Hypothetical Situation: A cloned loved one...

[Deleted]

Me and my wife were in deep discussion the other night about advanced AI/cloning and a possible scenario entered my head.

The hypothetical scenario is as follows:

You lose a loved one that died suddenly. Doesn't matter who, it could be a child, parent, brother, sister or friend. Now, due to the amazing advancements in modern science we are now able to replicate a human with 99.9999% accuracy. I'll call it an AI, or a clone, it has the same feelings, personality, habits, idiosyncrasies as your dearly beloved. This creation is indistinguishable from the real thing, it even ages and eventually dies as we do.

Would you in your grief consider this option if it was offered to you?

[Deleted]

I'm sure at first it would provide some level of comfort, but after months, or even years spent with it, im pretty sure you would be thinking it isnt the original person you lost, if you believe in souls and all that stuff, and there would always be a part of you that knew you couldnt replace that person, even with something so close, for that reason, i wouldnt do it.

[Deleted]

It would not be the same person, as hard as it is I would just let that person rest in peace.

[Vayshan]

Without memories it might still not be the same.

[Catharlex]

I think, as much as many would consider it, that most would eventually deny themselves that. I know I'd miss my brother INSANELY (no matter how much fight) if he was to die, but the clone would not be him, no matter how much we'd want him to be.

[Rakeer]

it would be obsesive denial to do that. which is creepy and very unhealthy.

[Deleted]

I would move along. It is not the same soul.

[Deleted]

I'm hoping I would be surrounded by enough rational loved ones, in my time of bereavement, to convince me to not agree to anything so rash and macabre when I would almost definitely not be thinking clearly or be quite all there. It wouldn't be them. It would certainly be a person (with the memories of that loved one and probably possessing the same feelings for you) but it would not be them.

[Aoyi]

My fiancee and I actually had a similar discussion a while back. It started on a discussion of teleportation. You are essentially killed, then an exact replica of you would be created giving the appearance of you transporting from one location to the next. No matter how close to the original it appears, the person you love is still dead. I don't think I could ever accept a clone or reassembled sequence as the person I lost.

[Xzenoo]

Many would clone their mother in law, just to this time shoot her in the face with a shotgun

[Deleted]

You could also apply this argument to Transporters, like the ones in Star trek. If they break down your molecules and reassemble them in another location, is it really you or a really good copy? Does the old you cease to exist, replaced by this doppleganger?

[openair]

I would.

And i think if these copies are truly as exact as the op states, then months or years spent with a copy would only enforce my disbelief in souls. If this copy truly acts, react, speaks, slurs, stumbles, and trips exactly the same as the original then how can any logical mind reject it for intangible belief in hocus pocus?

This assumes these copies are truly that exact. If there is actually a difference you can identify within a year of time with a copy, then that might enforce belief in souls (or simply that the process isn't perfect yet).

[Adam Jensen]

No because she would not be the same person, just a twin.

Twins are clones.

[Myah]

Yes, even if they can find a way to transfer all the memories, I still don't think they'd be the same and looking at someone that looks exactly the same would be awfull

Without memories it might still not be the same.

[Sorshen]

I'd say the memories and experiences create the 'soul', thus it would be like their twin, not the real person.

[Deleted]

identical in every way including memories, personality and experiences? i'd say yes- i don't believe in a 'soul', at least not in the spiritual sense, so surely it'd be no different, really, than them having a near-death experience but recovering.
i can fully understand the other viewpoint though, if you knew that he/she wasn't the original person, as it were, it might all seem fake to you.

[Envisionist]

Sure, why not? Obviously I liked the first person a lot, so why not bring another person into the world that is exactly like them?

[Resentful]

Probably not, It's just a puppet without a soul. A soul can not be replaced

Too much FmA but you get the point

[Spritely]

A very young child *maybe*. Older than that? no.

[Adam Jensen]

identical in every way including memories, personality and experiences? i'd say yes- i don't believe in a 'soul', at least not in the spiritual sense, so surely it'd be no different, really, than them having a near-death experience but recovering.
i can fully understand the other viewpoint though, if you knew that he/she wasn't the original person, as it were, it might all seem fake to you.

It'd still be too weird because you'd know its a different person.