damiansix feet under, and still addicted to facebook!
September 23rd 2008 04:21
I'm not dead yet!
As we get older, many of us are inclined to think about death more often than when we were young and invincible. When thinking about death of course, many are often tempted to consider their legacy, or how they will be remembered. Enter Peter Gabriel who, not content with the legacy he has left us through his musical work, has decided to allow us to have a certain degree of control over how we are remembered in death.
Essentially Gabriel's plan appears to be some kind of facebook-like social networking system that we can construct in such a way that it will continue to display pre-programmed messages after our death. Perfect for the bereft husband who you just know will forget to put the bins out on Tuesday nights, or for that gentle nudge he may require to get off his fat, lazy arse, put down his beer and feed the bloody cat!
There is no doubt that this kind of system may have a certain usefulness for those of us who just can't drop dead because what would Martha think if you missed her birthday? Now you can happily kick the bucket, secure in the knowledge that your message of support will safely reach her computer. Yes, Martha has been deaf and blind for the last 3 years and has never touched a computer in her life, but it is after all the thought that counts. There are other practical uses too, such as the ability to send out gentle reminders to your friends that it may be about time they dropped by with some flowers again. You could even pre-record messages to your in-laws, finally free to tell them what you really thought of the old dragon, and assure them that all those years you bought little Jimmy those lovely soaps for Christmas, the idea was that one day he might actually USE them!
To be truly effective, there would of course need to be some kind of ability for data input into this system. For example, you could have the footy scores fed through in order that you may be able to share in the fact that your team, which had not won the flag in 92 years, suddenly decided to do so the year after your death.
However, while coupled with existing technology, this concept may seem like a bit of a harmless gimmick, should the accmpanying technology improve dramatically, it is not impossible to imagine this as a big-brother type tool of social control. Perhaps it could be programmed to recognise the growing pile of dishes in the sink and a hologram image of yourself would periodically appear in front of the TV (say, every time his team was poised to have a shot on goal) until the offending dishes were cleared! Alternatively, it could be put to more disturbing uses, such as combing your partner's inbox for evidence that they were moving on, then sending him or her guilt-inducing messages.
Not many of us welcome the idea of suddenly ceasing to exist - just ask Walt Disney! But although tools like this may seem like a great way to be remembered after your death, the fallibility of human memory should not warrant its replacement with a mechanical memory unless we are willing to risk losing one of the unique traits that makes us who we are.
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