A digital person is a person running on digital computing hardware.
As Holden Karnofsky uses the term, “digital person” may refer to human whole brain emulations as well as digital “descendants” of humans.[1] According to Karnofsky, digital people would have the same moral standing as humans (cf. moral patient), would accelerate economic growth and scientific progress, and could cause a “lock-in” of values. For this reason, Karnofsky considers the emergence of digital people a transformative development, as well as one that, because of advances in artificial intelligence, could occur this century—making it potentially the most important one in human history.[2]
Further reading
Hanson, Robin (2016) The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life When Robots Rule the Earth, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Karnofsky, Holden (2021) Digital people FAQ, Cold Takes, July 27.
Related entries
artificial intelligence | artificial sentience | human-level artificial intelligence | moral patienthood | transformative development | whole brain emulation
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“The central case I’ll focus on is that of digital people just like us, perhaps created via mind uploading (simulating human brains). However, one could also imagine entities unlike us in many ways, but still properly thought of as “descendants” of humanity; those would be digital people as well.” Karnofsky, Holden (2021) Digital people would be an even bigger deal, Cold Takes, July 27.
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Karnofsky, Holden (2021) Digital people FAQ, Cold Takes, July 27.