Ask HN: Can ever a Toaster be considered having a life?

Posted by wisewolfcorps on Monday May 25, 2020 @07:05AM
from the ask-hn dept.

> Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities that have biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased, or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. [Wikipedia]

Even biological processes are a set of instructions that a body/vessel perform for a desired outcome.

So does that mean if we attach other equipment handling process' like signaling and self-sustaining, we can come close to call a Toaster possessing a "Life"?

( 2 comments | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Can ever a Toaster be considered having a life? by FranciscusG on Monday May 25, 2020 @07:09AM (#23299921)

It depends on your definition of "Life".

One can modify one's definition of Life so that a sufficiently sophisticated toaster is alive, or one can try to build a sufficiently sophisticated toaster, until our currently accepted definition of Life applies to it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Can ever a Toaster be considered having a life? by wisewolfcorps on Monday May 25, 2020 @07:35AM (#23300039)

Yes, it does depend highly on the context. There were no talks of artificial intelligence some decades ago but now that they are appearing it seems a highly possible way to keep Humans superior by modifying the context. Being a "living" or a "non-living" generates a different response in our daily life. This thought was based on the line that would ever "it" be considered different than what it is now!

Thanks for your thought.

[ Parent | on HN ]