"OK, so you can't create a human body," Jeff said. "Can you use an existing body?"
"What do you mean?" Anya asked.
"Could you transfer yourself to my body?"
She had to think. "Maybe. But I'm not 100% sure what that would do to you."
"Can you split me into two people? Like, clone me?"
"I'm not sure," she said, "but how would that help?"
"Well, then you could have one of my bodies," Jeff said.
"Hmmm. I'm still worried about what it might do to you if I transfered," Anya said. "What if I wound up in both bodies? If I split you, I don't know whether my code would recognize you as two distinct individuals."
"Unless you have a better idea, let's try it," Jeff said.
"I appreciate your volunteering," she answered, "but it seems too dangerous. If you'd asked me last week, I would have jumped at the prospect of transferring a copy of myself to your body, taking it over. Now? The very idea gives me the willies. This experience has given me new appreciation for the concept of 'self', having lost the physical part of mine."
"You could digitize me first, as a backup, in case something like that goes wrong."
"That still seems too dangerous," she said. "Let's keep that in mind only as a last resort."