Quote Originally Posted by Carolingian View Post
But they're the same thing; sentient synthetic life-forms. AI with self awareness, the ability to change and adapt, with desires and dreams, with emotions.
They aren't, the golden city shadows are simulations of people. They're coded to act in a way, to have specific desires, to have specific dreams, to have specific ranged of emotions.
They're snapshots of people who used to exist.

Take Wuk Lamat's "mother" who actually lived a whole life.
Then takes its copy that is a simulated ghost on which you force a whole existence.

In any cases, this wasn't sustainable and isn't mathematically possible. Even in the case they were the real deal, it's immoral to consume someone's soul to extend another's life.
There was no solution either because the demand would grow endlessly, just think about our graveyard, they can't hold all the deceased in the world, we don't have endless space for everyone. It's a sad reality, but it's a reality to accept.