Ethics Of Downloading Essay

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In my paper, I will be discussing possibly the biggest ethical issue with regards to mind uploading, the question of whether or not we will still be human after the upload. My view is that we will stay human from Kantian’s point of view of reasoning. I will not be arguing for the plausibility of mind uploading; we will assume hypothetically that it exists and works. Mind uploading is a concept that is getting more attention in the world of Transhumanism. Ray Kurzweil is Google’s director of engineering and he made a prediction that mind uploading will exist by 2045 (Woollaston). The idea behind this is that people will be able to replace their bodies with machines, theoretically granting them immortality as they live and are powered by computers. …show more content…

Immanuel Kant, an 18th century philosopher, claims that humans are unique compared to everything else. According to him, rationality is the key feature that makes us human. Rationality, is the “ability to transcend ‘instinct’ as the driver of our actions and replace, or at least guide that instinct by rational thought that takes account of the ‘outcomes’…we can now see our actions as not just ‘good’ (it worked and I got what I wanted), or bad (didn't work and I didn't get what I wanted), but as also ‘good’ (morally correct)” (Reedman). In other words, we have the ability to think deeper and use facts before we act instead of just blindly following our instincts. So according to Kant, if we do not utilize or do not have rationality, then we are no longer human and no different than animals. Connecting this with mind uploading, if the upload is not capable of being rationale, then it is not human. Conversely, if it is rationale, it is human. Rationality, I believe, is affected by our environment and our experiences. There is no other way to learn about how the world works unless we experience it. Which means our memories and personality are critical in how we will think and act. With mind uploading, the upload guarantees to have exactly copy over one’s memories and personality. Being that this technology is labeled as a transhumanist technology, it is safe to assume that our upload’s intelligence will not be lower than our own. Not only that, the upload will have direct access to the cloud, providing instantaneous information to

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