What Is A Person?: Session Notes

Discussion of Personhood in light of Clones, Cyborgs, Androids, and Cyberclones

Kurzweil: The primary political and philosophic issue of the 21st century: what is a human?
- In the 21st century a new life form of intelligence is arising that can compete with us.
- With the ability to understand and respond to abstraction and subtleties
- With values and emotions, but possibly different from our values and emotions.
- "And what about free will -- will machines of human complexity make their own decisions, or will they just follow a program, albeit a very complex one? Is there a distinction to be made here? [p. 57]"
Which of these are human?

We have to ask what distinguishes a human?

language?	whales have language
tool making?	a machine can do this
theoretical reasoning?	can whales/Neanderthals do this?
instrumented piloting?	machines can do this
consciousness?	animals are conscious [but what is consciousness?}
soul?	World Soul? [do machines have souls?]
free will?	Will machines reach this point?

What is a person?
- Science
  - mind, consciousness, soul interchangeable
  - mind, consciousness, soul emergent from matter and energy
  - just one step on the evolutionary ladder
  - Kurzweil: evolution evolved us and we in turn take over evolution with technology
- Roman Catholic [from Catechism]
  - Humans occupy a unique place in creation [§355]
    1. imago Dei
    2. human nature unites spiritual and material worlds
    3. created "male and female"
    4. friends with God
  - imago Dei: only humans of all creatures are able to know and love God with free will [§356]
  - body and soul:
    - "soul" signifies the spiritual principle of a human [§363]
    - soul is the form of body [§362]
    - only humans have souls and souls are immortal
  - male and female:
    - sexes equal [§369]
    - made for each other [§372]
    - together stewards of creation [§373]
  - friends with God: humans in Eden
    - "original justice" [§374]
    - but fallen [§388]
- Calvinism [Calvin]
  - imago Dei: given by grace and virtue of the Spirit [Part I, chapter XV]
    - separate from the rest of creation
    - soul is seat of imago Dei; our likeness to God is not physical, but spiritual
    - intellect, righteousness, holiness
  - fallen, but image of God not entirely effaced, though deeply corrupted [Part I, chapter XV]
    - soul is immortal, though a created essence
    - soul in humans only
  - after the Fall, after the choice to disobey: Original Sin passed onto creation and posterity [Part II, chapter I]
    - all people partake in Adam's sin, even babies from the womb
  - total depravity: our whole nature is a "seed-bed" of sin, and utterly devoid of goodness [Part I, chapter XV]
Imago Dei
- We are children of God in God's image
- Are we god to androids? clones? cyborgs? cyberclones?
- Are they our children: Imago Hominis?
- Are they God's grandchildren? Stepchildren?
- Are they abominations?
Society's Response
- Cyborgs
  - To the highest bidder?
  - Equal access to all?
  - A superior race of "superhumans"?
- Clones
  - To the highest bidder?
  - Equal access to all?
  - To replace a dead relative?
  - What if someone produced dozens of copies of him- /her- self?
  - What if parents wanted a "designer child", e.g., an exact copy of Gary Kasparov?
  - What if parents stop giving birth and cloned themselves instead?
  - Will cloning lead to the creation of humans solely for organ donations?
  - Will clones grow up normal or encounter some intrinsic developmental problem with their cloning?
  - Would a clone have a diminished sense of self believing its fate destined to be the same as the parent?
  - What happens when reproduction is separated from love & intimacy?
  - Would it result in eugenics? or selective breeding?
- Androids
  - Impose Azimov's Laws of Robotics?
    - [Zeroeth Law: A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.]
    - First Law: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human to come to harm [except where such inaction would conflict with the Zeroeth Law].
    - Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the [Zeroeth or] First Law.
    - Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the [Zeroeth,] First or Second Law.
  - Give them equal rights, a la Commander Data?
- cyberclones [Kurzweil; p124ff]
  - downloading a mind into a neural computer
    - modeling the information processing structure: analog, digital, quantum
    - information content
  - the newly "emergent" person
    - objectively like the originally scanned person
    - what sort of body: the original? an upgraded version? synthetic? nanoengineered? virtual?
  - Teleportation?
  - Immortality?
  - Social psychosis?
Religious Response
- Cyborg
  1. Implicit teleology
    - technological imperative given free rein
    - consumerism and medical drivers
    - elitism/bifurcation
    - eugenics among those who can afford it
  2. Integrative response: explicit teleology
    - science and religion in partnership
    - mutual teleology development to enhance
      - free will?
      - community?
      - non-violence?
      - justice?
      - liberty?
    - certain things
      - forbidden, such as eugenics (but need definition!)
      - promoted, such as equable access (but need definition!)
      - contingent, such as "netted" humans
    - develop working definition of
      - a person
      - quality of life with respect to extending life
      - "need" to manage resources
      - privacy/individual re netted humans
    - research agendas set/influenced by teleology
- Clone
  1. sexual reproduction
    1. implements diversity and variety from two gene pools
    2. note twins originate in the first order from sexual reproduction and are diverse from previous generation
  2. asexual reproduction
    1. narcissical: child = parent, except for random mutation, no implementation of diversity
    2. but allows us more capability in co-creation
  3. infusion of soul into body
    1. soul separate from body?
    2. or does it coalesce into a body for a time? so body is essentially soul -- like energy to matter: e = mc²
    3. is this infusion then operative with clones?
    4. is a soul intrinsic to life?
  4. distinct souls
    1. souls of twins distinct?
    2. if so, then soul of clone distinct from parent [and hence my concern for narcissism void?]
  5. imago Dei
    1. in whose image is a clone? God's or parent's?
    2. Always God's
    3. But risk of this power is that we forget this and believe clone is in our image and to be manipulated at our will and whim:
      1. what if child does not result as expected? -- defective: to be replaced? accepted?
      2. will it be harder to accept a child, than when sexually produced -- "it was the will of God"?
      3. but the will of God works through cloning too -- God works through us and through our technology
- Android
  1. What is? Can computers have?
  2. What if a computer/robot/internet reach human intelligence and beyond, but not have a soul?
  3. If an intelligent machine has no emotion or emotion so alien we can't recognize it, how does that effect the human - machine relationship?
  4. What is the role of body, environment, and others in these?
  5. Can computers know all knowledge? What knowledge can they? Can't they?
  6. Should we turn over to machines the running of hospitals? corporations? churches (in THX 1138 the church is a computer)? society?
- cyberclones
  - Is it right to be disembodied?
  - Would a cyberclone be closer to the spirit (no body)?
  - [Kurzweil, p124ff]:
    - subjectively:
      - is it the same consciousness?
      - what if the original still lives?
      - is the cyberclone the same person?
    - virtual immortality with brain porting technology
      - mortality not tied to longevity of the body
      - we will be software not hardware
    - immortality an issue of making frequent backups so we don't need to load an old self

References

Calvin, John; Institutions of the Christian Religion; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co; 1994 translated by Henry Beveridge.