Necrorobotics: The Ethics of Resurrecting the Dead

• By drawing from recent progress in AI, this chapter scrutinises implications of a specific imaginary of automated futures: the possible resurrection of the dead. Necrorobotics is proposed as a field of critical studies on the use of data and design based on one specific dead individual in order to “resurrect” that individual. That is, to mimic or create some level of robotic agency for the sake of mourning, remembrance or handling of loss. The technological advancements of relevance are here referred to as resurrection technologies – that is, methods for the training of AI-models based on data from a specific individual, such as imagery, text and voice – in order to address connected ethical and normative questions. By drawing from theoretical discourses on mortuary cultures, post-mortem conditions in digital times as well as robotic uncanniness, this chapter uses three reported cases of necrorobotic practices in order to analyse imaginaries of being with the dead – from the eerie to the mundane. Lastly, this particular aspect of automated futures is argued to bring a number of ethical and legal questions, for example connected to who should have the right to make a decision to resurrect another person, how to understand potential markets for resurrection and potential misuses in terms of haunting.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Övrig annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Other Humanities not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Juridik -- Juridik och samhälle (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Law -- Law and Society (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Filosofi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Philosophy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

necrorobotics

resurrection technologies

robotics

human robot interaction

social robotics

generative AI

machine learning

being with the dead

mortuary cultures

necropolitics

AI and society

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