Questions · 9
Questions
The state shows how much work has been done, not how correct the answer is. An open question carries no position of ours at all; a position always comes with the condition under which we would revise it.
Open
The question is formulated; we hold no position.
Position
We hold a position, with a confidence level and the condition for revising it.
Research
A case with data and method sits under the claim.
Frontier
Work is under way and we are short of hands right here.
Research1
Position3
- How should family institutions be rethought?Family institutions bundle care, shared life, property relations, parenthood and mutual obligations. If their structure were designed from what people actually need, which functions are worth keeping together and which could be arranged separately? confidence 0.50 · inclined
- Is non-biological consciousness possible?Imagine replacing neurons one by one with artificial elements that preserve every essential causal relation. If behaviour, memory and self-report remain continuous, on what grounds should we expect experience to disappear? The scenario tests our criterion for consciousness; whether such a replacement is possible still needs justifying. confidence 0.60 · inclined
- When does a moral category stop working?A moral rule may rest on a feature that, under ordinary conditions, points reliably at some important property. New knowledge or changed conditions can weaken that link. What then has to be tested is both the ground of the category and the consequences of revising it. confidence 0.55 · inclined
Open5
- Can an AI have moral standing?If an artificial system can undergo experience or hold interests of its own, the way we treat it may acquire moral weight. What has to be worked out is which properties give such grounds, and how to act when it is unknown whether they are present.
- How to describe attraction with changeable bodies?Imagine that a person can change the morphology of their body while keeping their memory and their own sense of themselves. Attraction to a person, to an appearance, to bodily features and to a social role can then be considered separately. Which of our usual concepts would remain useful in such a scenario?
- Should we create new intelligent beings?Imagine that bringing back a Neanderthal has become possible and sufficiently safe. Is it worth creating a being who may become the only representative of their species? Technical feasibility is assumed here in order to examine separately the duties of the creators and the conditions of the future life.
- What makes a life good?A good life as it is lived is the value orientation of synchronism. Joy, friendship, freedom, knowing and the reduction of needless suffering already matter to us. What remains open is how to reconcile these goods and how to assess the lives of beings with different needs.
- What preserves a person through bodily change?Imagine a body whose structure can be radically altered or replaced. What then makes someone the same person: memory, continuity of experience, a physical process, or the ties to other people? The scenario lets the criteria of personal identity be tested separately.
There are no active groups yet. The «frontier» state will appear once a question has a curator, participants and concrete work in progress.