La mort à l'ère numérique : Chances et risques du Digital Afterlife

L’une des dernières barrières de la vie a cédé : même la mort se numérise. La présente étude examine comment les outils numériques pourraient redéfinir la fin de vie et le deuil. De la planification funéraire à la communication post-mortem avec des « deadbots », le livre propose une typologie détaillée du domaine du Digital Afterlife. Alors que des coffres-forts numériques permettent de centraliser en toute sécurité documents importants et dernières volontés, de nouveaux outils d’intelligence artificielle proposent même de pouvoir garder une sorte de contact avec les défunts. Mais que faire des souvenirs non souhaités, des réanimations virtuelles et des existences qui continuent en ligne ?

À travers une approche sociologique, psychologique, philosophique et éthique, l’étude explore en profondeur les implications du Digital Afterlife. Les résultats montrent l’importance d’une meilleure prise de conscience en matière de gestion des données numériques post-mortem. Les acteurs impliqués – développeurs techniques, accompagnants, professionnels du deuil – sont
des acteurs essentiels pour une bonne protection des droits des défunts et de leurs proches face à ces nouvelles technologies.

****

The process of digitalisation is becoming prevalent not only in all spheres of life, but also in the field of death and dying as a whole. Today, digital aids are significantly broadening the range of options for dealing with mourning and death. Apps and websites are available that enable us to plan our end of life or our own funeral, specify wishes and retain cherished memories, pass on condolences to surviving relatives, share grief with others, and not only maintain a form of contact with deceased persons, but also keep up a kind of exchange with them. There are now platforms on which users can centrally save all documents relating to their decease in a secure environment, ranging from wills and patients’ instructions, through to last wishes concerning their funeral. There are also chatbots – which in the context of this study are referred to as “deadbots” – which for example are intended to facilitate a virtual exchange with deceased persons thanks to recourse to artificial intelligence. But there are also certain risks associated with these new digital options relating to death and mourning. For example, the mourning process could be disturbed if grieving relatives should be exposed to undesired memories of the deceased or an intervention in their private sphere. The possibility also cannot be ruled out that digitised recollections and personal data of the deceased person could be used in a manner that runs contrary to the latter’s values or wishes, for example in that they could be “revived” virtually, even though the deceased person would not have consented to this during his/her lifetime.

Against this backdrop, the present study focuses on current issues relating to the digital afterlife, which is understood to refer to the active or passive digital presence of people after their decease. The aim of the study is to provide an overview of the available applications, services and tools, and illustrate how the new applications influence our relationship with mourning and death. In this context the study questions how individual and collective mourning and rituals, and our relationship with death, are influenced by the availability and use of these digital technologies. It also examines issues relating to the freedoms, rights and
interests of individuals, focusing both on people at the end of their life, and on their relatives. It explains why it is important for the general public to concern themselves more closely with digital inheritance and digital estate planning, and to take appropriate measures to the extent to which they correspond with their wishes. In this context the study examines in detail the most important philosophical and ethical issues relating to death in the digital age.