If an AI can be said to be alive, is it still alive when the execution of the code is temporarily suspended? If it is a scale, is one whose code has been slowed to one clock cycle per year less alive?
Are cryonically suspended people alive? Are people in a coma alive?
Precisely. We could just taboo the word “life” and ask direct questions such as “what legal rights does it make sense for society to afford cryonically suspended people”, but that misses the point that the rest of society needs to be interfaced with, and they are not going to taboo “life”. If you’re trying to make the case in the public area that a cryonically suspended person deserves legal right RRR, which was previously available only to ‘living’ people, then you are going to get asked questions such as “well, what should ‘life’ mean?”, and it will be helpful to have a pre-prepared answer ready to hand.
Are cryonically suspended people alive? Are people in a coma alive?
Precisely. We could just taboo the word “life” and ask direct questions such as “what legal rights does it make sense for society to afford cryonically suspended people”, but that misses the point that the rest of society needs to be interfaced with, and they are not going to taboo “life”. If you’re trying to make the case in the public area that a cryonically suspended person deserves legal right RRR, which was previously available only to ‘living’ people, then you are going to get asked questions such as “well, what should ‘life’ mean?”, and it will be helpful to have a pre-prepared answer ready to hand.