Is it morally correct? Ethically? Legally? Of course, we'll need to somehow transfer the mind...
2006-07-04 17:57:34 · 18 answers · asked by Michaelsgdec 5 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
I don't think the carrying capacity argument is valid, as an artificial body will have a smaller ecological footprint. There are no more biological functions to maintain.
2006-07-04 18:25:09 · update #1
I think that would be great. Who cares about the ethics etc., if I could have a cybernetic body, I would be first in line to get one. It wouldn't have to be for super powers or anything, just for longevity and lack of pain, not needing to eat or pass waste, just recharge your batteries now and then. Can you imagine being able to go to remote places in the world and just sit and observe without having to eat or sleep. Wow man, I could dig it.
2006-07-04 21:07:46 · answer #1 · answered by Crowfeather 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Yes we should and will develop artificial bodies. I'm surprised that most people who answered seem to be against it.
I don't see any reason it would be intrinsically immoral or unethical. Some concerns others had were overpopulation and immortality.
As far as overpopulation: with a fully artificial body natural reproduction would be eliminated for the cyborgs. No sex organs, no reproduction. Cloning or artificial insemination would be needed for a cyborg to reproduce. So making people fully prosthetic wouldn't increase population growth necessarily. In addition, in the short term when these bodies become available they will be prohibitively expensive for most people. Second, when they do be come cheap enough for large amounts of people to use them, I think overpopulation won't be as big a problem as it is now.
Immortality would not be achievable using these bodies:
Even machines wear out. A cyborg would have to have regular maintenance, even if it had self repair mechanisms. So without regular care, just like a natural body, it will wear out and stop functioning.
But probably the biggest reason a prosthetic body wouldn't give you immortality is the simple fact of accidents. If you live long enough living a normal life you will eventually be in a fatal accident. Now this could possibly be a long time, but not for eternity.
The benefits of such technology would be obvious. Paralyzed people could given such bodies so that they could live normal lives. Previously fatal conditions could be bi-passed using this technology.
2006-07-04 22:02:14 · answer #2 · answered by xenophon709 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Would you like to get cut up & modified?
No matter how advanced our materials become, the human body will experience pain and require healing & adjustment time... six weeks in a cast is still the "norm" to have a broken bone heal & refuse...
Wouldn't it make more sense to live well and work?
What can't a human achieve in 50-60 years?
What experience or contribution will be done by a 100 year old that couldn't be done at 35 or 40??? (or 15...)?
You will probably live 3 times longer than our common ancestors... do you want 6? 20 times?
2006-07-05 03:12:29 · answer #3 · answered by elc7545 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Our bodies are supposed to die. This goes with Population Control, Growth, and, Maintence. We make way for those Who come after Us. If Older People had artificial bodies, the Younger Generations would still be producing children, leading to Our need to clear Land to hold more of Our Numbers. Less Plant Life means less Animal Life, and, so, on, and, so forth. It is a down ward Spiral that Our World does not need.
2006-07-04 18:21:04 · answer #4 · answered by Mouse 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It may not be a question of ethics, ultimately.
I think it may be the next evolutionary step. The seperation of concousness and matter is likely to require an intermediate stage. The transference of a single conciousness into another form of body has a certain "Yuk!" factor to it, but once this can be done and replicated with a reasonable degree of success, think of the advantages of "networking" tens, hundreds, thousands or millions of "minds" together! That would seem to be a worthwhile goal. What happens if we then cease to need a corporeal body at all? The possibilities are endless!
2006-07-05 00:26:30 · answer #5 · answered by amusedbystander 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hindus just say that.
Like a human discards old clothes for new , a "soul"leaves the old bodies for new
And that`s how soul lives always in fresh bodies.
Artificial bodies are wrong in that an artificial body suffers for the infirmities of natural bodies.--bad in morals,law and ethics..
2006-07-04 18:09:49 · answer #6 · answered by J.SWAMY I ఇ జ స్వామి 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Isn't life called a cycle for a reason? If everyone just replaced their bodies and never died then the enrire world would overpopulate very quickly. Also with the population steadily growing how long could we expect our food dupply to last? Just a thought.
2006-07-04 20:01:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think this would be right. Humans are born knowing they will one day wear out and die and i think it should stay that way. That would mess with the order of things.
2006-07-05 06:25:42 · answer #8 · answered by maryjane 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
More then that, the mind has a built in obsolence too, that has never been explored because it relies on the body. At some point the mindy would become overloaded and expire, immortality is not meant for humanity, it would be wasted.
2006-07-04 20:17:47 · answer #9 · answered by Hadley Hodgkin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At that point we become more machine than human and may lose what actually makes us human. Are we more than the sum of our parts?
I don't think it would be ethically correct. Legally maybe, but your "new" body may be pantented, and copy righted.
2006-07-05 09:05:16 · answer #10 · answered by matt2571483 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋