The human consciousness leaving our bodily form in order to move beyond the human lifespan.
Digital Immortality (29)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
At some point in the near future, Martha’s husband Ash dies in a car accident. In order to help Martha through the grieving process, her friend Sara gives Ash’s data to a company which can create an artificial intelligence program to simulate text and phone conversations between Martha and Ash. Through the chat bot, Ash essentially goes on living, as he is able to respond to Martha and grow as more memories are shared with the program.
- Kinolab
- 2013
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
Martha and Ash Part I: Digital Revival and Human Likeness in Software
At some point in the near future, Martha’s husband Ash dies in a car accident. In order to help Martha through the grieving process, her friend Sara gives Ash’s data to a company which can create an artificial intelligence program to simulate text and phone conversations between Martha and Ash. Through the chat bot, Ash essentially goes on living, as he is able to respond to Martha and grow as more memories are shared with the program.
Discussion Prompts:
How should programs like this be deployed? Who should be in charge of them? Do our online interactions abstract our entire personality? Could this be validly used for therapy purposes, or is any existence of such software dangerous? Is it ethical to provide such a tangible way of disconnecting from reality, and are these interactions truly all that different from something like social media interactions?
Black Mirror: I Don't Want It-
- 45 min
- The Interational Journal of Psychoanalysis
- 2024
Because the technology simulates sentience, it removes the ethical imperative of considering the deceased as an irreducible other, fostering attachments that may displace living relationships and misrepresent the dead. While the author concedes that tightly regulated, consent-based applications (e.g., helping a child imagine a deceased parent) might offer therapeutic value, the prevailing danger is that griefbots short-circuit the lifelong, relational work of mourning. Psychoanalysis, the article concludes, must scrutinize these “post-human” tools to preserve an ethics of otherness in a culture increasingly tempted to outsource grief to machines.
- The Interational Journal of Psychoanalysis
- 2024
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- 45 min
- The Interational Journal of Psychoanalysis
- 2024
Mourning, melancholia and machines: An applied psychoanalytic investigation of mourning in the age of griefbots
Because the technology simulates sentience, it removes the ethical imperative of considering the deceased as an irreducible other, fostering attachments that may displace living relationships and misrepresent the dead. While the author concedes that tightly regulated, consent-based applications (e.g., helping a child imagine a deceased parent) might offer therapeutic value, the prevailing danger is that griefbots short-circuit the lifelong, relational work of mourning. Psychoanalysis, the article concludes, must scrutinize these “post-human” tools to preserve an ethics of otherness in a culture increasingly tempted to outsource grief to machines.
Discussion Prompts:
- What is the danger of turning mourning into a private, self-regulated loop through the use of a grief bot?
- What are the benefits or harms of disconnecting from a deceased loved one during the grieving process, and why might that be lost through the use of grief bots?
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- 90 min
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
The authors define DAI as the ecosystem of commercial platforms—ranging from startups like Afternote and Departing.com to tech giants like Facebook and Google—that commodify and manage digital remains (online data, profiles, memories) of deceased users. Using four real-world cases, the author discusses how economic incentives can distort the “informational body” – rewriting profiles, automating posts, and reshaping digital personas.
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
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- 90 min
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
The Political Economy of Death in the Age of Information
The authors define DAI as the ecosystem of commercial platforms—ranging from startups like Afternote and Departing.com to tech giants like Facebook and Google—that commodify and manage digital remains (online data, profiles, memories) of deceased users. Using four real-world cases, the author discusses how economic incentives can distort the “informational body” – rewriting profiles, automating posts, and reshaping digital personas.
Discussion Prompts:
- Should the digital remains of a deceased person be editable by family, friends, or the company hosting the digital immortal?
- Do tech companies have an ethical duty to preserve or remove digital remains?
- How are digital remains companies similar or different to funeral homes and cemeteries in the physical world? What laws govern these types of businesses and should they be applied to digital memorial companies?
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- 30 min
- Lindenwood University
- 2023
Through analyses of contemporary media, including films, television, and digital art, the paper explores how society grapples with the boundaries between life and death in the digital age. It discusses the implications of using AI to preserve or revive aspects of human identity, considering both the potential benefits for memory and mourning and the risks of commodifying or misrepresenting the deceased.
- Lindenwood University
- 2023
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- 30 min
- Lindenwood University
- 2023
Life, Death, and AI: Exploring Digital Necromancy in Popular Culture
Through analyses of contemporary media, including films, television, and digital art, the paper explores how society grapples with the boundaries between life and death in the digital age. It discusses the implications of using AI to preserve or revive aspects of human identity, considering both the potential benefits for memory and mourning and the risks of commodifying or misrepresenting the deceased.
Discussion Prompts:
- Discuss the pet cemetery conundrum (the reanimated versions of pets, and later humans, that are wrong and uncanny).
- What are the ways that someone could shape the digital representation of a loved one that was inconsistent with the real person? Would this be an ethical action if it helped a grieving process?
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- 15 min
- Splinter
- 2015
Intellitar marketed its service as a form of digital immortality. For a monthly fee of $25, clients could upload personal data, including voice recordings and photographs, to build a lifelike digital version of themselves. The company claimed to have attracted around 10,000 customers. However, despite its ambitious vision, Intellitar ceased operations, leaving its clients without access to their digital counterparts.
- Splinter
- 2015
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- 15 min
- Splinter
- 2015
This Startup Promised 10,000 People Eternal Digital Life – Then it Died.
Intellitar marketed its service as a form of digital immortality. For a monthly fee of $25, clients could upload personal data, including voice recordings and photographs, to build a lifelike digital version of themselves. The company claimed to have attracted around 10,000 customers. However, despite its ambitious vision, Intellitar ceased operations, leaving its clients without access to their digital counterparts.
Discussion Prompts:
- Identify the stakeholders in a situation where a company offering digital immortality services goes bust.
- In what ways are digital remains similar or different to physical remains and memorials? How might we preserve our digital selves in more permanent ways to avoid start-up failures like this one?
- Is this type of service something you could imagine using yourself or for a loved one?
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- 20 min
- Business Insider
- 2018
The founders of Eternime (Marius Ursache) and Replika AI (Eugenia Kryuva) digitally recreated their friends, and as a result, founded their companies in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The goal for Eternime is to have enough data for an individual to create a digital avatar once the technology becomes available. Replika is the closest competitor. The article explores the technical and ethical challenges of developing chatbots on a commercial scale. E.g., what age should the user be immortalized? Or how can we prevent the chatbot from revealing information that the deceased would otherwise not reveal to someone?
- Business Insider
- 2018
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- 20 min
- Business Insider
- 2018
2 Tech Founders Lose their Friends and Decide to Bring Them Back
The founders of Eternime (Marius Ursache) and Replika AI (Eugenia Kryuva) digitally recreated their friends, and as a result, founded their companies in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The goal for Eternime is to have enough data for an individual to create a digital avatar once the technology becomes available. Replika is the closest competitor. The article explores the technical and ethical challenges of developing chatbots on a commercial scale. E.g., what age should the user be immortalized? Or how can we prevent the chatbot from revealing information that the deceased would otherwise not reveal to someone?
Discussion Prompts:
- What other ethical problems arise with the commercial production of chatbots?
- Given the tools, would you prefer making your own digital immortal representation or trusting a company to do it?