Robot Alternate Personalities (Robot Alters) and Animal Alternate Personalities (Animal Alters)

In my post of May 16, 2014, I quoted a list of common types of alternate personalities, but that list was not complete and comprehensive, since the possible kinds of alternate personalities are only limited by the human imagination.

In particular, I want to mention robot alternate personalities and animal alternate personalities, because “robot alters” (1) are relevant to yesterday’s post on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “The Sandman,” and “animal alters” (1) may be relevant to future posts.

You recall that, in “The Sandman,” the characters Olympia, certainly, and Nathaniel, very probably, were revealed to be automatons; that is, robots. And you may have wondered why I included automatons or robots in my accounting of characters who counted as alternate personalities.

So I want to make it clear that some people with multiple personality have been known to have robot alters (and, for future reference, animal alters).

1. Kluft RP, Fine CG: Clinical Perspectives on Multiple Personality Disorder. Washington DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1993, p. 69.