All I'd need is one. She'd do doppelgänger work and keep me company sentimentally as well as fulfill, ahem, physical needs.

It would be very ill advised, but SO MANY. Enough to organize them. There's a mall nearby that's slowly shutting down, it's like 99% empty now, and there are homeless encampments all outside it being hassled by cops. Instead of giving it to them, it's gonna wind up bulldozed and turned into rich people condos. I'd make enough clones to occupy it and turn it into adhoc co-op housing!

...And obviously like all the boning and other stuff one does with clones as well lol.

One clone so that I can be a stay-at-home dad without losing my income. Finally finish grad school and fix up the house. Show my kid the world when they get old enough to appreciate it. Get a second job once they start school - something to get me outside, or working with people face-to-face. That would be amazing.

8,093,000,000

Me after splitting myself into any number of copies:

None as well. The copies will have same needs, same level of lazyness. This won't benefit anyone, quite the contrary. Just more bad people.

Going dark with it: How much are organs worth on the black market?

Keeping it light: like 4 or 5 maybe, as long as there is no degradation in capabilities I think I could feasibly let 1 do my job, then the rest and myself could pursue other intellectual endeavors. I would also always have a full D&D group and be able to play the multiplayer games I have always wanted to that never had the interest of my friends.

Of it's naruto style, I would make a 100 of me, have them all find jobs for a year or two, then collapse them all back and never have to work again aince I now saved for 100+ years.

So what happens with my copy once I'm done with it?

Does it just continue to exist?

Do I need to kill it before it figures out that there can be only one, and kill me first?

This post could be phrased better...

Imagine being the copy that has to work while one does the family and one is traveling. The ethics of making a copy of myself that is for all purposes a slave would be really weird. Enslaving copies of myself, what a concept. Oh, also one needs to be kept on away for organ needs as I age or get hurt and one with a master copy in case the main "I" dies unexpectedly. yikes

A billion copies to lead a communist revolution. Any more than that would probably be unsustainable globally in the short term while the existing capitalist systems are being dismantled and replaced.

Or 3 or 4 clone friends to help out with daily life.

Both are cool. The latter is probably easier and what my copies could actually manage.

Edit: Actually, the ability to sync memories is so ridiculously overpowered that one could probably achieve pretty much anything with their copies.

It also seems like its usefulness would scale up exponentially the more copies you make, so I'll go with the first one.

Zero. I don't hate myself enough to put myself through this twice.

I would actually take a very different route as a contrast to others on this thread:

I would clone some 20-30 mes and do a speedrun together to gather enough funds to buy a farm, and live out the rest of my life in a commune dream with others like me 🥹

Eventually there’d be other people joining in and I could release more and more of the clones as we gather enough saved up and finish the mortgage and all.

So eventually we’d find something of a balance at around 2-4 clones with which we’d just arrange a rotating system of guaranteeing 3 weeks of free time each between a week of work 😌

What a bunch of useless SOBs. Can't I clone somebody better?

Two clones, else it's going to start getting crowded here I think.

One of us works full time. One of us studies full time. The third would be entertainment (go see a movie, go to events, etc.). Every week, we rotate.

Just the one, we'd both sit around doing nothing. Get him to give me a hand job, it's not gay if it's you right?

Just one. I’d get twice as much software written, and amazing blowjobs.

However….. I’d need to make sure that They have a desire to obey me. Because I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, and I’d very quickly tell “me” to go fuck myself.

You know that episode of Futurama, where Bender made near infinite copies of himself and nearly the destroyed the world?

Yeah that, but maybe a little slowly since I like to procrastinate.

Ah, Multiplicity. An underrated Michael Keaton comedy, IMO.

Two would be ideal.

Three would have greater benefits, greater complexity and problems.

None. I don't think clones could satisfy my wishes. And I wouldn't want to burden them with a life.

Just one. Cutting my work and responsibilities in half would be a significant improvement in my quality of life.

What are the limitations here? Like... can I boss the clones around, or will they need to be coaxed?

Because if I can get a clone army you bet your ass I'm getting a clone army.

I'm having an orgy with myself for sure.

I almost can't imagine a reasonable upper bound. Maybe 1000? That would certainly be enough to be able to do some serious stuff.

The ability to sync memories and have the same experiences and past would be crazy. I could align myself and all the clones to a shared goal easily. With the amount of clones, I could do basically anything.

Only problem I can see is... is there a way to know the "original"? Would I be in control of my clones? Or would I myself just be another clone? I think I'd still go for something like 1000 even if I was just another clone.