> If we can “scan” someone and simulate them virtually, are they the same person? If the physical body dies but there’s still a digital copy, can we say they’re still alive?
At the absolute best, you have a poor copy of the person.
We have had examples of poor copies forever. We call them twins. If you have a twin, that twin isn't you, and you're not them.
The most interchangeable your copy could be with you would be that the copy might be able to log into and post from your online accounts and fool many of your followers, if you have any; or to withdraw your money from your bank account and buy the sort of things you might have bought if you still had the money.
It would still be a copy, and not you. The copy could fool other people into thinking it was you, as twins have done to one another. Its motivations would, necessarily, instantly diverge from yours, e.g. preferring to spend your money on feeding and housing itself, over feeding you.
Well, they would be (in theory) indistinguishable from the physical person. You’d be able to interact with them, and their thoughts, feelings, memories etc would all still be there. In many ways the “soul” is still there. Obviously this is very much a matter of opinion.
It would be a copy. You might choose to give it the original's property, on the assumption that the original would have wanted that, or on the basis of a written will that actually says so. Then, the copy could carry on as if it were the original.
And, in fact, we do that continuously. Every day you wake up believing yourself to be the person who went to bed the night before. It is close enough.
On what grounds?