Digital Resurrection and Posthumous Identity: A Philosophical Analysis

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“Gone too soon.” Words that describe a sentiment that people never want to explain. Grief is already one of the hardest things we have to deal with, but coupling it with the death of a very young person, or someone taken by illness or accident can make it seem so much worse. We feel the terrible burden of them not being allowed to carry out their lives in full. Often, now, with AI capabilities you will see many videos and picures created by AI that show some of those ‘gone too soon’ as if they were alive today, among their aged and survived family and friends. They’re so interesting to look at because it’s as if we’ve given them some sort of gift of remaining with us and aging and all the fun things that come with a full lived life.

So what if you could, for a short period of time, actually interact with a ‘too soon’ deceased loved one, even from 40 years ago? You could say a final hello and goodbye, catch-up on the ways of mortal life, and possibly reach a level of closure that you’ve been waiting for since your dearly…departed.

This discussion explores the philosophical implications of creating an AI replication of a deceased person, such as a famous musician who died young, to interact with a still-living friend. This scenario focuses on the paradox of reunion, where the living person has aged and evolved while the AI, trained on the dead person’s data up to the point of death, remains “frozen in time.” The core concepts revolve around the discontinuity of identity and the difference between ontological authenticity (what is real) and emotional authenticity (what is experienced), suggesting the emotional bond can be genuine even if the AI’s existence is artificial. This AI is referred to as a “Posthumous Mind”—a self that continues without having lived the intervening decades, offering a potential path for the living to achieve closure.

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