idk i’m no “scientist” apparently because it’s never stumped me as unsolvable. I define life as everything that adheres to evolution, so in other words everything that has a genetic code. More or less “life” sometimes (superficially) also only refers to the metabolism that is caused by living beings, which would exclude viruses and such.
So a genetic evolutionary algorithm on a computer is alive? Many would not agree with that. You can add the qualifier that it needs to reproduce by itself but then viruses don’t qualify.
In the same sense, an uploaded human mind would not be alive and have no rights, assuming this is technically feasible. A torment nexus would then just be fine. Maybe pseudo-life must be a thing.
idk i’m no “scientist” apparently because it’s never stumped me as unsolvable. I define life as everything that adheres to evolution, so in other words everything that has a genetic code. More or less “life” sometimes (superficially) also only refers to the metabolism that is caused by living beings, which would exclude viruses and such.
So a genetic evolutionary algorithm on a computer is alive? Many would not agree with that. You can add the qualifier that it needs to reproduce by itself but then viruses don’t qualify.
In the same sense, an uploaded human mind would not be alive and have no rights, assuming this is technically feasible. A torment nexus would then just be fine. Maybe pseudo-life must be a thing.
viruses? prions? self-optimizing computer programs? societies?
scientists have identified a single-celled microbe that lacks all metabolic functions / genetics and outsources that to other bacteria. is it alive?