Beyond the Grave

Human beings are obsessed with immortality.  We all want to live forever, or at least, live on forever.

In writing MetaWars, I dreamt up a concept of UPLOADING, a process to upload your consciousness to the web to live on forever; to be digitally immortal.

You’ll soon see ads like this one.

Here’s how a video advert for Uploading might run…

And then just today, courtesy of Wired UK (one of my favourite magazines), I spotted a new service that’s attempting to roll up your digital footprint into a ghostly after-life:

This creepy AI will talk to loved ones when you die and preserve your digital footprint: http://t.co/CKCVambdN3 by @liatclark

— Wired UK (@WiredUK) February 5, 2014

Journalist Liat Clark covers the digital start-up here.  They claim to seek to become a repository for someone’s digital life, living on after their gone:

Ready to sign up?

Reality  is now mirroring fiction – and certainly science fiction.  We already leave behind a vast digital footprint (just ask anyone who’s had a Facebook friend pass away). It’s becoming such a phenomenon that Digital Legacy is one of the 10 meta-trends shaping our world:

But this is nothing new.  In his knockout book IMMORTALITY, Stephen Cave examines how the quest to live forever has shaped human behaviour and human history.  I highly recommend reading it – it’s one of those rare books that actually changes the way you look at the world.

There will be more and more technical attempts to achieve immortality – we’re wired for it.