On the eve of the release of the long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077, the idea occurred to me to highlight a problem, or a paradox, if you can call it that, namely:

This is not a statement or an exact answer to the question. Just read, sit down and think about how you would answer these questions.

To begin with, I want to give an analogy,

"The Ship of Theseus Paradox"

It sounds something like this:

It was based on the story that there was a certain wooden ship, and it stood for a long time, so long that it gradually began to rot. Well, in order to keep the ship in diligent condition, its boards were changed. And on this basis a question arose. Is this the same ship?? If not, at what point did he stop being himself??

Let’s transfer this to our reality. Well, you have a car, you’ve done some repairs, the car is the same. Well, if you completely disassemble it into parts, take other parts and assemble exactly the same one, then it’s different, isn’t it?? Well, how much does it need to be replaced for it to become a different car?. The question is essentially rhetorical, but the basis for reasoning is good.

But with a person it’s more difficult

Let me give you a couple of examples from pop culture.

Even though it’s GG casinotikitaka.com/ in this film from 1987. is, so to speak, a very heavy hand of the law, but he has problems, and they are connected with the fact that he still partially remains human.

Excerpt from Wikipedia

“However, strong armor does not save RoboCop from painful, fragmentary memories of the past: he constantly sees nightmares in which he dies at the hands of cruel criminals.»

New film Upgrade. 2018.

In this movie, the main advantage, as well as the problem, was body augmentation, which at the beginning seemed to improve the situation, but then vice versa.

Well, a person, a cyborg, or a robot?

Man is a complex organism, he is like a well-coordinated, ingeniously designed machine invented by nature.

Well, what is a cyborg??

A cyborg is a biological organism containing mechanical or electronic components, a machine-human hybrid. Well, it turns out that you are a cyborg if there is something not natural in you. (Small things don’t count. All kinds of braces, staples for fastening bones and the like. Well, since we are talking about mechanical or electronic components, then the joke about the bullet is no longer valid.) Well, with the definition everything is easy, but in practice, no. Would you call a person with a prosthetic arm a cyborg?? Okay, here you can. And a man with a built-in GPS tracker? Hardly.

Well then, at what point will you become a cyborg in practice?? When changes are visible? Maybe when they give an advantage? What if when you become a cyborg when the number of changes crosses a certain level, for example 50% of the whole body. Or until the brain is affected?

So what about the robot??

This is not a question: When will a cyborg become a robot??, a What is a robot?

But why not when, but what?? Because the question When, much easier to answer. Well, here it is, What this is already more interesting. Now, if a completely mechanized body is placed not in a script, or AI, but in a digitized consciousness, that is, although it is digital, it is a brain. Or if a completely organic body is controlled by AI? In the end, is it a cyborg or a robot?? Many more special cases can be given.

Consciousness

Consciousness is a complicated thing. There are also plenty of rhetorical questions here. Some questions about the transfer and digitization of consciousness, what are they worth?. I advise you to play or watch the walkthrough of the game SOMA if you haven’t already done so. There these questions are raised with consciousness.

And also Can AI have consciousness?. or Can he realize himself?

Here’s some material for more headaches. Can you express your view of this situation, it would be interesting to read.