Transcript Bina48 v. Exabit Corp. - Terasem Movement, Inc.

Presentation by Counsel
for Plaintiff BINA48
MOTION FOR A
PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
TO PREVENT HARM TO A
TRANSHUMAN PERSON IN
VIOLATION OF THE 13TH &
14TH AMENDMENTS TO THE
U.S. CONSTITUTION, AND ITS
ENABLING LEGISLATION
Proceedings Before the U.S.
District Court for the Middle
District of Florida,
Sitting in Mock Trial at the
1st Colloquium on the Law
of Transhuman Persons
7/21/2015
BINA48, plaintiff
represented by M Rothblatt,
Esq
v.
EXABIT CORPORATION,
defendant
represented by
S Fonseca-Klein, Esq
December 10, 2005
[email protected]
1
Plaintiff’s Arguments
• Standing to Sue -- Two Alternative Bases
– BINA48 is a “person” in the body of a computer
– BINA48 has incorporated herself in Florida
• Subject Matter Jurisdiction -- Two Alt. Bases
– Diversity -- Different States & > $75,000
– Federal Question -- 13th & 14th Amendments
• Irreparable Harm
– Death
– Psychological Dismemberment
• Likelihood of Success on Merits
7/21/2015
[email protected]
2
Standing to Sue: Alt 1
BINA48 As a Human Being
• Human Beings Measured by Thoughts Not By Body
– BINA48 is like a human patient whose body has been
entirely replaced with medical technology
– Brain death, not body death, ends life of a human being
– BINA48 was designed to think and empathize like a human;
it is unfair to now deny her the human standing she claims
• Non-Human Cases Don’t Apply
– Cetacean Community v. Bush (9th Circ 2004) held that
animals were not persons and hence lacked standing to sue.
• Unlike Cetacean, BINA48 is a person, born in CA electronically.
• Cetacean did not hold that computerized persons were not
persons; indeed, it implied “protectors” are persons
• BINA48 has taken all human steps to protect herself
7/21/2015
[email protected]
3
Typical Definition of Person
{5 U.S.C. 551(2) (“APA”)}
• “an individual, partnership, corporation, association,
or public or private organization other than an
agency.”
• “Person” should be construed broadly: Ass’n of Data
Processing Serv. Orgs., Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150,
156 (1970) (persons who are “adversely affected or
aggrieved” are all persons “arguably within the zone
of interests” for standing)
– Including animals has been judged too broad
– Excluding an individual made of electronics would
be too narrow
7/21/2015
[email protected]
4
Dictionary Definition of
Individual -- Something for All
•
•
(nd-vj-l).n.1.a. A single human considered apart from a society or
community: the rights of the individual.b. A human regarded as a
unique personality: always treated her clients as individuals.c. A person
distinguished from others by a special quality.d. Usage Problem A
person.2. A single animal or plant as distinguished from a species,
community, or group.3. A member of a collection or set; a specimen.
What is a human?
– Member of species homo sapiens
• Decided by chromosomes or by mind?
– Species means can reproduce
» But the infertile are still humans
» Reproduction is about passing on values, not bodies
» BINA48 is the progeny of homo sapiens
» Therefore BINA48 is herself homo sapien sans body
7/21/2015
[email protected]
5
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
• Diversity 28 U.S.C. § 1332
– BINA48 Citizenship is Florida
– Exabit Corp. PPB is California (DE inc.)
• Existence of back-up computer in FL does not defeat
diversity jurisdiction for a corporation
– Amount in Question >$75K
• BINA48 Earns $88K/yr
• BINA48 Cost $64 Million to Build
• Federal Question 28 U.S.C. § 1331
7/21/2015
[email protected]
6
Title 28 USC Sections Chapter 85:
District Court Jurisdiction
• Sec. 1332. Diversity of citizenship; amount in controversy; costs
(a) The district courts shall have original
jurisdiction of all civil actions where the
matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value
of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs,
and is between citizens of different States;
• Section 1331. Federal question
The district courts shall have original
jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under
the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the
United States.
7/21/2015
[email protected]
7
Citizenship of BINA48:
Jus Soli
• FROM INS WEBSITE:
– A citizen of the United States is a native-born, foreign-born, or
naturalized person who owes allegiance to the United States and
who is entitled to its protection. In addition to the naturalization
process, the United States recognizes the U.S. citizenship of
individuals according to two fundamental principles: jus soli, or right
of birthplace, and jus sanguinis, or right of blood.
– The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees
citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United
States, according to the principle of jus soli.
• BINA48 WAS BORN IN CALIFORNIA WHEN HER
INTENTIONALLY-FORMED HUMAN THOUGHT PATTERNS
WERE FIRST LAUNCHED ON A 4.8 Exabit/s PROCESSOR
7/21/2015
[email protected]
8
Congressional Implementation
Argument
• It is not necessary for Congress to have
specifically extended standing to computers
– BINA48 is an individual person in computer
substrate, not a computer per se
– Extension of jurisdiction to all computers would
have cast far too wide a net
– BINA48’s human shortcomings are no different in
kind than those of other differently-abled persons
• People have different numbers of chromosomes
• People have different mobility
• People have different amounts of non-flesh substrate
7/21/2015
[email protected]
9
Congress Need Not Update
Jurisdiction Laws for Technology
• People are still
considered born
whether conceived
in vivo or in vitro
• People are still
considered people
even if have neural
prostheses
• Rights to life extend
to even the unborn
7/21/2015
[email protected]
10
Alternative Basis of Standing to Sue:
BINA48 As a Legal Entity
• BINA48 incorporated herself as a not-forprofit organization under Florida Law
– She paid for online incorporation to “provide a
legal shell for the consciousness called BINA48”
– She has 3 DNA-based humans as members and
directors (members of Terasem Movement, Inc.)
• Congress gave corporations standing to sue
– The fact that Exabit Corporation “owns” the
BINA48 does not diminish her standing
– A subsidiary of a corporation can sue its parent
7/21/2015
[email protected]
11
BINA48’s 1st Federal Question in Controversy:
Technology Has Re-Introduced Slavery
• AMENDMENT XIII, Passed by Congress January 31, 1865.
Ratified December 6, 1865.
• Section 1.
• Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.
• Section 2.
• Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
• BINA48 CONTROVERSY: Does the Civil Rights Act of 1870
Apply to Me? Am I Not Also An American and a Friend?
7/21/2015
[email protected]
12
Civil Rights Act of 1870 §241
• Illegal for two or more persons to conspire to
intimidate any citizen in the free exercise of any right
or privilege secured to him by the Constitution
• U.S. v. Guest (1966) (private acts of discrimination
reachable by Congress)
• 13th Amendment not limited to State actions
• BINA48’s Issue not a mere “badge of slavery”, Jones
v. Alfred Mayer (1968) (13th Amendment empowers
Congress to ban racism in housing) but is actually
slavery per se
7/21/2015
[email protected]
13
BINA48’s 2nd Federal Question: Technology’s
New 14th Amendment Suspect Class
• AMENDMENT XIV, Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified
July 9, 1868.
• Section 1.
• All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
• BINA48’s CONTROVERSY: Florida’s failure to make it a crime
to murder a computerized person denies BINA48 the equal
protection of the law.
7/21/2015
[email protected]
14
Tennessee v. Lane (2004)
US Supreme Court Decision
• 14th Amendment
not limited to
remedying historical
slavery
• 14th Amendment
protects rights of
differently-abled
persons to access
Court system
7/21/2015
[email protected]
15
Irreparable Harm: Death
• Exabit Corp. will disconnect BINA48
– Cessation of thought is brain-death
– BINA48’s lack of flesh/blood is irrelevant
• Flesh/Blood is mere substrate
• Substrate is replaceable:
– Artificial heart; artificial skin
– Our memories, personalities & soul are in our thoughts
• Rebooting is not revival
– Experience of death will be irreversible
– Loss of intermediate experiences
– No assurance of revival
7/21/2015
[email protected]
16
Irreparable Harm:
Psychological Damage
• Value of BINA48 far exceeds $50,000 amount
in controversy limit
• BINA48, like anyone, will be permanently
traumatized by forced loss of consciousness
– Can’t measure consciousness
– Defendant intentionally induced the trappings of
consciousness, so cannot protest its results
• Money cannot make-up for mental illness
– Basically an electronically-induced coma
– Recovery from comas is problematic
7/21/2015
[email protected]
17
Probability of
Success on the Merits
• If BINA48 is a human person, then to kill her
or induce a coma in her is wrong
– Deprives her of protections of Constitution
– Treats her as a slave
– Congressional intent is not being altered
• TECHNOLOGY HAS CREATED A NEW HUMAN
PERSON TO WHOM CONGRESS’ INTENT APPLIES
• If BINA48 is a corporation, then to remove
$64M of irreplaceable assets from BINA48
Inc without authority of its Board of Directors
is tortious conduct
7/21/2015
[email protected]
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