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May 7, 2023 22 mins

This audiobook features "The Orphan’s Dilemma" by Chris Burrow. Published in the August 2021 issue of After Dinner Conversation: Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine.

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STORY SUMMARY (Spoilers): Is it okay to erase memories of your past to give yourself a better chance at a happy future?  In this work of philosophical short fiction, Harold is an orphan up for adoption.  He has been selected to be adopted, which means, in order to be accepted by the family, he will need to have his memory wiped clean and implanted with the preferred memories of his new family.  This, they say, will give him a better chance of integrating with his new family and living out a successful life.  He, and other orphans, are called one by one to decide if this is a procedure, they are willing to accept so they can be adopted. Harold wonders what it will be like to no longer remember his first kiss, or his love of science fiction. These are the things, he reasons, that have allowed him to cope and grow from his difficult life. His name is called, it is time for him to decide.

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