I've been watching a lot of Rick and Morty lately, since I've been doing a lot of looking after my parents' aging pooch (which mostly sleeps) while they go out and have fun. Although it's supposed to be light-hearted Science fiction not meant to be taken seriously, it does raise a few important questions about one's view of oneself, particularly in parallel universes that offer infinite possible different versions of Rick and Morty (as shallow representations of aspects of ourselves, the viewers).

The latest episode I've watched features a "detoxification" spa, where the chamber technology rids the participants of everything they consider bad/toxic about themselves. This got me thinking about the philosophical question raised: If the technology to get rid of everything you consider bad about yourself existed, would you use it, even if it was expensive? (This reminds me of the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is about excising bad memories, which the brain already does to some extent, and how that can retard/thwart the accompanying growth.)

I think I'd answer "yes", although I'm not sure I'd be left with much that I consider good about me. (When asked to consider that aspect of myself, I usually answer something along the lines of "If there is anything, I'll be the last to know", and I tend to not take compliments well).

Of course, no such device exists and the best we can hope for is extensive psychiatric therapy (which hasn't worked in my case, since I refuse to excise the monster within, no matter how much it eats at me; I'm not sure there will be much left if/when it goes).

I could also skirt around the issue by claiming (as Rick does, unsurprisingly) that "good" and "bad" are merely constructs born of the intellectually primitive (although we all know Rick doesn't like himself at all, no matter which version of him exists, and steadfastly refuses to do any introspection).