Should we be immortal in this controversial way?

We are getting closer to recreating images and memories of those who have died. But should we do that?

In 2016, Jang Ji-sung's young daughter Nayeon passed away due to a blood related disease. But in February, she was able to "meet" her daughter again through a virtual reality application.

Experts have rebuilt the image of Jang Ji-sung's daughter by using motion recording technology commonly used for documentaries.

Technology helps to meet the dead

'It was an unbelievable moment,' Ms Jang said. 'I met Nayeon, seeing him laugh even for a very short time. This is like a dream . '

VR technology helps a Korean mother meet her lost daughter. (Photo: Cnet).

In the past, there were quite a few experts, especially sci-fi filmmakers interested in immortality . Is that really good? The question is, should we use technology to reconstruct the image of the deceased? And if we do, how will it be received?

Concerns about immortality probably began in 1960, when the idea of ​​freezing and keeping human corpses in hopes of reviving them in the future. 'There were some changes in the science of death at the time,' said John Troyer, author of Technologies of the Human Corpse.

However, no studies really show the potential for the field of revival of the dead. A study published in the journal PLOS ONE in 2016 found that exposing the brain to chemical and electrical probes can restore the brain to some degree.

'These studies are a gamble for the future,' Mr. Troyer said. 'I just tried to convince people that it was impossible.'

Black Mirror effect

Experiments or the use of technology to recreate the image of the deceased cause mixed opinions.

In 2015, a close friend of Eugenia Kuyda, the co-founder of Replika, died after a traffic accident. In memory of her friend, she created a chatbot containing thousands of messages between the two for years. It was almost a digital version of her friend.

The first time she used a chatbot, Kuyda said she was surprised to see it work so close that it was like talking to her friend. 'It really touched me. I did not expect such emotions to appear , ' she said.

Kyuda created the chatbot to talk to his lost best friend. (Photo: Cnet).

This is quite similar to the science fiction film Black Mirror. In the movie, a young woman whose boyfriend is lost after a car accident. She signed up for a project that allowed her to talk to the virtual reality version of her deceased boyfriend. However, she later realized this version would never resemble her dead boyfriend.

However, Kuyda said that the chatbot she created was for her own use and not for any other purpose. This digital version has the ability to copy the way a normal person communicates, but it will be based on what they have said in the past and cannot make new ideas on their own.

'You can only build one person's shadow, not another version of them,' Kuyda added. Perhaps the biggest barrier to creating AI on a lost person is data. Things that exist on social networks don't usually exist forever. If a company is closed, the data on one person will disappear.

Conserve the brain

One of the sci-fi concepts in digitizing death comes from Nectome, a company that makes ideas about preserving the brain through high-tech mummification.

Nectome has been planning a trial with terminally ill volunteers in California. As of March 2018, 25 people have participated in Netcome's brain conservation project.

Despite attracting a lot of funding and investments from many companies, including MIT, many experts still argue that trying to preserve and implant new data into a decommissioned brain is the impossible. That is why Netcome was terminated by MIT in 2018.

'Science is not advanced enough to conserve all sorts of life. And we don't know if it's possible to replicate one's consciousness , '' a spokesman for MIT said.

Meanwhile, an application called Augmented Eternity was created to help recreate the image of the deceased in virtual reality. Hossein Rahnama, CEO of FlyBits, has been looking for agents and partners to develop this software.

'Millennials are creating dozens of gigabytes of data every day, which enables us to create a digital version of ourselves,' says Rahnama.

It is impossible to recreate inactive brains. (Photo: Cnet).

Augmented Eternity uses data from email, photos, social networks to create digital tools. It analyzes how people think, act and how they respond to what happens around them. You are able to interact with this application, similar to using Siri on iOS.

'The purpose of this software is to promote humanity's wisdom. I also like the idea of ​​digital. Through it, I can learn a lot of things, ' Rahnama said.

In the Laboratory at Osaka University, Japan, director Hiroshi Ishiguro built more than 30 lifelike robots, including his own robot version. He is one of the pioneers in the field of human-robot interaction.

'My goal is to understand humans by making a robot as human as possible,' Ishiguro said. He also said that if he died, his robot version could replace him for teaching students. However, it will never be the same.

Director Ishiguro and his robot clone. (Photo: Cnet).

'We cannot convey our consciousness to the robot,' Ishiguro added. 'We still have independent consciousness. I think in the future, with the development of technology, the line between people and machines will be relatively vague. '

Today, humans have the technology to improve genes and upgrade their robot versions. 'Our most important goal is to find out what the answer to the human concept is. That's why robots are so important in our human research work, '' Mr. Ishiguro said.