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In "The Stars my Destination" some humans permanently transfer their mind into a machine without any external sensation. They hope to achieve a higher level of enlightment through undisturbed meditation. Needless to say all of them go slowly insane.

I read another story once which dealt with the same theme. A scientist uploads the mind of his wife into a cube (some kind of small computer) without Input or Output. I'm pretty sure after an argument the protagonist destroys the cube after pointing out the cruelty of cutting all sensations from a human. I feel that it might have been written by Asimov but don't know for sure.

Does anybody know the name or author of this story?

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    Generally requests for lists of works are off topic. If you are looking for a specific work then we can probably help.
    – TGnat
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 15:54
  • Good to know! I will edit my post.
    – Sebastian Schmitz
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 15:55
  • @Richard why did you delete all that information? Should i post it myself as an answer?
    – Sebastian Schmitz
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 16:24
  • Because answers should be posted as answers, not edited into the original question.
    – Valorum
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 16:27
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    I'm afraid you're confused. No such plot device in "The Stars My Destination". The Skopje sect believe the senses of the world to be sinful, and have themselves surgically modified to produce the same effect, but there are no such machines as you describe.
    – WhatRoughBeast
    Commented May 17, 2014 at 15:56

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I'm pretty sure i read a story once where a computer Scientist uploads the mind of his wife into a cube. But can't remember where i read it. (Asimov maybe?)

Sounds like one of Stanislaw Lem's stories about Ijon Tichy in the The Stars Diaries (or something like that, I did read the book in Spanish).

If that is the story, in the end Ijon Tichy convinces the scientist that what he has done is just condemning his wife to an eternity of boredom, and buys the box from him (to destroy it).

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    i just saw at tvtropes, that it actually is in Memoirs of a Space Traveller, the sequel. Nice find anyway!
    – Sebastian Schmitz
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 16:13
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  • Does anybody know the name or author of this story?

Stanisław Lem - Memoirs of a Space Traveller (Sequel to The Star Diaries, thanks SJuan76)

Quote from tvTropes: In one story, Tichy meets Decantor, an inventor who constructed an immortal soul. For that purpose, he had destroyed the body of his wife and kept her consciousness in a box, without any external stimuli. Tichy realizes that this is a fate worse than death and finally convinces Decantor that people don't want immortality; they just want to live.

  • Is there maybe a trope name for this kind of theme?

According to tvTropes it is: Who wants to live forever

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