THE DIGITAL AFTERLIFE:
by Marc Tavares
A Cultural Phenomenon
"The invention and development from the 2000s of user-generated content on social media accessed by smart phones and other mobile devices has enabled the dead to be present, even to participate, in everyday communication."
- Tony Walter in Pervasive Dead
Technology has changed the way we look at death and how we grieve.
People use technology to interact with the dead by leaving messages on their Facebook walls, reading old text messages, or even looking through old Instagram photos.
We grieve and mourn through our mobile devices.
It wasn't until experiencing my own loss that I realized how much death and technology have become so closely intertwined.
When my brother passed, we didn't format or put his phone away, but instead kept it powered on and close by.
The photos, music, messages, and even new notifications on his phone gave us a way of feeling close to him again.
Although this may seem bizarre or creepy to some, our mobile devices have not only become an extension of ourselves, but a digital version of who we are.
It raises a question that has really stuck with me...
Can we live on through the data we've left behind?
Our Digital Footprint & Self
Every time we use our mobile phones, we generate a significant amount of data that reflects who we are, what we like and dislike, and how we behave.
This is known as our digital footprint or digital self.
When we tweet, post on Instagram, send a text or email, use a ridesharing app, go to the mall, or even walk to the park, we're leaving behind a stream of data.
Augmented Eternity
& the Digital Afterlife
Professor Hossein Rahnama and the MIT Media Lab are developing an application called Augmented Eternity that allows users to create a digital representation of themselves that has the ability to communicate with others after they’ve passed on.
Augmented Eternity aggregates data such as email, text messages, and social media and processes it through an artificial neural network.
Tap on the down arrow to learn more about artifical neural networks or tap
right to move on.
An Artifical Neural Network is a type of machine learning that is modeled after the human brain's network of neurons. Algorithms in the network look for patterns in data and information in order to learn and make decisions.
The network will learn from exeperience and adjust itself to improve future predictions and decision making, a process also known as
deep learning.
Research has shown that personality can be predicted through social media. The types of photos posted on Instagram can reveal certain personality traits while a person’s emotional state can be determined by analyzing their tweets and comments.
The digital version of ourselves can be made into a chatbot, avatar, or even voice assistant like Siri.
What makes augmented eternity unique is that the digital version of a person is not constrained to who they were when they died.
Machine learning enables it to evolve by gathering new knowledge and continuing on where the person left off.
Rahnama's augmented eternity isn't the first exploration of the digital afterlife.
Eugenia Kuyda, CEO and Co-Founder of tech start-up Luka, created a chatbot of her best friend Roman Mazurenko after he died suddenly.
The chatbot was made by inputting their chat and message history in an artifical neural network built on Google's open-source TensorFlow.
Luka has also made Replika, an AI app that becomes more like you the more you use it and talk to it.
I tested Replika and made my own AI "friend" Lucy...
It's important to note that according to Rahnama, we're not yet at a point where we've generated enough data to create a fully working AI version of ourselves. But it's likely in the future if you consider his prediction that millennials will each have generated zetabytes of data in the next 50 years.
Future Potential in Education
Although using augmented eternity to communicate with a deceased loved one is the most attention grabbing, there is a lot more that this technology is capable of.
In education, this could mean interacting and learning from some of the world's greatest thinkers.
Ask Elon Musk about the future of space exploration and how we can approach a particular challenge.
Discuss architecture principles with Antoni Gaudi.
Ask Steve Jobs for feedback on your wearable design prototype.
Ethical
Concerns
Final Thoughts:
Let the dead rest in peace.
I think we’ll continue to use our mobile devices to grieve and mourn loved ones. Whether it’s re-reading old text messages or going through Instagram photos, our devices give us a way of feeling connected to those that are no longer here and help us remember them when we feel like we’re starting to forget.
Technology will evolve and enable different forms of interaction, but it can’t replace or bring back those we’ve lost.