I don’t remember all of the rules regarding converting, but the only restrictions given are that no Ammonite or Moabite men can convert.

If we’re saying that, since an uploaded Jew wasn’t birthed from a Jewish person, they are not Jewish-by-birth, similarly no uploaded person could be Ammonite or Moabite in that way.

And so, since an uploaded person (or for that matter, an AI) is neither Ammonite nor Moabite — what’s stopping them from being able to convert to Judaism!?

(Assuming that they can do the ritual stuff, which… I forget what it is. I know that a Brit Milah can be waived for health or, in this case, inability. Probably a similar case can be made for the Mikvah, and… what other things are there?)

Report comment

As for how do you become an expert–I think that’s usually done by studying from established texts under experienced scholars, not by throwing out ignorant speculations.

Report comment

Report comment

That being said, I had the impression the term ‘conservative’ is not necessarily very descriptive. Not everyone who identifies and would be identified as conservative is interested in preserving the status quo, but there are several policy questions they can disagree with the ‘standard Left opinion’ on, e.g. on topics of religious expression, dispute resolution, …

So saying ‘Cthulhu always swims left’ is not generally an empty statement. (Whether one agrees with the statement being made is a different question, of course.)

Report comment

If by Jewish law you aren’t considered a living creature, then surely you aren’t considered a Jew anymore either and aren’t bound by Jewish law?

Report comment

I would say that shutting down the brain is equivalent to dying (even if only for a time)

Ah, but is it? The definition of “death” as the cessation of neurological activity is not wholly accepted in Orthodox communities. Pikuach nefesh applies only to the living (one may dig an injured or possibly injured person out of rubble on the Sabbath, but not a known corpse), and whether a person is alive or dead is determined by the presence of breath (one may dig a person out to the nostrils, but, if they are not breathing, no further). (Yoma 85a) An upload does not breathe and therefore cannot be said to be alive, so it is forbidden to violate the Sabbath for their sake.

That said, it is permissible to, e.g., leave a light on during the Sabbath, so the simple option is just to leave the upload running.

However, some Haredi Jews concerned about the use of central electricity on the Sabbath (as it may have been generated by Jews during the Sabbath) run private generators, fueled and started before sundown. If used to power an upload, this would have the additional advantage of giving them individual dependence upon the movement of air and consumption of oxygen, i.e. breath. If uploads can halachically be considered people, this would make them definitely living people, which would help to clear up other issues.

(On the other hand, uploaded Jews, not being born to Jewish mothers, would probably have to re-convert. Emulated circumcision is left as an exercise to the reader.)

Report comment

Report comment

Report comment

Report comment

Report comment