This chapter delves into the emergence of sensibilities surrounding death, driven by recent technological advancements in the field of artificial intelligence. The primary focus lies in the realm of emotions and bodies connected to the digital recreation of the deceased. To accomplish this, it employs virtual ethnography principles to scrutinize visual components within both fictional contexts, such as series and films addressing this phenomenon, and non-fictional domains, including emerging interactive devices and platforms related to 'death'. Drawing from the foundations of sociology of emotions and bodies, the analysis centers on a collection of 'contemporary postcards'. These postcards serve as condensed depictions, offering valuable insights into the evolving sensibilities associated with death, a crucial element for comprehending ongoing processes of social structuration.
TopIntroduction
In line with the current questions raised by artificial intelligence (AI), in this chapter, we will address a social phenomenon that is not exempt from the transformations brought about by AI: we are specifically referring to sensibilities related to death. We will not delve into the extensive philosophical discussion surrounding death here. Instead, aligning ourselves with a sociology of bodies/emotions (Scribano, 2017), we are interested in focusing on the set of social practices that revolve around death. These practices provide a privileged vantage point for analyzing ongoing processes of social structuration (Duperré and Lisdero, 2022). Particularly, the consequences of the expansion and intersections that AI has been playing a leading role in have transformed how we experience and perceive death. The sensibilities emerging in this context become a provocative realm for exploring societal metamorphoses in the “age of the algorithm.” Thus, in order to shed light on this elusive subject, this writing will refer to some precedents—both fictional and non-fictional—that help us comprehend how, in recent decades, the development of technological devices and the digitalization of life (and its transience) raise questions about the reconfiguration of interactive dynamics. These dynamics now extend not only between “animated” agents but also between these agents and those lacking such qualities. Precisely, we believe that AI is intensifying this discussion to the extreme. Herein lies our starting point for inquiry.
It is worth clarifying that the analysis of bioethical positions and legal aspects, which this issue inevitably entails, exceeds the scope of our chapter. Contrarily, our focus is directed towards the affective and corporeal reasons that either legitimize or challenge the relationship society establishes with death through the mediation of technology. Specifically, our inquiry pertains to the perceptions, sensations, and emotions implicated in the “recreation” of the “connection with the deceased” through digital means. To this end, we have selected three paradigmatic “postcards” that, in our estimation, express this relationship in a quintessential manner. These postcards provide a glimpse into a “state of feeling” via a unique set of resources, which we will interpret, to elucidate certain significant elements concerning the current state of digital sensibilities in relation to death.
Following this roadmap, we intend to specifically: firstly, explore a set of recently launched apps in the market, distinguished by their unique feature of enabling the creation of the voice – and even the image – of a deceased individual for interactive purposes. Secondly, we will focus on the concept of the 'digital executor'—that is, a person responsible for 'ensuring the fulfillment of the deceased's last will' and managing their assets, particularly those associated with their 'networked life.' This concept exemplifies the current era, in which our 'virtual identity' outlives us and, consequently, necessitates third-party management. Finally, related to the first point, we will explore fiction, specifically two episodes that raised this question early on: 'Be Right Back' and 'San Junipero,' from the British series 'Black Mirror,' which premiered in 2013 and 2016, respectively. As a whole, the visual-expressive power of these episodes allows us to reconstruct various elements that, like pieces of a puzzle, shed interpretative light on the social sensibilities that shape our everyday lives in an indeterminate manner.
As a theoretical-methodological strategy, we will resort to the concepts, categories and procedures provided by the sociology of bodies/emotions, a perspective that we consider highly relevant given the specificities of the object and the approach outlined for its study. Suffice it to point out here that investigating the bodily-affective dimension of a social phenomenon allows us to understand the sensibilities involved in it. Such is the importance of this approach for our proposal.