philosophy DB

“With apologies to Rod Serling and ‘The Twilight Zone’”  You are a NASA astronaut and unmarried.  You and another astronaut of the same gender, also single, have accepted an assignment to travel to a distant star, a journey that will take several decades.  NASA has taken all aspects of human life into consideration for this project and so they have taken the initiative to “match make” you and your partner with compatible spouses (using their version of E-harmony).  Both you and your astronaut partner do indeed fall powerfully in love with the matches provided you, and prior to take-off, there is a double wedding ceremony.  Both couples are blissfully launched into space, and all goes well for several years until an equipment malfunction causes a piece of metal to shear through the forearm of your astronaut partner’s spouse.  What is revealed by the open wound is not flesh and blood but intricate electronics.  You have discovered that your partner’s spouse is a robot.  Immediately you suspect that your mate might also be a robot.  When you confront your spouse, an explanation is given that a robot was substituted for the real mate of your astronaut partner at the last minute because the real mate panicked and refused to make the flight.  Your mate tries to convince you that he/she is not robotic, but genuinely human.  You have only one way to determine the truth of your spouse’s claim: perform a simple operation.   Question:  Do you perform the operation and determine whether your mate is a human or a robot?  Note that such an operation will demonstrate a lack of trust in your spouse that might not be regained.  Or do you accept the explanation of your spouse and live with the possible doubt about the humanity of your mate.  Think about what the choice means in terms of your experience of “love.”   Explain your choice.   What does this dilemma reveal about the significance of the metaphysical question about reality?