Asked how a person could maintain their privacy online, a famous AI researcher responded with these rules:
- Don’t buy a computer
- If you buy a computer, don’t turn it on
- If you turn it on, don’t use it
These days, we might substitute ‘computer’ for smartphone, smart speaker, tablet, or the many other connected devices that power our lives. Even with the best of firewalls, VPNs and OS, our personal devices, apps, and the countless third-party devices we encounter in our environments record our activity with increasingly greater precision.
Your data is too deep and too broad to purge completely. Your choice is not whether you have a digital afterlife, but which digital afterlife you choose. We can divide people into two groups based on that decision: the “Do Nothings” and the “Planners.”
Your choice is not whether you have a digital afterlife, but which digital afterlife you choose.
Do Nothings
The default choice to prepare for your digital afterlife is to do nothing. You can expect doing nothing to lead to one of two outcomes:
- Statis. Your digital legacy continues to exist, but any interactions with it are one directional.
- Subversion. A person or group makes representations or claims about you or for you to which you are powerless to consent or refute.
Statis.
In statis, your digital legacy continues to exist, but any interactions with it are on directional.
Perhaps some of your family and friends continue to post on your Facebook for birthdays, special occasions, or other events. This public form of journaling may provide them a temporary relief and sense of connection to you, but it remains a highly limited interaction and no superior to private journaling or reflecting only in their mind. In this sense, the tendency of these digital interactions to fade away is not surprising.
Most Do Nothings leading ordinary lives can expect stasis in their digital afterlife.
Subversion.
Your digital legacy is subverted when a person or group makes representations or claims about you or for you to which you are powerless to consent or refute. We'll call these people "Challengers."
A Challenger might make a financial claim against you, arguing that you promised him or her a certain sum that is not written in your estate plan or, if you die intestate, contrary to the default inheritance rules for your state.
A Challenger might also make a reputational claim against you. This reputational challenge might mean getting “cancelled” posthumously for something you are alleged to have said or done, without the ability to defend your legacy and refute the claim.
In a more extreme case, a Challenger might harvest your digital legacy and manipulate it for their own purposes. For example, the Challenger might make a digital replicant of you that is trained on a set of data or rules that deviate from your true self and advantage the Challenger in some way.
Planners
Planners are those who prepare for their digital afterlife – not just by meticulously cultivating their digital legacy during their lifetime, but also by preparing this digital legacy to live on after their biological death.
The possibilities for this digital afterlife and its interaction with the biological world are limited only by the imagination. For example, your digital self might:
- Read your favorite children’s book to your great-great-great grandchild
- Send a card and flowers to your wife every year on her birthday or anniversary
- Maintain your social media relevance by responding to inbound messages or writing contemporaneous and authentic posts, tweets, or articles
- Engage in unscripted, natural conversations with your loved ones or following
If you think that these possibilities sound like far-off fairy tales, think again. Each one exists today, and the quality of these experiences will only grow richer over time.
At JIC Estates, we are fascinated by the near limitless possibilities for Planners in the digital afterlife. Through effective preparation, Planners can create a strong and enduring relationship with their loved ones and followings across generations.
If you’re a Planner with ideas on how we can shape this future together, we’d love to hear from you in the comments or by email at beyondthedocs@justincaseestates.com.
- Luke
