High Finiation looks at technology that seeks to preserve a person after their death and extend their digital lives beyond death. For futurists, creating digital afterlives can mean anything from a new tool for grief counseling to the end of human grief completely. The long-standing philosophical question of what needs to survive in order for a person to survive is now turning into a technological question,. We need to help people answer it.
When Justin’s mom was diagnosed with cancer, he knew he wanted to keep talking to her after she died. So together they made an AI version of her, training it on her speech patterns and memories. Now he is scaling his findings so that anyone can continue their relationships with loved ones after their deaths. Justin even believes this can one day lead to digital immortality.
Grief experts are only now dealing with bereaved people who create digital versions of their loved ones. We look at what they say about the phenomenon, and what philosophers think about whether the best AI version of a person can actually be them.
Co-produced with Alexandra Salmon, guests include Justin Harrison, CEO of You, Only Virtual, Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor, and Dr. Debra Bassett.
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