2007-09-27 11:14:03 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick.
2007-09-27 11:18:52 · answer #1 · answered by LK 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I know what your trying to ask, however since that has been covered I'll answer the question you wrote. If an android could do what you ask it would only be a replica of life an immitation of cosciousness. In other words it would be a glorified mimic of life. However if it could actually think, learn and feel, in both the physical and the mental sense then yes it would be conscious as we understand it. However our current conception of life is a purely biological one and requires an entity to perform biological processes such as respiration, excrection, reproduction etc. so by our current definition no it could never be alive.
2007-09-27 19:06:02 · answer #2 · answered by Bobby B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Modern science scares the life out of the religious for this reason. Each new scientific discover sends people into a tizzy.
If were duplicated in every way, then yes, they would be alive and conscious.
2007-09-27 20:46:09 · answer #3 · answered by guru 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It really means how you define replicate I think. Since you are talking about a mechanical being, I would say that no all it could ever be is a very good simulation. I dont think that a machine can ever be truly "conscious"
2007-10-02 09:06:06 · answer #4 · answered by barhud 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely.
In fact, the requirements for being alive and conscious are by far less stringent than complete replication of humans.
2007-09-27 18:31:37 · answer #5 · answered by Phoenix Quill 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If a human replicated a computer in its way of thinking would that make it a machine?
2007-09-29 10:43:21 · answer #6 · answered by drewann l 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. The whole question though, would be can you acheive it? We're very complex carbon-based life forms, and the slightest anomaly can kill us.
Perhaps the best way to make such an android is in a test-tube.....
2007-09-27 18:28:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it is more about how you DEFINE being alive. If your definition of being alive is being born from another live being, then no it would not be alive. But if what you consider to be alive is a thinking, functioning brain then Yes it would be. It's all in perspective.
2007-09-27 20:29:08 · answer #8 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well - i think what makes us concious are 2 things. 1 the ability to choose our destiny (Which an android could do following a code of course) and 2) the ability to choose based on an imotion...
Now that would be interesting if they could do that - I wonder in this case wouldd they be recognised as a new LIFE species???
Interesting - I will read everyones answers with interest
"GOOD QUESTION"
2007-09-27 18:23:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Excellent question. I think not. Computers "think" through a series of 1 and 0 and works like a calculator. It does not understand that what it is doing is thinking. I think what sets humans apart from a computer is that awareness that allows us to do more than merely react to input. We (when we choose to) are able to respond (as opposed to merely react like a machine).
2007-09-27 19:09:33 · answer #10 · answered by ragdefender 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This question was very well addressed in the movie "Bicentennial Man". Issues such as a soul and the ability to age and die thus living a natural life were raised.
2007-09-27 18:23:49 · answer #11 · answered by Nora Explora 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋