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Does consciousness = humanity ?

Cisero

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I've been playing this horror game called "S.O.M.A" & besides wetting myself (twice) I've been faced with a moral dilemma.
In this game, people's consciousness are scanned & preserved. Their consciousness is then reuploaded into a machine...

These machines are conscious.
They think, feel & act like humans.
They have memories of their human form.

But are they humans ?

Nothing has changed except the body... who is not human anymore but machine.

In my game I had to destroy one of these conscious machines...It made me feel kinda bad. Was it murder ?

Why ? Why not ?
 

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I dont know. I'm inclined to tie my definition of a human being as anything that would be protected under the constitution if it was a US citizen residing in the US. That makes things easier.
 
I dont know. I'm inclined to tie my definition of a human being as anything that would be protected under the constitution if it was a US citizen residing in the US. That makes things easier.

How would you feel killing/destroying one of these machines ?
 
This dilemma is great for fiction from Data in Star Trek (or Pinocchio) to the clones in...the Island?
In the real world it can be simplified or complicated depending on your beliefs.

• If you take a strictly scientific approach it is slightly simpler, copy the biology, you copy the person. The person is still the person. If you believe in this as a simple science approach then creating someone with the same biology is creating a person.
• If you add spirituality to the mix then you end up with several other questions:
◘ Is the soul tethered to the original body?
◘ Can the soul exist in a surrogate?
◘ Where is the soul housed? Since we can have hand transplants...you still have a soul without your original hand...heart transplants...you still have a soul without your original heart...legs, kidneys, bones...is it logical that the brain is the vessel of the soul? Why the brain? This then leads to the other obvious question. How much of a cyborg can a person become before their "soul is destroyed"?
◘ If you create new "life" does it have a soul or is it auto-exempt from possessing a soul?

"If you diamond tip drill me do I not emit oily fluid?"
 
I've been playing this horror game called "S.O.M.A" & besides wetting myself (twice) I've been faced with a moral dilemma.
In this game, people's consciousness are scanned & preserved. Their consciousness is then reuploaded into a machine...

These machines are conscious.
They think, feel & act like humans.
They have memories of their human form.

But are they humans ?

Nothing has changed except the body... who is not human anymore but machine.

In my game I had to destroy one of these conscious machines...It made me feel kinda bad. Was it murder ?

Why ? Why not ?
I say no because a human cannot be a machine. But, the line is getting blurred. I agree.
 
This dilemma is great for fiction from Data in Star Trek (or Pinocchio) to the clones in...the Island?
In the real world it can be simplified or complicated depending on your beliefs.

• If you take a strictly scientific approach it is slightly simpler, copy the biology, you copy the person. The person is still the person. If you believe in this as a simple science approach then creating someone with the same biology is creating a person.
• If you add spirituality to the mix then you end up with several other questions:
◘ Is the soul tethered to the original body?
◘ Can the soul exist in a surrogate?
◘ Where is the soul housed? Since we can have hand transplants...you still have a soul without your original hand...heart transplants...you still have a soul without your original heart...legs, kidneys, bones...is it logical that the brain is the vessel of the soul? Why the brain? This then leads to the other obvious question. How much of a cyborg can a person become before their "soul is destroyed"?
◘ If you create new "life" does it have a soul or is it auto-exempt from possessing a soul?

"If you diamond tip drill me do I not emit oily fluid?"

Technically you aren't copying the biology. All you do is scan the brain data. The brain is recreated electronicaly so that the machine keeps it's memories, feelings, character. The rest of the body is discarded.
I don't believe in a "soul"... But ending someone's consciousness, I don't know. Even if it's a machine it means you are taking away it's ability to feal, think, love, dream...

I would argue it is morally wrong to destroy a conscious machine.
 
Technically you aren't copying the biology. All you do is scan the brain data. The brain is recreated electronicaly so that the machine keeps it's memories, feelings, character. The rest of the body is discarded.
I don't believe in a "soul"... But ending someone's consciousness, I don't know. Even if it's a machine it means you are taking away it's ability to feal, think, love, dream...

I would argue it is morally wrong to destroy a conscious machine.

I was entertaining a bigger scope, everything from cloning to robotics.
What you describe is a lot like a thread I talk about in the science arena about the 2045 Initiative...or Avatar Project.
 
I believe consciousness does equal humanity, yes.

My dog is pretty damned conscious. You should have seen him react to the cold when it was time to go for his morning walk. He sniffed the door, caught a whiff of that 0-Degree air, and turned right back around to go crawl into bed with the wife.
 
My dog is pretty damned conscious. You should have seen him react to the cold when it was time to go for his morning walk. He sniffed the door, caught a whiff of that 0-Degree air, and turned right back around to go crawl into bed with the wife.

Yes but "human" consciousness. If you switch bodies with your dog but keep all your thoughts, are you still human ?
 
Yes but "human" consciousness. If you switch bodies with your dog but keep all your thoughts, are you still human ?

whoa...Dude. Can I get a hit?
 
I think you've...picked the wrong words to frame your question. A lot of this is similar to discussions on the mind/body issue. Is the mind separate from the body? Or is mind simply a manifestation of the physical brain? But to get more onto the topic at hand, if a mind were in fact separable from its host body, is the mind enough to qualify as human? Putting it in a mobile machine or a stationary computer, or just uploading via broadband would be irrelevant. If the mind is intact and functions as it did prior to separation from its original body, does it qualify as human?

Duty calls, I'll think on it and come back in a bit.
 
My dog is pretty damned conscious. You should have seen him react to the cold when it was time to go for his morning walk. He sniffed the door, caught a whiff of that 0-Degree air, and turned right back around to go crawl into bed with the wife.

Smart dog!
 
Consciousness does equal humanity, but it is due not to the brain. It is instead due to the soul. Is is theoretically possible to create a machine that can house a human soul? Perhaps, theoretically. It's way beyond current technology, however. If you then destroy the machine, then the immortal soul is once again freed. The human being is not killed.

What would it be like to be a machine, perhaps one capable of supersonic flight, even space flight? Would it be like having super powers? Perhaps one day we'll know, but that day is far off yet.
 
I've been playing this horror game called "S.O.M.A" & besides wetting myself (twice) I've been faced with a moral dilemma.
In this game, people's consciousness are scanned & preserved. Their consciousness is then reuploaded into a machine...

These machines are conscious.
They think, feel & act like humans.
They have memories of their human form.

But are they humans ?

Nothing has changed except the body... who is not human anymore but machine.

In my game I had to destroy one of these conscious machines...It made me feel kinda bad. Was it murder ?

Why ? Why not ?

I don't find speculating about "what would be the right thing to do if nonsense were true" to be fruitful.
 
Consciousness does equal humanity, but it is due not to the brain. It is instead due to the soul. Is is theoretically possible to create a machine that can house a human soul? Perhaps, theoretically. It's way beyond current technology, however. If you then destroy the machine, then the immortal soul is once again freed. The human being is not killed.

What would it be like to be a machine, perhaps one capable of supersonic flight, even space flight? Would it be like having super powers? Perhaps one day we'll know, but that day is far off yet.

What do you mean when you say 'soul'?? Does the soul even exist in a way that can be tested, examined, or is a metaphysical concept?
 
What do you mean when you say 'soul'?? Does the soul even exist in a way that can be tested, examined, or is a metaphysical concept?

You exist, don't you? You're a soul, currently in possession of a body. One day, the body will die and the soul will once again be immaterial.
 
Technically you aren't copying the biology. All you do is scan the brain data. The brain is recreated electronicaly so that the machine keeps it's memories, feelings, character. The rest of the body is discarded.
I don't believe in a "soul"... But ending someone's consciousness, I don't know. Even if it's a machine it means you are taking away it's ability to feal, think, love, dream...

I would argue it is morally wrong to destroy a conscious machine.

You are getting caught up in this conundrum because it is fiction. Brains can't be "scanned" and the information is not coded in a way that computers can emulate. We would have more luck finding a "soul" than transferring consciousness to a computer.
 
You exist, don't you? You're a soul, currently in possession of a body. One day, the body will die and the soul will once again be immaterial.

How does that show there is a soul? Maybe if you can define it. What do you mean when you say 'Soul'?
 
I dont know. I'm inclined to tie my definition of a human being as anything that would be protected under the constitution if it was a US citizen residing in the US. That makes things easier.

Unamericans can go?
 
I've been playing this horror game called "S.O.M.A" & besides wetting myself (twice) I've been faced with a moral dilemma.
In this game, people's consciousness are scanned & preserved. Their consciousness is then reuploaded into a machine...

These machines are conscious.
They think, feel & act like humans.
They have memories of their human form.

But are they humans ?

Nothing has changed except the body... who is not human anymore but machine.

In my game I had to destroy one of these conscious machines...It made me feel kinda bad. Was it murder ?

Why ? Why not ?

They are a kind of cyborg I guess. Human mind and a body of titanium.
 
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