Is a person in a coma any more alive than a dead person?

It seems to me that a person in a coma is often assumed to have an advantage over a person that's dead, but I'm not sure that this is the case.<br>If one were to shut down a computer completely, or just put it to sleep, there would still be no functional difference for anybody interacting with the computer. If a person is dead, he can't do anything for the people around him. And if a person is in a coma, he can't do anything for the people around him. There is no difference in how a person in a coma affects the people around him and how a dead person affects the people around him.<br> <br>So then maybe the difference is the fact that a person in a coma is still actually alive? But it's not really clear what a person in a coma *is* if they're not actually a living, breathing person. <br>If one were to shut down a computer completely, or just put it to sleep, there would still be no functional difference for the people interacting with the computer. But if you were to ask, "Is the computer running right now?" The answer is no to both questions. The computer isn't "running" if you put it to sleep, and the a computer isn't "running" if you shut it down. The only difference between a sleeping computer and a shut down computer is that a sleeping computer is easier to turn on than a shut down computer. But it's still not "running" in the sense that the programs are currently being processed. <br>So if a person in a coma is still technically "alive", then what is a living person if they're not actually living? <br> Do we just call a person alive if their body is still operating their autonomic systems? If that's true, then plants are also living, because they can operate their autonomic systems in the same way that a person in a coma operates their autonomic systems. <br>So it seems to me that a person in a coma is not a living person. What then, is a person in a coma if they're not a living person? It seems clear to me that a person in a coma is not a person, nor is a dead person. <br>This is a conundrum of definitions. If a person in a coma is not a living person, but still alive, then what's the difference between a living person and a living body? And if a person in a coma is not a living person, but still a person, then what's the difference between a person and a living person?