own dying body. Solaris, in some ways a rebuttal to 2001, also depicts an astronaut humbled by his own inability to confront an intelligence beyond his own.
In the movie Moon, an astronaut discovers he has been left to die, again and again. This hero is first challenged and then aided by perfect clones of himself. It’s a promising set-up – how would you treat yourself if you happened upon yourself? – but one that is largely unexplored.
Not only does this premise deserve another try, it could be a fantastic first-person video game. The player would end up playing with or against himself, countering or abetting his own previous, concurrent or future moves; embodied by several, seemingly independent avatars.