Board at work so here goes: If you could give up your physical body and migrate to an indefinitely sustainable electronic existence would you?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Could the sustainable electronic existence be mobile?
Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :
Tired of a wooden existence? Ready for a life with a little more spark? Try the TRON experience now! Speedbike and Glowing Frisbees included.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
No, I don't think so.
Happiness is too chemical for me to give up. I doubt anyone could make a machine that could genuinly reproduce feelings, not emulate them.
Plus, I would hate having to sit around watching all the new-guys getting their processors with 2, 3 or 4 times the speed as mine. It's stressful enough keeping up with the state of the art with my home computer.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
Wow!!!
By chemical I mean hormonal, not drugs. I need to read my posts before clicking the ADD REPLY button.
[ February 23, 2005, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: scottneb ]
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
FarmGirl, mobility would be inconsequential because i was thinking of some global-network-bassed electronic existence.
Scott, That's a good point, but what if you could feel happy?
Would we still be human?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
So, I would live forever but have no emotions to really give a rat's ass about anything, to find pleasure in living? I think not.
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
Will there be anyway to prevent any of these entities from becoming Skynet? Or at least keep said "people" from using my unused cpu cycles?
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Nerdiest reference in a thread title ever.
It's so sad that I got it... :/
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
But think of what we could become. Think of what Newton could have taught Einstein.
DevAd.... Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
Imagine Kin Jong II online.
Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :
I imagine he'd be a lot like Steve.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Gosh - there are so many variables.....
I mean -- are you talking about just a transfer of consciousness? Or would we have all the same features of our current brain? Would we be able to feel pain?
You said to Scott that perhaps we could still feel emotions -- so that would mean good and bad, right? Pain and joy....
We could be "anywhere" in our global-based network, yet not be able to reach out and physically "touch" another...
.... I dunno....
Farmgirl
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
There are a lot more underlying issues to a community like that.
In our day in age we have literally hundreds of millions of viruses, I don't think we're ready to stop producing them. What if someone was erased or "killed" because of a virus? What then? do we prosecute the person that created the virus for murder? Would it actually be murder? What if the person that created it was a machine themself? How would you punish him? Would you unplug him from the network and let him sit as a stand-alone? The old con v. pro arguement is left leaning way too far to the con.
[ February 23, 2005, 03:25 PM: Message edited by: scottneb ]
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
What happens if another major power outage occurs? Will they die? Will these people be backed up? What happens if I make a copy of myself? Will my copy have the same rights as me? After all he'd be a 100% digital copy.
[ February 23, 2005, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: urbanX ]
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
In effect, he wouldn't be you. He be a clone!!!
Another question, what if you didn't like it? could you do a reversal and get another body?
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
Well the difference between a normal fresh clone and a digital one is this thing would have all of my memories. How would I prove I'm the real urbanX? Would I use Microsoft's DRM?
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
Would it be ok to delete my clone, or would that be considered murder?
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
Datacyde?
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
Or perhaps a migration is required for consciousness. The copies might not even be sentient.
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
Has anyone read the Hechee Books (The books after gateway anyways)?
It discusses nearly all these issues and resolves them fairly well (including storage, transfer, and what to do with the digital doppels when the meat version still exists).
I'll have to participate more in this when I'm not at work.
Feyd "Ein" Baron, DoC Woof
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
Remember guys, this is a hypothetical scenario, no one has these answers. I posed the original question to see what we think being human means.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
Being human, in part, means being able to control anything that isn't human. Once a human tries to control another human, that person is expelled from any reasonable definition of humanity.
So, if digital people are considered not-quite-human we run into controlling them and rewriting them to serve the bone-bag humans.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
quote: The copies might not even be sentient.
Being sentient, by definition, means being capable of feeling. So, if it's the machine that makes you feel, anyone/ anything can be sentient. Including "clones."
[ February 23, 2005, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: scottneb ]
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
being sentient means far more than just having feelings.
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
How about a sense of self? I think therefore I am. I believe when machines gains the ability to operate out of self interest it will be considered sentient.
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
Depends on whether the electronic existence would let one feel happy, and if I would be happier there or in my biological form.
Posted by IdemosthenesI (Member # 862) on :
This reminds me of one of OSC's Thousand Ideas in an hour sessions. I think I would migrate to the digisphere if I were terminally and chronically ill, so would be dying soon anyway. A big argument against it, however, is the aesthetic argument. There are a lot of sensations I would really miss. I wouldn't be able to feel a breeze, sit in the grass, or walk through a tree-filled neighborhood at dusk. Non-language based communication, like sitting wordless with a loved one, would not be possible. Instead, I would be limited to experiencing nothing but the digital world of information and language.
Of course, that's pretty much what I do now, so...
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
quote:Has anyone read the Hechee Books
Frederick Pohl even has his digitized people having virtual sex in there. But being digitized is probably a lot like Pohl's concept of space travel...nothing to do in there but have virtual sex and solve math problems.
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
Are there digital std's and can you have digital babies?
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