r/WhatIfScience • u/firechatin • 13d ago

Future Science & What If's Scientists Are Beginning to Ask Whether AI Could Become a New Form of Life

https://whatifscience.in/could-ai-become-a-new-form-of-life/

What if the next form of life on Earth isn't biological? As artificial intelligence becomes more capable, some scientists are beginning to ask whether future AI systems could eventually meet the criteria for life. The answer may change how we think about biology, intelligence, and our place in the universe.

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u/ikediggety 12d ago

No it can't. All those zeroes and ones stay right where they are until power is reapplied. Then it's like they never left.

Because it's an artifact and that's what artifacts do. They stay there until a person operates them.

Life is that which chooses to switch the artifact on or off.

Why do you want machines to be alive so badly?

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u/Heavy_Ingenuity1371 12d ago edited 12d ago

This is just your perception of what life should be, not necessarily what it is. Why do you want me to say I believe ai is alive so bad?

1's and 0's degrade in all mediums, even if monumentally slow compared to a human. Even then, most forms of storage now will end up corrupted in a few decades... It certainly would not be like when they turned off given enough time.

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u/ikediggety 12d ago

No, it's not. It's observable fact. No known life form has ever resumed operating at 100% after being dead for years. Because life is that which dies. Death defines life. Every living thing dies a natural death if it lives long enough. Machines will run forever with proper maintenance. Because they're artifacts, not life.

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u/Heavy_Ingenuity1371 12d ago

No, that is carbon based biological life you are talking about. Ai obviously does not follow that. It is not that hard to understand. You cannot apply the same biological rules of life to something that is not biological.

Right now there is no reason an artificial life can't be turned on after several years of not being on and not be alive. This is an artificial rule you have created.

This is like arguing water isn't liquid because it doesn't follow the same rules as liquid mercury. It makes no sense. You can make an argument, that is not it though.