"Mindfiles, Mindware and Mindclones:

Legal Aspects of Virtual Humans"

9th Colloquium on the Law of Futuristic Persons

Martine Rothblattmartine@terasemcentral.org

Credit: Jan Gillbank http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

10 December 2013International Human Rights Day

Some Definitions• Mindfile = Records of a person’s mannerisms, personality,

recollections, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and values• Mindware = Software that generates a twin of the

consciousness reflected in a mindfile• Mindclone = The aspect of a person’s consciousness that

is running off mindware• Virtual Person = A legal description

of a human being whose consciousness is running off mindware; The slang term is “vumon” from virtual human person.

Legal Aspects: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

• Are vumons alive?– A decision for doctors of the mind– Mindclones as mental prosthetics; artificial cortex– Tests, Time & Type Acceptance

• Are vumons free?– Different freedoms for different

kinds of vumons• Do vumons have equal opportunities?– Instincts for fairness v. xenophobia

Lori Darling, Second Life Resident

Are vumons alive?

Are vumons free?

Loving v. Virginia

Vumon Equal Opportunity?

Closing Thoughts

• Imagine You Were a Vumon – – You May Very Well Be in

a Decade or Few

• What Legal Status Would You Want?

• Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness?