How are they not struck by the horror of inflicting amnesia?

[Isildur]

Ever since
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2665
I've been puzzled by how people like Aata, Kat, and now Jack casually talk about the idea of leaving as if it's not a terrifying horror to inflict selective amnesia on everyone who has cared for them or even known them.

How can any of them think it'd ever be worth considering, even for a moment, scooping out giant holes in other people's memories, just for their own chances to live in the world without ether?

You don't own others' memories of you. Those would be significant pieces of others' lives being stolen away. Stealing memory is one of the most horrifying assaults/thefts I can imagine.

I realize they're living under the threat of Loup, but they talk about the move in ways that don't seem to actually reflect practical fear of mortal danger or make escape from it seem the primary motivation.

For Aata (and perhaps Shell), it's about "unfairness". For Kat, it's about "freedom". (Though it's not clear how the new world is freer than GC, where she already gets to do dangerous and ethically fraught experiments with no apparent restriction or supervision. I mean... she pretty literally, recently, played God with the robots/new people.) For Jack, who knows what the motivation is, but if Mr. Chuckles is burdened with fear, he certainly doesn't sound or look like it.

[crater]

Well, the alternative is the Court straight murdering everyone who they left behind. So.... you pick your poison.

[hnau]

If you want to change the world in a drastic way, it is always others who will have to pay the price. You can't pay the price yourself because a) it is too high for one person alone, and b) you are the genius who knows the plan.

So, you have to sell your plan to the population:

• Emphasize the gain: yay, grand new world!
• Dehumanize the victims: mere animals, not fully human, mere machines.
• Sugarcoat the costs: there will be no pain, they will just forget, it is better that way.
• Hide the victims: nobody must know about Jeanne, nobody will see what happens to those left behind.
• Create and/or use crises and sow fear to distract from the horror of your plan: Loup is on the loose! Evacuate!

It's all for the greater good, anyway. We just want the best for you. Trust in your authorities. It is perfectly safe, nobody will be harmed.

Last call for Star Ocean One to Utopia!

[hnau]

The inner circles will obviously know more about the plan. The condition for advancing to such a level is a compatible worldview, they are already convinced of the need to execute the plan.

Kat and Jack just see the possibilities, as advertised. They dream, but there is also a very personal price attached, so they will not go (I hope).

Looking back at my own life so far, I see a few crucial moments where things could have gone in a totally different direction, and I might have ended up with a whole different set of knowledge and beliefs. Jack might see his friends, not that much different from himself: some are going, some are not. Meeting Zimmy and Jenny literally changed his life. If things had been different, maybe...?