In a post from 2020 I asked readers if they would digitally reconnect with a lost loved one. I explored advances in affective computing, a field of computer science that is dedicated to building systems that encroach on tasks that require our affective capabilities, our capacity for feelings and emotions. There are systems, for example, that can look at a person’s face and tell whether they are happy, confused, surprised, or delighted. In that post, I shared a video that brings this form of computing to life. On February 6, 2020, a Korean TV show called Meeting You, which focuses on lost family, reunited a mother with her deceased child in the virtual world. The mom was strapped in a VR headset and brought into a massive green room. She was provided touch-sensitive gloves. This allowed her to move around and even interact with her daughter.

This past week, the video below explored the same form of computing, this time via a chatbot that can digitally resurrect a deceased persons digital persona for loved ones to interact with. The title of the video is: “This Could Be One of the Most Disturbing New Pieces of Technology”. In the earlier post, I shared a poll question asking readers to consider this question: Are you receptive to interacting with a digital version of a deceased loved one? Two years later, I am sharing the poll again. When the poll closes, I will share the results – both from the earlier poll and this one. Please take the poll below after watching the video.