On Becoming a Virtual Ghost
January 15I'm starting a new side project, and I honestly can't decide if it's funny, morbid, thought-provoking or just plain weird. It's a performance art project that will take me decades to complete, and I'll never get to see the results. It's going to affect every single person who follows me online in unpredictable and surprising ways, and hopefully spark some lively debate.
With the help of web guru Patrick Delahanty, today we began setting up Afterlyfe.me. I'm currently in the process of giving the website all of my credentials and passwords for my social media websites (currently twitter and facebook, though we'll see what new startups make the cut in the future). And starting on my upcoming birthday (January 17th), we're going to activate a dead-man's switch on the site.
From that point on, every birthday for the rest of my life, I'll need to check in to let Afterlyfe know that I'm still alive and kicking (if I'm smart, I'll also make sure the site hits me up with email reminders every year as well). Once I stop checking in, Afterlyfe will assume I've kicked the bucket, and go into action, taking control of my facebook and twitter pages.
From that point on, Afterlyfe will use all my previous tweets and facebook updates to recreate a digital simulacrum of my life. The goal is to make me the world's first virtual ghost.
For starters, we're going to keep it simple: the default settings will be that the moment I die, Afterlyfe will make an exact copy of my last year in tweets, and release them at the exact times they were originally posted, year after year. Every year, followers will see me complain about taxes come mid April. You'll get my same Christmas tweets. Happy birthday wishes I made in the past will continue to arrive, year after year, right on schedule.
Even if that's all the site does, that's good enough for me... After all, what are ghosts supposed to be but people who don't know that they're dead? Wandering down the same halls, doing the same things they did when they were alive. Afterlyfe would create the digital echoes of my thousands of tweets and status updates for decades to come.
If we're able to get fancy, I'd like to go back and favorite some of my best tweets. Little nuggets that I'm particularly fond of could automatically be sprinkled in among the tedium in the echoes. That way I can bring a smile or thought even from beyond the grave. That'd be cool.
So... why do this? Isn't it tacky and morbid? Probably. But there's so many services that already exist that nuke all your online data after your demise. That makes sense, I suppose, but it just seems like such a waste. I mean, we pour so much of our personality into our updates, and so much of them get forgotten over time... We all make jokes about haunting our friends if we meet an untimely demise, but now you can actually do it.
Is this insane? Silly? Creepy? I'd love to get your thoughts, as I honestly don't know myself... that's sorta the whole point of this experiment.
-Brian
PS - if you're nutty enough to want to join me on this bizarre adventure, you can sign up at afterlyfe.me and we'll notify you when the service is fully functional.
Reader Comments (38)
What an incredible idea! One thing that worries me, though, is that you'd need a pretty complex algorithm to delete tweets that would expose the true date e.g. "Can't believe Michael Jackson is dead." Of course, you could just avoid tweeting about current events altogether!
@prenden2 I don't mind that... we're not trying to trick anyone into thinking I'm alive... just provide echoes. Though I suppose each person could customize their own digital afterlyfe, right down to pre-writing tweets/updates from the grave!
This is an awesome idea. But, unless your death is sudden, won't it affect how you tweet later in life? If you know that what you say becomes permanently repeated? Also, do you think that twitter and facebook would allow what is essentially a robot to send updates indefinitely? Wouldn't that lead to endless spam as the data streams never die and more and more people sign on? Very very very cool dude.
@Paul - I don't mind that, either... the idea that our behavior might alter when we know it's on the (very) permanent record might be a good thing. It's probably how we should always live our lives...
This is a pretty sweet idea Brian. And here's another idea to add on. Record some secret shows and not release them until this afterlyfe thing starts. Just try not to get impatient dude.
@Jason - I don't know about secret shows, but I could definitely see pre-written tweets from the grave... maybe even saying all the things you wish you could have said when you were alive? If you can customize your ghost, you can have all those features.
Brian, It seems extremely interesting. There are some concerns however. Security for one, if the website, as you put it, is completely autonomous, then it will be a target for hackers who presumably could obtain all of your access. Another concern is personal. We have all known you as smart, hard working and a great family man. It worries me to hear you talk about your death even if it is only in a remote future. Finally, I congratulate you for a very good idea and a big statement on the concept of immortality. I wish Bonchance on this endeavor and I hope It wont be activated for a long, long time.
Well someones been watching Caprica
Cool idea though, maybe you could sneak a character into messages that you definitely want to be repeated.
Need a one time "I aten't dead" mechanism to remove the dead mans switch in case you get banged up or something.
It's interesting but I'm wondering if the net as we know it will change into something different rendering the project useless whenever one dies. But honestly, you're making the plot of fear.com real and that is something I can't stand for :)
This seems like a really cool idea. I wish you the best of luck with it! If I think That I won't make it to get a robot body to deposit my brain in I'd sign up for it. Especially if you can customize your ghost I'd love to mess with my friends and family from beyond the grave.
I've written about people doing this sort of thing for nefarious purposes, i.e., using a person's social media history to impersonate them so well that it would be difficult to know if it's real, but I like your application of this concept much more. The idea of a virtual ghost is quite compelling.
Have you thought about releasing this concept too soon? That is, you've given potential competitive entrants 40 or 50 yrs to steal your thunder. And, if they run the idea on someone twice your age, they are likely to be in a position to establish themselves as the first, second, and third, &c., in this area such that by the time you kick the bucket, this is so common a practice that no one is paying attention?
From your post though, it seems like this isn't a concern for you and that you plan to open the platform to everyone. If that's the case, all you have to think about are the potential legal issues, if any, coming from hundreds of users.
What an exciting and ambitious project!
would be more interesting if it could create new content and not just repeat old content maybe go the Dread Pirate Roberts route and hand your virtual identity over to a trusted friend that could carry on being you. this would also be relatively future proof since a real person would be able to adapt to what ever new sites or technology come along
Wins webbie for Biggest hax0R target in a startup
Awesome idea, Brian. I signed up right away.
You should talk about this on The Weird Things Podcast.
I do not know if i am alive.
I crap therefore I am?
I've been wishing for something like this for about two years now. One suggestion I have would be to give users the option to maintain a database of "characteristic" tweets that would be posted at random after death.
That being said, my first AfterLyfe tweet would be, "I can see The Singularity from hare!"
The second would be, "It's blue."
I love the idea that you and Leo discussed as this being a startup that we could buy into to post tweets and such from the grave. I really hope to see afterlife.me become a site that many others could buy into!
Really cool idea!
So what happens when all the people that follow me also die... And use this service.... Will there be an infinite loop of tweets to dead people. We could talk to each other for eternity.
One other thought... What if I'm disabled, in the hospital, in a home, or some other reason I cannot log into the site? How long after my birthday will the site assume I'm dead?
Cool idea, BTW. I'll sign up.
I had JUST been telling a friend, we're moving quickly to a future where this will be more commonplace, and there will be a lot of debate over who "owns" your virtual self after you die. Is it the property of the companies and networks on which you place content? What happens when they mix in a Jeff Bridges in TRON "young self" avatar that can be rendered in 3D projection. Could you or your loved ones conceivably "license" you after you die?
You have a great idea. Before my mum past away she filled out a birthday card and addressed it to me. Sadly she never sent it. After her death my sister found the card and sent it to me on my next birthday. When I received the card, it was like mum was alive, just for a second or 2. I truly think your idea will bring unexpected joy to many!!
It seems like a better use would be to designate a beneficiary to give these social site credentials to.
I sometimes have to deal with families of people who have died who are trying to get access to their loved one's account (we're a cloud storage company). Sometimes I can help them, but sometimes I can't. I feel bad not being able to help someone. It would be nice of something like afterlyfe emailed the family with instructions on how to get this information.
I like the idea, but think for a moment of the person who loves you the MOST in this world. Imagine them still in a deep depression over your loss (even a year later this could be the case). They are sitting there at their computer and your tweet or Facebook post echo appears. Now SOME but not all are going to feel very sick, distressed and angry and seeing your echo in a very negative light. I would guess they would try to have the Facebook/twitter or whatever account shutdown or have their lawyer set loose on afterlyfe.me.
By the way would you be responding to friend requests / answering emails - maybe something standard like "Sorry to disappoint you but I have passed on to the next astral plain please contact you nearest medium/spiritualist and I'll try and catch up at your next séance. Live long and prosper" :-)
Hmm how to you do beta testing? - just kidding
@skip: I've come pretty close to having already had this experience.
Two years ago my best friend from college killed himself. To this day, I can't bring myself to remove him from my IM client. He just sits there, showing "offline." I spent a lot of time being very angry at him, instead of properly grieving and remembering who he was. Every time I saw "offline" I would mentally sneer. It honestly wasn't until a couple of months ago that I could finally forgive him.
I can't help but think I would have forgiven him much sooner if he was able to remind me of his humor or charm, even from the grave. If he had just automatically gone into re-runs, I'd be experiencing everything I liked about him for years to come... constantly reminded of what a great guy he was.