„…where were answers to the truly deep questions? Religion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don’t look past this boundary, they told Galileo, then Hutton, Darwin, Von Neumann, and Crick, always retreating with great dignity before the latest scientific advance, then drawing the next holy perimeter at the shadowy rim of knowledge.” — Kiln People
Take the notion of golems — temporary clay people (not clones!) — and now imagine a near future when everybody can make them. Using a „home copier” you ditto your memories — perhaps even a genuine imprint of your soul — and off goes the duplicate to run your errands, attend your classes, or do all the drudgery work. Then, at day’s end, you download the golem’s memories — if you want them.
As a citizen of this near future, you’ve duplicated yourself a zillion times and take it for granted, sometimes being the original, sometimes the copy. You live your life in parallel, sending expensive „study golems” to the library while cheap models clean the house and your real body works out at the gym. Two thirds of the Earth’s population consists of temporaries made of clay. People seem to have even adjusted to this new way of life, until….