The Moral Status of Whole Brain Emulations

Abstract

First lines of the Introduction (as abstract not provided): Artificial Intelligence is going to radically change our world; the only real question is by how much. A number of prominent figures believe that current AI research might initiate a so-called technological singularity - a period where intelligent machines design even more intelligent machines, setting off an exponentially accelerating cascade of advancement whose end result, a superintelligence, would be “the last invention that man need ever make” (Good 1965). However, even for those who dismiss such singularity talk as hyperbolic sci-fi nonsense, the fact that we’re on the cusp of an AI revolution - and that society is going to look very different once it’s over - seems undeniable. Already AI systems are changing how we eat , how 1 we transport people and goods2, how we diagnose and treat illnesses3, and how we wage war4. They are replacing and outperforming humans in a plethora of tasks, many of which were once thought to require a uniquely human “instinct”5, and their scope of application only looks to be increasing.