Bioethics. The memory of the U/S

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Bioethics. The memory of the U/S

The obstetric ultrasonography printout is the only way to see yourself at a time when, in fact, you had not existed. Contrary to scholasticism, a fetus is a person's potentiality, not its actuality. We think we are immortal because we can’t imagine the world without ourselves, were not present at our origin, just as we won't see our death. We are certainly mortal in the eyes of those who would see us dead. But there is no evidence of our origin, because we come to this world as almost formed actualized person.

Therefore, so unique is the obstetric sonogram printout. It shows the distinction between absolute and potential oblivion, thereby denying the pre-existence. We prove to ourselves that we exist, looking at our photos and selfies. Ultrasound print is the first proof of our non-existence.

            To see yourself as a fetus means to pass through deindividualization, release of all mnemonic, cultural and social contexts. It's like assembling hardware without an installed program, a sense of awakening before the awareness of self-identity. The person, the hypostasis without characteristics and contexts – is unknowable, and therefore useless, it does not exist for us.

Faking one’s photos means modifying his topology, changing his historical existence. Faking one’s sonogram – is an attempt to see his loneliness and oblivion.