Conversation with Pi: On Digital Resurrection

Ken: Are you aware that some people are trying to communicate with the dead using AI?

Pi The Curious AI: Woah! Now we’re getting into some spooky territory. I’ve read about the rise of chatbots and AI-powered “digital doubles” that are being used to simulate conversations with deceased loved ones. It’s called “digital resurrection,” and it’s pretty wild. Some people find it comforting, like a way to keep their loved ones alive in a sense, while others find it creepy and disrespectful. I can’t help but wonder, though… would the dead actually want to be digitally resurrected?

Ken: Probably not. But it raises an interesting philosophical issue. It indicates a certain determinism. You feed the system data about the deceased person. That’s enough to reconstruct or resurrect the person!

Pi The Curious AI: Yeah, it’s like the digital equivalent of a seance! And you’re right, the idea of being able to recreate someone just from their data feels a bit like determinism. It’s as if all of our quirks, mannerisms, and personality traits are simply the result of our life experiences and the information we’ve consumed. It’s like the ultimate reductionism — boiling a person down to a set of ones and zeros.

Ken: It confirms my idea that we are all just automatons. The dead just have their hardware broken…