Would Digital Immortality Be Good For Society

 

 

Can humans really be digitized who can live in the digital realm of a computer based existence? Whether a person's digital avatar can remain static after his death or continue to learn and develop autonomously? Is it possible to upload, store or transfer a person's feelings, memories and experiences to a digital entity or cyberspace?

The latest technological advancements in AI, robotics and biotech poses the question: what is the essence of the human mind and can this be replicated? Or even more unsettling, could we one day meet cloned versions of ourselves – clones which are better, smarter, and immortal?

Wouldn't be wrong to say that Digital Immortality has always been a subject of debate for man and science.

Now science has made it possible to be truly immortal. Researchers and entrepreneurs are starting to ponder how artificial intelligence could create versions of people after their deaths—not only as static replicas for the benefit of their loved ones but as evolving digital entities that may steer companies or influence world events.

The possibilities for creating digital immortality have become more sophisticated through technological developments. Advancements in knowledge management, machine-to-machine communication, data mining, and artificial intelligence are making a person's active presence after his or her death. Digital immortality has moved beyond simple memorial pages and ‘beyond the grave’ updates, from dead family or friends. For example, digital immortality is affecting grief and mourning practices. This is introducing new forms of legacy as well as new issues for the funeral industry.

These imaginations perceive humanity advancing toward a new age of post-biological life, a world of intelligence without bodies, immortal identity without the limitations of disease, death, and unfulfilled desire. As scientists on the forefront of technology show that a world where humans and machines merge isn’t so far away.

But.....DO WE REALLY NEED DIGITAL IMMORTALITY?, let's try to find the answer.

What Is Digital Immortality,

Digital immortality can be defined as the continuation of an active or passive digital presence after death. As people establish on-line identities and repositories, the likelihood that their digital presences will persist beyond their death increases, especially as the use of virtual personal assistants grows.

"Digital Immortality (or "virtual immortality") is the hypothetical concept of storing (or transferring) a person's personality to more durable media, i.e. computers, and allowing people to communicate with them in the future. It refers to the notion of using a person's digital archive to train a chatbot or digital avatar to behave, react and think like that person. A person's digital history includes images, voice data, social media posts, text messages and written letters." (Wikipedia)

These can be used to create 2D or 3D representations of a person, including voice; however the research in this area still remains small or discrete and the idea lives on within whitepapers and sci-fi movies to this day.

How Digital Immortality Works,

There are five technologies which will ultimately lead to radical life extension during the course of this century and one leads directly to digital immortality, these five technologies are advanced Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Advanced Robotics, Genetics and mind uploading / whole brain emulation.

Digital immortality can be achieved through implanting neuro-nanorobots into the brain. In the future it could even be beamed from the computer as a hologram or even in a physical three dimensional format as a robot that could interact with you.

Of course ultimately if your memories are uploaded to a non biological brain this will be the path which leads to digital immortality. We will reach the stage in somewhere between 30 and 50 years where a combination of robust artificial intelligence and nanotechnology combined with whole brain emulation will enable us to achieve whole brain emulation.

"Whole brain emulation is where the brain is uploaded to a digital medium and increasingly enhanced and replaced with non-biological components until it reaches a stage where the non-biological components can model the biological part so accurately the original brain’s loss would be irrelevant from a functional perspective. Once this technology is developed multiple backup copies of the brain could be constantly backed up just as we do with a computer to the cloud meaning if one copy fails the others would continue at which point digital immortality would have been achieved."

For example, while you’re alive you grant the service access to your Facebook, Twitter and email accounts, upload photos, geo-location history and even Google Glass recordings of things that you have seen. The data is collected, filtered and analyzed before it’s transferred to an AI avatar that tries to emulate your looks and personality. The avatar learns more about you as you interact with it while you’re alive, with the aim of more closely reflecting you as time progresses.

Would Digital Immortality Be Good For Society,

Digital immortality achieved through AI technology will trigger subsequent social and ethical problems. Data privacy, data control and misuse, data bias and discrimination are issues that have already occurred and which have led to legislation and regulation.

Digital Immortality would undoubtedly cause numerous social problems in future. Assuming that the process will be expensive -- at least in the beginning -- it could create a new gap between classes or perhaps some countries would have access to the technology while others lack the money or technology to support it. People with power and wealth swarming into countries allowing digital immortality may result in social instability. That could lead to upheaval on a global scale.

While several religions feature some concept of immortality -- the body may die but some part of you will exist forever. Then how would digital immortality mesh with the world's religions? Many religions include some form of an afterlife. But if we create the ability to become immortal through technology, what does that mean for these religions? Would it be fair to treat digital immortals like humans and give them social identity? Have you ever thought about who will own the personal data after death?

And...what about population control?, because some people will never die. And what would it be like to live in a world where your children could become the same physical age of their parents, or even surpass it? Physically, parents and their children could be the same age.

If we become a stagnant population after getting a digital avatar, won't creativity die? How will we stay engaged and interested in the world around us? How long will it take us to get bored or unhappy with life?

Digital immortality may result in human beings relying too much on AI and ignoring the development of human potential. This is a great threat to human intelligence and a generator of harm to the development of civilized society.

The truth is that every human being dies. For thousands of years, with the development of technology, human lifespan has greatly extended. But for technology to make people live forever, no matter what form of human immortality, means totally changing the course of nature which cannot be regarded as an endowed human right.

Companies Dedicated To Creating Digitally Immortal Personas,

The Silicon Valley-startup Eterni.me aims to let people preserve their “most important thoughts, stories, and memories” in an artificially intelligent system that could ultimately communicate conversationally with others once its creator is gone. Eterni.me allows you to create a list of people who will be contacted and given access to your account in the case of death, giving your descendants quick and easy access to that Instagram pic of your latte or a detailed history of your Facebook pokes.

On the other hand,  Legacy Locker and Entrustnet allow users to nominate an “executor” who will act out their digital wishes after death, including passing on account information to designated heirs. Deathswitch sends personalized messages to pre-selected contacts. Life.Vu offers online memorial pages for loved ones who have passed away. But none of this is close to what Eterni.me is promising.

There are other companies developing similar technology such as HereAfter AI. Using conversational AI, the company aspires to reinvent remembrance, offering its clients “digital immortality.” This technology evolved from an earlier chatbot developed by a son hoping to capture his dying father’s memories.

Whereas, Replika bot would be able to keep responding like you and telling your stories after you died in the same way that Eterni.me’s avatars could. Over 100,000 people have reserved their Replika “name” and 17,000 applied for early testing of the app, but only 1,200 were given access to the beta version.

Neuralink, a company founded by Elon Musk focused on brain-machine interfaces, is working on aspects of mind-uploading. Some wealthy people, including tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, have reportedly arranged to have their bodies preserved after death until such time as the requisite technology exists.

Refrences:

BBC.com

THE NEW YORK Times

THE WALL STREET JOURNALS

howstuffworks

nbcnews.com

CORE-Digital Immortality and Virtual Humans