It’s less that digital things can’t be alive and more that to be alive you need to exist independent of technology that’s simulating your life for you. All biological organisms pass this test. Data passes this test. The Doctor and every other hologram does not.
If you want to call the human body and perception an equivalent, I’ll point out that when you cut yourself something has actually occurred to your physical body, it isn’t just your brain seeing a knife and deciding it hurt you.
But hey, you are welcome to disagree at which point holodecks become extremely unethical. This is, after all, just philosophy.
Lots of people require medical devices to live, so I’m not sure this is as big of a differentiator as youre suggesting. There are artificial hearts and lungs, while temporary, I doubt it will be that long before its a permanent replacement.
I get what you’re driving at, I’m just not sure its something that truly matters.
You’d have to define “life” in the first place though. I actually answered that for extra credit back in high school with (iirc) about 9 or 10 different types of definitions, all of which had their flaws and exceptions. “Life” is not that easy to define.
It’s less that digital things can’t be alive and more that to be alive you need to exist independent of technology that’s simulating your life for you. All biological organisms pass this test. Data passes this test. The Doctor and every other hologram does not.
If you want to call the human body and perception an equivalent, I’ll point out that when you cut yourself something has actually occurred to your physical body, it isn’t just your brain seeing a knife and deciding it hurt you.
But hey, you are welcome to disagree at which point holodecks become extremely unethical. This is, after all, just philosophy.
Lots of people require medical devices to live, so I’m not sure this is as big of a differentiator as youre suggesting. There are artificial hearts and lungs, while temporary, I doubt it will be that long before its a permanent replacement.
I get what you’re driving at, I’m just not sure its something that truly matters.
You’d have to define “life” in the first place though. I actually answered that for extra credit back in high school with (iirc) about 9 or 10 different types of definitions, all of which had their flaws and exceptions. “Life” is not that easy to define.
Note that I said independent of devices that are simulating your life for you, not just independent of devices.
Fair, though the point about defining life stands - and an ongoing point made throughout trek.