Seeking help: problematic concept.

[Misanthrophile]

I have the inkling idea for a short story plot. I doubt it's all that original - in fact it isn't if I think about it long enough.

But I want to extend the idea to a wider think tank because in this plot, I found a very aching problem with the central causality of its design.

Synopsis:

A man with a consciousness transferring machine malfunctions. Inadvertently placing his mind into that of an inanimate garden gnome.

The gnome is completely static. As unmoving and stuck as the day it was placed into the garden.

The gnome bears witness to a family. The gnome sees their lives play out, all the while becoming more aware of its terrifying situation. Being trapped in a lawn ornament...

Problem:

The transfer of consciousness from a living, animated human being - into an inanimate object is impossible to my mind. Without the supporting biological sub-structure that gives us our awareness, this dynamic falls apart for me scientifically.

I'm at a crossroads trying to have this idea make plausible sense, or abandoning it for something more tangibly realistic.

Any thoughts are welcome!

 

[Swank]

You have several options:

1. Make the story fantasy rather than SF. The curse of the gnome.

2. Make the gnome a hidden camera/microphone security device. The MC isn't "in" the gnome, but in the security system computer. However, the gnome's eyes and ears are the only ones he has access to. MC is not a programmer, but figures out how to expand his access to that system. Without a direct means to communicate, he can only turn on lights, call security, set off proximity alarms, etc.

3. It isn't a gnome but some person or animal (or collection of animals - like the members of a bee hive) that can't interact with people. Or he is not able to interact through the person directly. Bees in particular might be really interesting because they see across a different spectrum and have a "distributed consciousness". The MC might devise a way to change the hive's behavior over time to cause the bees to warn the family by scaring them out of their home. Cats are also interesting because they are weird and don't interact with people like dogs do. Crows are interesting as well.

 

[THX1138]

This doesn't need to be plausible or make sense, it just needs to be entertaining and/or thought provoking. Sounds like you're taking a Speculative SF approach, so speculate and have fun with it.

Something like this happens in the 'Tales from the Loop' miniseries with the robots, and in the anime 'Full Meatal Alchemist' with the younger brother's 'soul' being bound into a suit of armor.

In your case, you'll also have the passing of the seasons and the weather to work with, as well as the plants in the garden and animal life that you can incorporate into the family's life as well. Giving your MC trapped in the gnome a new view of what life is?

 

[Swank]

This doesn't need to be plausible or make sense, it just needs to be entertaining and/or thought provoking. Sounds like you're taking a Speculative SF approach, so speculate and have fun with it.

Something like this happens in the 'Tales from the Loop' miniseries with the robots, and in the anime 'Full Meatal Alchemist' with the younger brother's 'soul' being bound into a suit of armor.

In your case, you'll also have the passing of the seasons and the weather to work with, as well as the plants in the garden and animal life that you can incorporate into the family's life as well. Giving your MC trapped in the gnome a new view of what life is?

But they say the following, indicating it is not some free-wheeling spec-fiction:

Without the supporting biological sub-structure that gives us our awareness, this dynamic falls apart for me scientifically.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I'm not sure how a static garden gnome gets to see a family's life play out. And if the story is being told through the perspective of a static gnome, isn't it going to be dificult to write a whole story?


Wouldn't it be easier to have his conciousness transferred into their pet cat or dog?

 

[THX1138]

Without the supporting biological sub-structure that gives us our awareness, this dynamic falls apart for me scientifically.

If you take this approach in a scientific way, I don't think you will have a story. The MC is in a state of darkness. The end.

Even if the MC was put into a security camera, the camera does not see the image, it converts it into an electronic signal, a computer prosses the data and this data is displayed on a monitor. The MC is still in darkness. The end.

It's better to take a Speculative approach and have fun with it. Otherwise, you are in isolated darkness. A form of hell.

That's what makes stories like 'Tales from the Loop' and 'Full Metal Alchemist' work, the speculative nature of it.

Or like what @paranoid marvin just said. The 'Freaky Friday' approach, but with a twist.

 

[msstice]

I only quibble with the science if I'm bored by the story. That said, I like that you want to have some constraints for your story. But I quite like the idea of a trapped consciousness and I'd read your story regardless of it being a Gnome.

The idea of being locked in is quite scary and has been dealt with often. It can be poignant human (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Wikipedia which is real) to horror (The Skeleton Key - Wikipedia) to cerebral, as mentioned in passing in Neuromancer (the character who's had their consciousness uploaded and is turned on and off by others and who asks to be destroyed).

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

I have the inkling idea for a short story plot. I doubt it's all that original - in fact it isn't if I think about it long enough.

But I want to extend the idea to a wider think tank because in this plot, I found a very aching problem with the central causality of its design.

Synopsis:

A man with a consciousness transferring machine malfunctions. Inadvertently placing his mind into that of an inanimate garden gnome.

The gnome is completely static. As unmoving and stuck as the day it was placed into the garden.

The gnome bears witness to a family. The gnome sees their lives play out, all the while becoming more aware of its terrifying situation. Being trapped in a lawn ornament...

Problem:

The transfer of consciousness from a living, animated human being - into an inanimate object is impossible to my mind. Without the supporting biological sub-structure that gives us our awareness, this dynamic falls apart for me scientifically.

I'm at a crossroads trying to have this idea make plausible sense, or abandoning it for something more tangibly realistic.

Any thoughts are welcome!

Why do the conscious transfer thing at all????
Just tell the story from the point of view of the Garden Gnome.

That is fresh and original. Who is the Garden Gnome's audience??? The fairies that visit? The snails? The Garden Gnome family? Or perhaps, like so many "family movies" let the Garden Gnome narrate to the human readers. Letting the Garden Gnome tell the story offers a broader opportunity for any type of perspective and judgement and unlimited original garden gnome jokes and invented inside references.




If you must have a psychic transfer -- here are some notes I wrote while I realized that the story would be much more intriguing from the point of view of the garden gnome.

The problem the the transfer is misstated. The Chucky movie did it just fine.

Who or what was his intended target? His dog? His own child? A prisoner? The tree next the garden gnome? Perhaps he was reanimating the fresh corpse of the person he'd just murdered...

And how did this transfer get mixed up in a way that nobody else knew about it and tried to fix it?

And so, this is the family that bought the house at the Estate Auction? Everything went except the garden gnome?


Absolutely don't try to make this scientific.
Did beauty and the beast use technology to turn a castle of people to turn a castle of people into conscious inanimate objects? -- Witchcraft!!!

What about the Steve Martin / Lilly Tomlin Comedy "All of Me?" of course she didn't go full inanimate in that one. Or did she??? If I remember correctly there was a brass bowl or something that was used as a transfer medium... -- Voluntary psychic transfer with a lot of OOOOHHHHMMMSSS if I remember correctly-- her intended recipient was her favorite horse.

I'd go the hippy psychic route for a modern story. Or Chucky. Or simply go Necronomicon mispronunciation. This works in just about any situation.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You have to decide if this is to be science fiction or fantasy. Could a machine be built that is able to transfer a person's conciousness from one body to another? It's possible, and has been discussed and written about many times.

But could a thing made of plastic/stone be able to see through painted-on eyes, or hear through painted ears? No, that is pure fantasy like Toy Story.


You also have the danger of writing yourself into a corner. How much can a static garden gnome see and hear of the world? How can it witness a family's ongoing drama from a fixed standpoint in the garden? That's a little tougher to explain. TAnd why should he care about another family's marital issues anyway?

Perhaps he has been working from home, experimenting transferring his conciousness into other living things around his house; family pets for example. The transferring machine has been set on an automatic timer to transfer him back unto his own body - and each time upto now it has. Then he tries transferring his conciousness into an unliving thing. It works, but for some reason he doesn't transfer back into his own mind.

Then it is his own family's drama he witnesses. And the drama is about them losing gheir husband/father and how they feel about getting him back.

You could have him transferring his conciousness intobthe family cat or dog and trying to findcways of communicating. Or perhaps ge's transferred it into the high-tech security system on his house; this way he has eyes and ears all around his home.

 

[msstice]

Every day on this forum I am reminded of the absolutely wonderful fact that given the exact same premise, even the exact same plot, each one of us will come up with a different and unique and wonderful story!

 

[Misanthrophile]

You have to decide if this is to be science fiction or fantasy. Could a machine be built that is able to transfer a person's conciousness from one body to another? It's possible, and has been discussed and written about many times.

But could a thing made of plastic/stone be able to see through painted-on eyes, or hear through painted ears? No, that is pure fantasy like Toy Story.


You also have the danger of writing yourself into a corner. How much can a static garden gnome see and hear of the world? How can it witness a family's ongoing drama from a fixed standpoint in the garden? That's a little tougher to explain. TAnd why should he care about another family's marital issues anyway?

Perhaps he has been working from home, experimenting transferring his conciousness into other living things around his house; family pets for example. The transferring machine has been set on an automatic timer to transfer him back unto his own body - and each time upto now it has. Then he tries transferring his conciousness into an unliving thing. It works, but for some reason he doesn't transfer back into his own mind.

Then it is his own family's drama he witnesses. And the drama is about them losing gheir husband/father and how they feel about getting him back.

You could have him transferring his conciousness intobthe family cat or dog and trying to findcways of communicating. Or perhaps ge's transferred it into the high-tech security system on his house; this way he has eyes and ears all around his home.

I had the notion of this hypothetical consciousness transfer to be rooted in the perspective of the inhabited Gnome, purely from its spot in the garden. Children playing. The family dog urinating on the MC. The passage of time without being able to move or sense anything beyond what tiny FOV the ornament has. The inhumane boredom that would effuse. I even wanted the thing to witness the husband's infidelity to his wife - by having he, and his mistress go at it in plain view of this trapped, unresponsive cognition.

Because it was a short story idea; I wanted it to be almost a fusion of science fiction and psychological horror. With maybe a biting undertone about human drama interspersed with the philosophy of retroactive consciousness having reduced sensation al a Dalton Trumbo's - Johnny Got His Gun.

I suppose I like my speculative SF to have some plausible grounding to elicit a sense of coherency and consistency in my readers.

But everyone here has made fantastic observations and extremely well delivered points for me to consider.

I also realise I should take the time for introspection on other stories I'm writing and examine their credibility for realism. Which as we all know only supplements the story. Rather than being the exclusive objective.


If I wanted to do that, I'd write non-fiction manuals or something...

 

[Misanthrophile]

I'm not sure how a static garden gnome gets to see a family's life play out. And if the story is being told through the perspective of a static gnome, isn't it going to be dificult to write a whole story?


Wouldn't it be easier to have his conciousness transferred into their pet cat or dog?

I planned to invoke the agony of the MC being unable to perceive anything beyond the isolation and FOV of the Gnome.

I was vague with my explanation about viewing the family's lives - EXCLUSIVELY from the Gnome's unmoving spot in the garden. The passage of time was to elicit the character having a worsening internal struggle with their state. In contrast to the physical and stimulated freedom the family would possess...

Think - the type of psychological impact an oubliette would have on the condemned. Only, the consciousness you have of yourself is never granted the relief of eventual death, and your life is entirely limited to a monopic extreme of perspective.

 

[THX1138]

Or the accidental back swing of a shovel?

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

I planned to invoke the agony of the MC being unable to perceive anything beyond the isolation and FOV of the Gnome.

I was vague with my explanation about viewing the family's lives - EXCLUSIVELY from the Gnome's unmoving spot in the garden. The passage of time was to elicit the character having a worsening internal struggle with their state.

Think - the type of psychological impact an oubliette would have on the condemned. Only, the consciousness you have of yourself is never granted the relief of eventual death, and your life is entirely limited to a monopic extreme of perspective.

I just had a flashback to Slaughterhouse Five when the aliens attempt to describe human understanding of time to one another.

 

[Misanthrophile]

To all of you in this thread who offered their opinions and ideas. Thank you!

This has been helpful feedback.

Much appreciated.

 

[THX1138]

Good luck on it!

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

Or the accidental back swing of a shovel?

OR Accidentally fell backwards off of a swing.

 

[Misanthrophile]

A reductive study of the concept as I may have written it:

I have in my lab a device connected in three phases of mutual transfer. Two beds, and a partially synthetic human brain to act as a buffer. I call it Eve.

In one of these beds, I will lay myself, anaesthetised. In the other bed will be Adam. An entirely reconstructed genetic copy of myself that is without true conscious awareness.

His brainwaves indicate only those impulses responsible for respiration, and the direct functioning of his organs. He is essentially as anaesthetised - as I will be.

Eve has control of the procedure to bounce my mind out of my body, hold it in her temporary environment for analysis - then I'm shunted into Adam's body. I've seen the result of this on lower life forms - it looks painful. Because it is.

I'm in the bed now. Eve has started the countdown. The anaesthetic will be introduced intravenously. I am long unconscious before I have my first out-of-body experience.

It's an amazing place this holdover of Eve's. A prestine and sterile dimension able to digitally render my awareness back to me. Detached though my mind is from my body, I am allowed to briefly communicate with Eve while she compiles the very essence of what I am - WHO I am - into a movable state between our respective bodies.

I expect to wake up as myself, in Adam's body, regain consciousness to confirm the experiment is successful - then reverse the procedure.

Eve and I are still awaiting the final calculations from subroutines I programmed her to follow. It's cold in here. And extremely blank. I have no sense of the passage of time in this place. I have no sensation at all. This was intentional. I made this environment to be a three dimensional void. A conspicuous white endlessness, like a page unwritten on - to comfort the perception as it halts before it wakes. As though dreaming, but also with cognitive awareness. This I recognise to be normal.

There is a small push against me, and then a loud tone that passes quickly. But it isn't like the shove one receives from another person, nor is the tone heard with the ears -

I...

A garden...? Who...? WHAT?! Where am I?! Why can't I move?!?

- The rest of the tale would follow on from here. The protagonist attempting to reason the machine's failing. The immediate horror and realisation. Their having to sustain a long; and mindfully traumatic review of their plight - amidst passages about the very static view of the world and those few in it they're able to perceive.

- The malfunction I decided was the fault of Eve having erroneously scanned the physical contours of the wrong object to project the Protag's consciousness to - defaulting to the nearest approximation of the human form she could extrapolate from her limited database - A garden gnome, in the yard of a neighbour to the Protag's lab...

 

[KGeo777]

The way you have it--it almost serves for a kind of Saki or Twilight Zone surprise--if the identity of what he was transferred into was kept to the end.

"Full circle. I have become the very object of petty commercialism and trite social custom that I had despised in my original body.

I am gnome."

 

[Astro Pen]

A thought. James Blish Midsummer Century is based on a similar idea to yours except that the entity that the protagonist's mind is transferred to, and trapped in, is sentient. He is however trapped and has to deal with that perspective and the comings and goings around him. (no spoiler) It is fairly short, almost a novella so it won't take forever to read.