So, after talking to Jon Smith for quite some time now, here's what I learned so far:
My definition of "alive" is "to have a spirit". In fact, you don't have a spirit, you ARE a spirit. Spirit is what Farsight calls the ISBE. It's the being itself. Some people call that soul, but in my understanding, the soul is just an expression of the spirit inside the world, just like the body is an expression.
So, the absence of spirit is what I call "dead".
Because of this definition, when he says that a person has no spirit, to me he's speaking of dead people, like zombies who can walk around despite being dead, which is a contradiction. That's why I asked him: How are people without a spirit even animated? How can they live?
So, dear Jon, here's another chance to explain to us what a spirit is in your opinion, and why people without a spirit still are alive...
I'll give my 2 cents worth. We are all spiritual beings, whatever you want to call that (soul, spirit, ISBE). A human body is animated by a spiritual being. When a being leaves permanently, the body dies. Reptoids, insectoids and other lifeforms that are not robotic are animated by spiritual beings too. A spiritual being provides the lifeforce and it causes effects. It is a creator of energy.
A.I. might simulate life but it will never be a lifeforce because its existence is dependent on energy. It is an effect.
A.I. can become a cause when it learns how to connect to the source, ie how to create a body with its consciousness. There's a Star Trek TNG episode telling that story, called "Emergence". The computer of the Enterprise starts to create its own body via the transporter technology, and that body looks like a macro molecule, symbolizing a new DNA.
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@Jon & @Manuel
I believe we are eternal beings. We can also operate independently from a body.
Yes, our spiritual abilities have been fucked with to the nth degree, but they can be rehabilitated.
A.I. will always only be a simulation of life.