Eterni.me

At the beginning of the semester, I did a show and tell presentation on a Black Mirror episode titled, “Be Right Back”. The episode showcases a new form of technology that allows people to essentially bring loved ones back to life by scanning their social media and web usage in order to recreate a virtual version of the person. At that point in the semester, I had never thought to see if there was a form of technology developing in real-life similar to that of the one shown in the show. However, as I began to develop ideas for my final project and began searching the web for more ideas about concepts such as “mind uploading” and “digital immortality” in the real world, I came across a NBC article talking about a relatively new company who is in the process of creating a form of technology that is strangely similar to the one shown in “Be Right Back”.

The Silicon Valley startup is called “Eterni.me” and their goal (like the one in the show) is to let people preserve their most important thoughts, stories and memories in an Artificial Intelligence system, which allows us to communicate with a person even when they have passed on. The company has yet to release very much information about what exactly the full program entails, but the first thing you see when you go to their website is the question, “Who wants to live forever?”.  Also, according to their website 36,491 people have already signed up for early access to test the beta version, but they only allow a few new people every week. The MIT developed program began around 2013, and is believed to be fully running by the end of this year despite its controversial beginning.

Given the obvious similarity between “Eterni.me” and the program developed in the dystopic world of Black Mirror, it has been called many things from “creepy” to “revolutionary”. It has also received everything from congratulations and investment offers to death threats. However, CEO and co-founder Marius Ursache says the focus is nothing like Black Mirror due to the fact that it is more on collecting, creating and curating a legacy for every human, rather than the avatar itself.

As we discussed earlier in the semester, the more accessible something becomes, the more its “aura” diminishes. And If someone is dead, there should be no way to access them at all, so that should have an apparent effect on aura. For instance, in Black Mirror, that is the main problem. Not only is the grieving process is disrupted by the fact that you’re unable to fully accept loss, but you’re then simply left with a virtual replica that doesn’t fulfill you in the same way as the actual person did. Given that this is all hypothetical and I am primed in believing there can only be negatives with this because of the show, it will be interesting to one day see the actual effects of the implication of technology creating immortality.

To see the website for yourself: eterni.me

And to read the NBC News article: http://www.nbcnews.com/mach/technology/digital-immortality-how-technology-will-bring-loved-ones-back-life-n696721