new app, "speak memory" memorializes the dead

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(clicky)"speak memory" this NEW AI memorial bot comes closer to passing the turing test
in a nutshell, this new thing takes a critical mass of pre-death communications from the decedent, and uses AI to extrapolate a plausible quasi-communication that could fool people into believing that the decedent is [in a limited sense] alive again, at least for a little bit, thus helping the bereaved to say their goodbyes, heal and move on. for this thing to work it needs at least 3000 lines of text from the decedent, covering a variety of situations/subjects. I think this is a marvelous idea, a true memorial bot, a wonderful adjunct to a gravesite. what do you all think?

I can't decide if I like this idea, or not----I'm thinking for SOME (dead and alive), it would be okay, but.....

Thinking of one of my older sisters who, in 2 days, will have been gone for 14 months, exactly, it would be nice to learn things about her (as the article says)----BUT, my sister was an EXTREME narcissist, and the thought of her manipulations, being perpetuated for all eternity, is NOT a good thought.

I voted "I dunno" -- it's an interesting thing but it feels like it could mess up people's process of letting go, too, as the article points out.

If I had it to use for someone I love who has died, I think I would be too aware that this is not really them at all and I'm fooling myself pretending the kinds of things it would say are really the kinds of things they would say, even though it uses a database of the way they worded things.

It reminds me of the Johnny Depp movie Transcendence.

I think it's sad but true that when someone we love dies, we need to adjust to that reality. This might sooth pain but also might cause prolonged pain or denial.

I will have to check out that movie. this whole thing has a powerful emotional resonance with me, I thought about it all last night. it is so complicated. we are talking about making a "mini-me" of ourselves via the words we put out in our livetimes, by combining the wisdom of the words with a present-day-learning-algorithm which can become, in a small way, a quasi-reincarnation of the decedent. combine this with IBM's deep blue, and you will have something a bit eerie, at the very least, but something also that can offer tremendous comfort to the bereaved, but if I ran the thing i'd insert periodic reminders that I was just an algorithm. this algorithm could be something complicated like knowing how to recognize context in questions about present-day or future things, and then reminding the bereaved that the decedent has passed on and present day events are beyond the scope of his/her capabilities, or play along with the bereaved using generative capabilities, but insert cautions akin to "i am just an algorithm based on the thoughts of the decedent, remember this!"

I think those reminders are a good idea, yes. I feel it would be healthier for the bereaved person to hear that caution every so often -- "Remember though, I'm just an algorrhythm based on your loved one" or words to that effect.

Grief can be such a complicated and profound matter, and it can also mess with a person's head just all by itself, so that's why I worry that something like this might "mess even more" so to speak.

Have a watch of "Transcendence" -- I saw it recently on TV and felt it had an interesting take on this very idea. Tell me what you think once you've seen it; it's very apt to this topic, I think you'll find!

I would make the reminders come once every half-hour. and I added transcendence to my Netflix queue

Cool! I'd love to hear what you think of it, regarding the basic theme of the story. This topic so reminds me of that movie.

And yes, every 30 minutes might be a good thing.

i got the idea from how orson welles handled his ultra-realistic radio play "the war of the worlds." but it seems his regular reminder announcements fell on deaf ears in that case. but I think it would take better in this application.

Did Orson Welles include reminders that it was only a fiction? Wow I didn't know that part of the story -- I'd heard about the calamitous effects of Welles' broadcast, but goodness, I didn't know he had in fact included reminders that it isn't real -- and that nobody seemed to have paid attention to those, lol! Wow!

what happened was that too many unsophisticated people [called "low info voters" today] listened to the first few minutes of the broadcast and thought the invasion was happening and just dropped everything and headed for the hills.

I can't help giggling about that -- but then I feel bad because on April Fools Day I'm often the gullible person who sees a news report on something like a new breed of blue ladybugs and goes "Oh wow, really?"...until I realize...

it wasn't even on april fools' day but a coworker long ago had gullible me convinced that the empire state building was originally constructed upside-down.

Some people can tell a story like that with incredible skill at making it sound plausible -- and sometimes buildings have been constructed in surprising ways. I can't think of one at the moment but, I'm sure he made it sound believable!

he was a "halfway house" denizen and probably somewhat psychotic, but he sure fooled me!

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