Why artificial intelligence can't bring the dead back to life
Fox News
This year is shaping up to be the year of artificial intelligence, including reincarnation through silicon.
Joseph Vukov is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Philosophy Department at Loyola University Chicago and the author of The Perils of Perfection: On the Limits and Possibilities of Human Enhancement.
At this point, no one doubts we can use AI to simulate a generic person, or even a particular person. But this could only ever be a simulation, not the real deal. The reason doesn’t have to do with the technical limitations of AI. It rather has to do with the fact that humans are not disembodied souls or pure spirits that could be uploaded to a computer in the first place. Our bodies are not only biological realities--they are a crucial part of who we are.
A couple examples bring the point home: if you are a dancer or an athlete or a musician, you know that when you dance a tango or go in for a layup or run an arpeggio, you think with your body. If you try to think with your head ("first step there, just like so"), you’ll trip up. That’s why I can’t dance —I overthink it. Eliminate the body by putting me on an app, and you’ve eliminated what made me me in the first place.