I believe that we would no longer be living according to our current definition of life if we were to lose our embodiment, we would merely "exist" as variable forms of Artificial Intelligence. If you have taken Biology you would have learned that most biologists define life as having 5 properties:
1. Every living organism has order. (Atoms make up molecules, molecules make up organelles, organelles make up a cell, etc.)
2. Every living organism responds to stimuli.
3. Every living organism grows develops and reproduces.
4. Every living organism regulates, they perform actions when needed so there is no waste.
5. Every living organism undergoes homeostasis.
According to these 5 fundamental properties of living organisms, we would no longer be living if we were to become disembodied. We would have to rethink our current definition of life, a new definition which would, ironically, exclude every other living organism.
When we consider the movie (Robot Stories: Clay) that we watched in class, we see the gift of immortality provided by technology has made life meaningless to those who have chosen to "live" under such conditions. I believe that this is why the sculptor's wife went from "It is real" to "It doesn't matter". When I look at the summary of chapters in Dreyfus' book On the Internet, I see that he has come to a similar conclusion.
We have heard it over and over throughout the Disney movies of our childhood (Think The Lion King): "Death is a natural part of life...". Depending on a person's values, an immortal life would be meaningless since death gives our lives meaning. Without death we lose the romantic beauty of the brevity of our lives.
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