Because people are really annoying, but we need to be able to live with each other.
We need strong inhibitions against killing each other—there are exceptions (self-defense, war), but it’s a big win if we can pretty much trust each other not to be deadly.
We’d be a lot more cautious about turning off computers if they could turn us off in response.
None of this is to deny that turning off a computer is temporary and turning off a human isn’t. Note that people are more inhibited about destroying computers (though much less so than about killing people) than they are about turning computers off.
if i believed when i turned off my computer it would need to be monitered by a specialist or it might not ever come back on again, i would be hesitant to turn it off as well
And indeed, mainframes & supercomputers are famous for never shutting down or doing so on timespans measured in decades and with intense supervision on the rare occasion that they do.
It certainly doesn’t put a halt to brain activity. You might not be aware of anything that’s going on while you’re under, or remember anything afterwards (although some people do,) but that doesn’t mean that your brain isn’t doing anything. If you put someone under general anesthetic under an electroencephalogram, you’d register plenty of activity.
We haven’t figured out how to turn it back on again. Once we do, maybe it will become morally ok to turn people off.
Because people are really annoying, but we need to be able to live with each other.
We need strong inhibitions against killing each other—there are exceptions (self-defense, war), but it’s a big win if we can pretty much trust each other not to be deadly.
We’d be a lot more cautious about turning off computers if they could turn us off in response.
None of this is to deny that turning off a computer is temporary and turning off a human isn’t. Note that people are more inhibited about destroying computers (though much less so than about killing people) than they are about turning computers off.
Doesn’t general anesthetic count? I thought that was the turning off of the brain. I was completely “out” when I had it administered to me.
if i believed when i turned off my computer it would need to be monitered by a specialist or it might not ever come back on again, i would be hesitant to turn it off as well
And indeed, mainframes & supercomputers are famous for never shutting down or doing so on timespans measured in decades and with intense supervision on the rare occasion that they do.
It certainly doesn’t put a halt to brain activity. You might not be aware of anything that’s going on while you’re under, or remember anything afterwards (although some people do,) but that doesn’t mean that your brain isn’t doing anything. If you put someone under general anesthetic under an electroencephalogram, you’d register plenty of activity.
Ah yes, didn’t think of that. Even while I’m concious my brain is doing things I’m/it’s not aware of.
Some deep hypothermia patients, however, have been successfully revived from a prolonged state of practically no brain activity whatsoever.
as is your computer when its turned off
And people don’t worry about that because it’s one people are used to the idea of coming back from, which fits the expressed theory.