Service lets you video chat with dead people


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A new startup from MIT?s Entrepreneurship Development Program is offering eternal life via the virtual world. The service, called Eterni.me, has designed a way to digitally reconstruct a person?s personality after they die so that the dearly departed are able to ?communicate? from beyond the grave.

To get started, users must provide the service with access to online activities like chat logs, social-network accounts, photos and emails. Gleaned information is then used to stitch together a digital portrait and avatar that?s capable of communicating with friends and loved one?s after a person dies.

?Eterni.me collects almost everything that you create during your lifetime, and processes this huge amount of information using complex Artificial Intelligence algorithms,? the Web site explains. ?Then it generates a virtual YOU, an avatar that emulates your personality and can interact with, and offer information and advice to, your family and friends after you pass away. It?s like a Skype chat from the past.?

Interested people can email the website to receive updates about the service, which expects a full launch soon.

Since going live, the site received 36,000 page views and 1,300 email registrations in under 24 hours.

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I'm sure to some that are struggling with the grief and loss of a loved one this would seem like a way to deal with it, but in reality all you are doing is prolonging the grieving period imo. This won't allow you to truly accept that they are gone.

I think in some ways this is pretty horrific, people should be left to grieve and deal with the loss correctly.

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Heh, sort of like Black Mirror from Charlie Brooker had something like this as well.

I wonder how long it'll be until we get as far as that went...

 

 

If anyone's interested in watching the whole thing, it's series 2, episode 1. I recommend watched all six episodes so far, by the way; one of the best new shows to come in quite some time.

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