I would consider uploads to be persons, but I’m also much more willing to grant that status to AIs, even radically unnatural ones, than the average human today. It’s not their humanness that makes uploads persons, it’s their ability to experience qualia. Qualia (and specifically the ability to suffer) is the basis of moral relevance. Unfortunately we do not have a good answer to the question “What can experience qualia?” yet, and we are already building things deep in the gray area. I don’t know what to say about this.
I would consider uploads to be persons, but I’m also much more willing to grant that status to AIs, even radically unnatural ones, than the average human today. It’s not their humanness that makes uploads persons, it’s their ability to experience qualia. Qualia (and specifically the ability to suffer) is the basis of moral relevance. Unfortunately we do not have a good answer to the question “What can experience qualia?” yet, and we are already building things deep in the gray area. I don’t know what to say about this.