Digital afterlife: challenges and technological innovations in pursuit of immortality

Abstract

Digital immortality, the idea of endless life and ultimate happiness in a virtual afterlife, has become a subject of human fascination. This article reports the results of a comprehensive research project focused on identifying the challenges and potential options related to digital immortality. Analyzing 39 relevant studies, our research concentrates on two main themes: the barriers to achieve the digital immortality and the tools created to preserve digital memories. Our findings reveal that the challenges associated with digital immortality are deeply rooted in legal, ethical, and social issues. Importantly, our focus is the challenges related to digital content left by the deceased, its collection method, and integrity in digital immortality research, as content forms the basis for achieving this objective. Furthermore, the research highlights the need for more advanced technology, as the number of studies is limited and current progress is primarily future-oriented. However, our analysis demonstrates that the digital content left by the deceased is paramount, as it constitutes the raw material for achieving digital immortality.