Mindscan

"Do that," I said, rubbing my temples. "The clock is ticking."

35

Maria Lopez rose to give the defendant's closing argument a behalf of Tyler Horowitz. She bowed politely to Judge Herrington, then turned to face the six jurors and the alternate.

"The question here, ladies and gentlemen, is simple: what constitutes personal identity? There's clearly more to it than mere biometrics. We've seen that anyone can impersonate someone else, with the appropriate technology. But we understand in our beating hearts that there's something ineffable about being a person, something that goes beyond physical measurement, something that makes each of us uniquely ourselves." She pointed with an outstretched arm at Karen, dressed today in a gray pantsuit. "This robot — this thing! — would have us believe that just because it mimics certain physical parameters of the dear, departed Karer Bessarian, that it is in fact Ms. Bessarian.

"But it isn't. Through her writing, the real Karen Bessarian gave joy to hundreds of millions of people so, of course, we don't want to see that beloved storyteller go.

But she has gone; she has passed from this existence. We will mourn her. we will always remember her, but we must also have the strength that her son, who loved her more than anyone, has so admirably demonstrated: the strength to let her, as the tombstone she has been denied might have so elegantly put it, rest in peace.

"The departed Karen Bessarian was the original — and humans have always put a special value on originals, on first printings, on real paintings. Counterfeit money, forged passports: they're not the real thing, and they should never be accorded the status of reality. You good men and women of the jury have the power here to put a stop to this nonsense, to halt this notion that a human being is nothing more than data that can be copied as easily as one copies a song or a photograph. We are more than that. You know it, and I know it: let's make sure the whole world knows it.

"Perhaps you agree with Dr. Poe, the philosopher we heard from, that the thing sitting over there isn't a person at all but rather a zombie. Or perhaps you think that it is a person." Lopez shrugged. "Maybe it is. But, even if it is, it's emphatically not Karen Bessarian; it's someone else, some new creation. Welcome it as such, if you so choose — but don't let it masquerade as someone it's not. The late, lamented Karen Bessarian deserves better than that.

"The Declaration of Independence contains some of the greatest words ever written." Lopez closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, her voice was full of reverence and wonder: " 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' "

She paused, letting the words sink in, then exclaimed: "Endowed by their Creator!

And the word 'Creator,' dear jurors, is written with a capital C — surely meaning God, not some factory in Toronto! 'Unalienable rights' — or inalienable, the way we usually say it today, and which means precisely the same thing: rights that ca

"A different physical entity — a different instantiation, to use the jargon — ca

"We're not talking about whether artificial intelligences created from scratch should be accorded the rights of personhood; that's a battle for another day, if anyone ever manages to make such a thing. No, what's on the table here is whether tricks of science — high-tech smoke and mirrors — should allow someone to play games with life and death. And I say no, resoundingly no.

"In this great state of Michigan, we rejected the claims of the depraved Jack Kevorkian that he should be able to move the line between life and death at his whim; you stood up against such nonsense fifty years ago, and now fate has called again upon the good people of Michigan to be the voice of reason, the conscience of a nation.

"We have drawn firm lines in this country: life begins when we cease to be potentially multiple individuals, and it ends with the cessation of biological activity in the brain. No one should be allowed to circumvent these rules for reasons of" — and here she looked directly at Karen — "personal convenience, or personal gain. Stop the madness here, ladies and gentlemen. Rule for Tyler. It's the right thing to do.

Because, after all, if you don't find that Karen Bessarian died, do you not make a mockery of her life? That woman struggled, loved, gave birth, fought cancer, created art, laughed, cried, felt joy, felt sorrow. If we refuse to recognize that she died do we not also refuse to recognize that she lived?

"Don't deny her reality. Don't deny Karen Bessarian's life and death. And, most of all, don't deny her grieving son the chance to lay her to rest. Thank you."

The jury was visibly moved by Lopez's words. I'd seen two of the women and one of the men nodding repeatedly, and, although Herrington had quickly stopped it with a sharp rap of his gavel, the two men had conferred briefly once Lopez was finished.

Deshawn Draper was wearing a white rose in his lapel today, apparently a little ritual of his when giving closing arguments. "The lawyer for the defendant," he began, nodding at Maria Lopez, "made much of the Declaration of Independence. Not, you'll note, of the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights, which are the documents that actually form the basis of law in this country. Ms. Lopez could not invoke those hallowed souls the 'Founding Fathers,' or the 'Framers of the Constitution,' because those terms don't apply to the authors of the Declaration of Independence, which was written more than a decade before the Constitution.

"Indeed, it's getting on to three hundred years since the Declaration was signed, and, unlike the Constitution, of which we jurists minutely examine each and every word and nuance, we've all come to recognize that the Declaration is an artifact of its times — a litany of long-ago grievances against George III, then-king of Great Britain.

"No, we must filter the Declaration through our modern sensibilities. For instance, when we hear the words 'All men are created equal,' we believe today — even if the authors of the Declaration back in the eighteenth century did not — that all people, not just men, are created equal; women are just as much entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"More: when Jefferson signed that document, by men, he meant white men. Blacks like me were not men in his eyes; after all, he owned slaves, and therefore was directly responsible for denying them their liberty. No, it's not to the Declaration that we should look for answers; indeed, I'm sure the judge will instruct you that the Declaration of Independence has no judicial weight.

"But I do believe history has much to teach us. So, let me invoke another set of great words from our past that comment on the issue of personhood." Deshawn's voice rang out, in a credible imitation of the original. " 'I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.' "