Post on 13-Jul-2015
Dan BuzzoThings to do in the digital afterlife when you’re dead.
This is me*
* also available without hair.
this is also me .
So, what is it that makes us, us ?
These are all parts of ‘Us’
What we say and do, the things we make, what we express.
Taking this idea of how we define ourselves.
who we are does not stop at the edge of our skin
‘Consciousness is not restricted to the brain.’ ‘Consciousness is the function of an organism, not an organ.’
The human organism is changing.
For millions of years we have been augmenting our physical abilities
After we started augmenting our physical abilities we started on our mental abilities
Originally we extended our lives by writing & publishing static, analogue data
Now we create active, digital data that is fluid and alive.
Increasingly our lives are being lived and expressed digitally.
What happens next ?
Since before history mankind has asked the question
Ideas and references to it are everywhere around us, in art, language, literature, culture and philosophy
We want and need an afterlife
We can still interact with something of them but their legacy personalities are ‘passive’ like the media they used to extend themselves.
Previous generations have lived on after their deaths though the extensions of their selves they
generated during their lives.
Digital is not by its nature a passive medium
The Digital Afterlife ?
ownership of our data is currently problematic but significant efforts are underway to consolidate and
bring personal data under our own control
Simple emergent behaviour is already happening
In the future ideas of a digital afterlife are ever-present.
Take control of our own information
Short term
aggregate and collate personal information in a useful way
Mid term
Long term
‘Digital natives’ are born into this analogue/digital way of being.
What will their future be like ?
Thank you