Jfkaua From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, RR: 3 Posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 2452 times:
This is a question I have always asked myself... What exactly makes something living... Obviously you think you and I are living... Most likely you think a dog and cat are... What makes us really have our own body of thought and not just a bunch of atoms stuck together? If I have my entire body transplanted one piece at a time... At what point am I no longer myself? If we make a perfect replicate human from scratch.. Is it real? Is it really thinking? At what point does something that's just a bunch of molecules become something that can think, love and feel? Just remember there is no answer.. Just opinions...
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, RR: 47 Reply 4, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2430 times:
That's whern we'd get into serious ethical trouble - would this "Data" be a form of life? Biologically yes, if it fed on things growing around it and left behind nothing but degradable, well, "stuff". Ethically? No way to tell (yet), we don't really know if plants have a conscience, but we do consider them to be forms of life.
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Aerobalance From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 4634 posts, RR: 51 Reply 6, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2412 times:
Garnetpalmetto From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 5244 posts, RR: 55 Reply 8, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2400 times:
Well if I remember correctly from Biology 101, something's alive if it demonstrates the following characteristics:
Growth
Metabolism
Motion (either external or internal)
Reproduction
Response to stimuli
South Carolina - too small to be its own country, too big to be a mental asylum.
Jfkaua From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, RR: 3 Reply 9, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2391 times:
yea I know what catagorizes something as living.. but what about when does something actually become a thinking body? If one created a human robot.. that eats food like us... breathes like us has a pulse like us... Is it something that can feel? Would you feel bad throwing it off a building.. or was it just a machine? What I am basically getting at is do you believe that there is something that has not yet been discovered that makes something actually exsist... Because if you break it down.. all you are is a bunch of molecules that interact in different ways with hormones and other things in your body... I honestly think its a question that is impossible to answer..
DeltaGuy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2387 times:
The ability to function in some capacity...whether it be a plant doing photosynthesis, or a baby kicking in it's mother's womb....both those have the ability to die as well....you can't die if you were dead from the getgo.
I think it's rather simple really....plants don't have heartbeats/brainwaves, but you find people protecting their rights more than you have people protecting unborn children's rights.
KyleLosAngeles From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 214 posts, RR: 9 Reply 13, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2375 times:
" ... plants don't have heartbeats/brainwaves, but you find people protecting their rights more than you have people protecting unborn children's rights ... "
Ah, and there we have it. Someone took the bait, and this becomes a soapbox for unrelated conservatism.
KyleLosAngeles From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 214 posts, RR: 9 Reply 16, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2362 times:
DeltaGuy - your hijack has been hijacked.
instead of discussing what makes something "living", we are now discussing what makes something "human", thanks to you and Jfkaua.
Jfkaua From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, RR: 3 Reply 17, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2360 times:
Hey I started this thread ... no this is what I am getting at.. he stated as most people would that no they wouldn't feel bad killing a robot.. its just a machine... now what If the robot uses a human heart to pump blood... would you feel bad yet? what about if the nerves are all those just like a human.. what if it has a brain thats an exact model of a humans brain... Would you feel bad yet? At what point is something not just a bunch of matter... but its something that actually feels?
XJRamper From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2345 posts, RR: 52 Reply 18, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2355 times:
your original question was not about AI, but what makes something living. to that i say nutrients. everything needs nutrients to survive, if not...drum roll please...it dies. there are no man made parts involved. sorry robot poster.
At what point is something not just a bunch of matter
everything is matter, to our human brains do we assign value.
Jfkaua From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, RR: 3 Reply 19, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2354 times:
ok maybe I worded the initial question wrong... when does something have a soul... when would you feel bad killing something... what gives it its soul, and not just a body of matter that does a bunch of computations..
this quote kind of shows what I am talking about..
------
There’s little doubt that by the year 2035, you’ll be able to buy the compute power of a human brain for the price of a lunch. That’s right: a chip with the processing power of that gray CPU in your skull will cost no more than a single bill out of the ATM machine.
Now admittedly, there are some who believe that, despite such capability, machines will never be capable of human-style intelligence. But that suggests that there is some sort of unfathomable miracle going on between our ears.
-------
XJRamper From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2345 posts, RR: 52 Reply 20, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2348 times:
But that suggests that there is some sort of unfathomable miracle going on between our ears.
Jfkaua From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, RR: 3 Reply 21, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2347 times:
oh screw this I give up lol.. i think i'll have better luck posting this at deepphilosophers.com or something
Isn't there anyone out there that understand what I am saying??? Your brain does computations and so does my computer... But for some reason i feel bad throwing you off a building but i couldn't give a sh*t about my computer.. What is it inside us that makes us able to decipher things that even the most powerful computers and best programmers cannot, even though computers can handle so much more raw information then us.
XJRamper From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2345 posts, RR: 52 Reply 22, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2341 times:
We are only as smart as the computers we build...when they start thinking for themselves we are screwed.
Jfkaua From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, RR: 3 Reply 23, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2340 times:
well obiously a computer can see if you add a camera lense... hear with a microphone and i'm sure you could make a computer that has all the senses a human does.. but no matter what you do.. it just won't have the same "common sense" if you will, that a human does..
XJRamper From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2345 posts, RR: 52 Reply 24, posted (8 years 5 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2338 times:
Well then I am safe, I do not have a mic nor do I have a webcam.
And have you seen I, Robot...If you have then the computer will have the three laws.
XJR
Look ma' no hands!
25 Jfkaua: uh oh.. i got a mic /webcam.. I see the 3 laws are # A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. #
26 BNE: What Makes Something Living? WHEN ITS NOT DEAD
27 Diamond: Jfkaua, Hey, don't get frustrated if your point is being missed. You are asking your own question on several different levels. If you type "define:ali
28 Aloges: Jfkaua, I think you'll never get a definite answer to that question, when ethics are concerned. Why? Because there is no definite answer. As for me, I
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 1000 posts, 
From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, 
From Denmark, joined Dec 2003, 1691 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
