FORUM Telepresence after

Abstract edge the role of that makes it appear that he or she is communicating with one or more other people This paper examines some of the increasingly sophisticated or entities” (International Society for Presence Re- attempts by humans to evoke the presence of themselves search, 2000). or others after death and considers these efforts in the We begin with a brief discussion of attitudes and be- context of telepresence theory and research. Potential fu- haviors that demonstrate the strong human need for a ture research and ethical implications are also addressed. sense of the presence of those who have died.

1 Introduction 2 The Need for Presence after Death

At Wired magazine’s NextFest 2005, Hanson Ro- Because death is a universal, mysterious, and often botics presented an android in the image of deceased sci- disturbing phenomenon, we are naturally interested in ence fiction writer Philip K. Dick. A team of scientists, art- death and develop complex beliefs and behaviors re- ists, literary scholars and writers created it as a “powerful garding it. Margaret Mead (1930) writes: memorial to the author.” “Celebrating and resurrecting” Dick using “expressive hardware, natural language Death plays an important part in our lives at the un- AI, and machine vision,” the android was said to “depict conscious level. Cultural attitudes toward death have the author with stunning accuracy” (Rhodes, 2006; see been influenced by and are illustrative of unconscious also Christensen, 2005). dynamic mechanisms known to psychoanalysis as re- While humans have used markers, paintings, gression, repression, projection and rationalization.... and other to evoke the sense of the pres- [A]ll are quite concerned, not only for them- ence of loved ones after they have died, the Dick an- selves as men and women who die, but as survivors of droid is one of many recent, and arguably increasingly deceased kin making special adjustment to a world successful, efforts to use sophisticated technology to whose familiar order has been changed. (p. 183) recreate the presence of people after they die. This paper Throughout the centuries and the world, a variety of reviews technologies that can evoke presence after religious, philosophical, and psychological theories and death, and considers them in the context of telepresence beliefs have helped survivors of the deceased feel some scholarship. It concludes with suggestions for future sense of closeness with the departed. These include life research and an introduction of some important ethical issues raised by this type of telepresence. Telepresence is defined here following Lombard and Ditton (1997) as a perceptual illusion of nonmediation created by technol- Matthew Lombard* ogy; in this case the key relevant dimension of telepres- Melissa E. Markaridian Selverian ence is social telepresence, which “occurs when part or & Communication Program all of a person’s perception fails to accurately acknowl- Temple University Annenberg Hall 2020 North 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19122 Presence, Vol. 17, No. 3, June 2008, 310–325 © 2008 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology *Correspondence to [email protected].

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after death, , , and Evidence of this yearning can be found in the human (Anderson, 1965; Park, n.d.).1 fascination with the possibility of actually communicat- With a notable exception during the last century (see ing with the dead through shamans, mediums, clairvoy- Essman, 2005; Nason, 2004), we have always sought ants, and channelers (Dombeck, 1994; Kastenbaum, continued closeness with the departed: 2006b). Today, mediums can be found on TV (e.g., John Edward’s program “Crossing Over”; Official Until the twentieth century, maintaining a bond with the deceased had been considered a normal part of John Edward Website, n.d.), in theaters and in town the bereavement process in Western society. In con- centers, appealing to a growing population of survivors trast, in the twentieth century the view prevailed that seeking out contact with their lost loved ones successful required the bereaved to emo- (Schwartz, Simon, & Russek, 2002). Fictional tales of tionally detach themselves from the deceased. (Kas- those who can communicate with the dead (e.g., the tenbaum, 2006a, Continuing Bonds, Detachment TV program “ Whisperer”; Ghost Whisperer, Revisited) n.d.) are also popular. The attempted means of communication have The 1996 book Continuing Bonds: Another View of evolved. In the modern phenomenon known as began to challenge this popular model, and recent “Raves,” individuals gather to dance away problems conclusions present a different view: such as death in a high-, unified group movement The development of a bond is conscious, dynamic, (Hutson, 2000); online raves attempt to alter states of and changing....Many believe the deceased are consciousness for such purposes as “contact[ing] spirits there to intervene and support them....[C]hildren or...experienc[ing] spiritual energy from other times and adolescents...build a new relationship with the and dimensions” (Brown, 1997, p. viii). In electronic deceased by talking to the deceased, locating the de- voice phenomena (EVP), the voices of the dead are said ceased (usually in heaven), experiencing the deceased to be heard in audio recordings (see American Associa- in their dreams, visiting the grave, feeling the pres- tion of Electronic Voice Phenomena, n.d., and Alcock, ence of the deceased, and by participating in mourn- n.d.). While critics have been just as vocal against the ing rituals....Adults also find themselves dreaming, theories of after-death communication, the afterworld talking to, and feeling the presence of the deceased. remains a reality to countless believers (King, 2001). (Constructing a Bond) Yearning for the presence of those who have died is In the first empirical study of Kubler-Ross’ (1969) likely to become more prevalent in countries such as well-known model of the stages of grief, Maciejewski, America where death rates will increase (e.g., due to the Zhang, Block, and Prigerson (2007) found that “yearn- large baby boom generation). ing, not depressive mood, is the salient psychological response to natural death” (p. 721); it is “more about yearning and pining and missing the person—a hunger 3 Using Technology to Evoke Presence for having them come back” (Conlon, 2007). after Death

The living have often relied on technology—de- 1. The term presence traditionally has religious connotations: “The [Catholic] doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy fined broadly as “a machine, device, or other application Eucharist, is literally and wholly present—body and blood, of human industrial arts...includ[ing] traditional and and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine. Evangelicals and Fundamentalists frequently attack this doctrine as ‘unbiblical,’ but emerging electronic media...andtraditional arts such the is forthright in declaring it” (Catholic Answers, n.d.). The as painting and sculpture” (ISPR, 2000)—to help them Real Presence Association (http://www.therealpresence.org) is dedi- cated to “Eucharistic Education and Adoration,” and its web site con- attain some sense of physical and social presence or con- tains a detailed exploration of the doctrine. nection with the departed.

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3.1 Treatment of the Body author Suzanne Curchod Necker (1739–1794) left in- structions that her corpse be preserved under glass in a Especially in the difficult period immediately fol- tank of alcohol; English philosopher, jurist, and political lowing a death, technology is often used to create the theorist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) asked to be per- illusion that the deceased (not just their body) contin- manently embalmed and kept at the University of Lon- ues to be physically present (this illusion may make later don, where his corpse, “now fitted with a head made of belief in their unseen presence seem more reasonable). wax, is regularly wheeled into college meetings, where it Many cultures follow rituals including the viewing of is duly recorded in the minutes as ‘present, but not vot- the body, a , and casket or (San- ing’” (Hijiya, 1983, p. 356); and today thousands of ford, 2002). Before a viewing, available technology is people add their names to the donor roster for the con- typically used to make the deceased appear as close to troversial Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds museum his physical likeness as possible to evoke, among other displays that feature “Anatomical Exhibition of Real things, a sense that he or she is present among the survi- Human Bodies” (Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds, vors (Taylor, 1989). “The ritual viewing of the body n.d.). And modern human mummification is available promotes social cohesion by uniting [the] family at a (Summum, n.d.).2 time of crisis” with each other and with the deceased It is worth noting that various forms of taxidermy are (DiLeo, 1994). used to retain the presence of our pets (see Auf wie- Meinwald (1999) notes that the viewing of the body dersehen pet, 2003; Perpetual Pet, n.d.), although we helps the survivors accept and adjust to the reality of the find no evidence of its use with human bodies. One person’s death. “The and cosmeticizing of company that offers this service notes: the corpse, on the other hand, perpetuates the image of life, making the body a symbol of continuity rather than We at Perpetual Pet know that the loss of a dearly finality” (part 4). loved pet is a very difficult experience. Through the use of new techniques in freeze dry technology, we The great problem for survivors in all cultures is to can offer a “Loving and Lasting” alternative to burial, convert “homeless ,” particularly those of the cremation, or traditional taxidermy. Freeze-dry pet recently dead, into comfortably enshrined or immor- preservation creates a lasting memorial and more im- talized souls. Funeral ceremonies are rites of passage portantly, preserves your pet in a natural state thereaf- precisely for this purpose. What is involved is the sym- ter, without any alteration in appearance. This allows bolic transformation of a threatening, inert image (of pet owners to see, touch, and hold their pets, and in a the corpse) into a vital image of eternal continuity (the sense, “never have to let go.” Best of all, freeze-dry soul)—or of death as absolute severance to death as an pet preservation results in the preservation of your aspect of continuous life. (Lifton, 1979, p. 95; empha- pet’s actual, physical body. This is in sharp contrast to sis in original) the conventional method of taxidermy, in which only the outer hide of the animal typically remains, at- In some cases the preservation of the physical likeness tached to a plastic form or other type of artificial (and thus a form of presence) of the deceased is contin- mounting. (Perpetual Pet, n.d.) ued beyond the funeral. Ancient Egyptians were fixated We work to create a pose and appearance that will with the viewing and preserving of the body and took look as natural as possible....Even from a distance this to the extreme of mummification (Hackett, 2003), of a mere couple of feet or so, it will be difficult to tell but even America in the late 1800s was said to be Egyp- any difference at all, save the lack of movement....If tianized, as airtight coffins and arterial-injection em- balming promised (but could not deliver) permanent 2. For those who choose cremation, there are urns that “represent preservation of the body (Hijiya, 1983). The trend cer- the passion of your (or your loved one’s) life” such as the insignia of tainly wasn’t limited to post Civil America. French their favorite baseball team (Eternal Image, n.d.).

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not subjected to subsequent damage (dirt, spills, 1995). Already available, Memory Medallions are metal stains, weather, mistreatment, etc.) there should be disks the size of large coins that are “embedded in a no further change or deterioration. With a little care, monument, memorial, or grave marker” and contain “a your pet can be held, carried, transported, and even digital memory device that holds a photograph and life gently petted. (Perpetual Pet, n.d., Pet Preservation story of your loved one” (Memory Medallion, n.d., : How Will My Pet Look and Last?) Products). A Memory Medallion “touch wand” is used to download the material onto a handheld or laptop Dutch designer Erik Klarenbeek has taken this evoca- : tion of presence a step further by combining taxidermy with animatronics to create Poekie, a “battery-operated With the Memory Medallion, we can connect with stuffed cat...fitted with a mechanism that re-creates our ancestors and families in ways never before possi- the animal’s breathing and purring” (Debatty, 2006). ble. We can look into their faces and see family re- semblances. We can read of their lives, their hopes and dreams, their accomplishments. The Memory 3.2 Grave Markers, Epitaphs and Other Medallion brings the past to life in the most vivid and Memorials meaningful way possible. What a beautiful way to The marking of the location that a person has share memories. (Memory Medallion, n.d., Home) been buried is another way to evoke the presence of that The VidStone Serenity Panel takes a more direct ap- person and our memories of them. The most common proach and includes sound (even a headphone jack). A technology for this has been gravestones. While the screen attached to the headstone Modern Plain Style of American gravestone carving fea- tures “an absence of ornament and a minimum of in- playsa5to10minute multimedia personal tribute, scription” (suggesting our attitude of “studied igno- recapturing the most precious moments of a loved rance” of death), the Monument Style of the nineteenth one’s life. A visit to a will never be the same. century used variety and size to evoke the individual: Now, as never before, paying tribute to one who has passed on is an interactive experience embedded with The Urn-and-Willows had all said, “Remember me meaning and memories that will last forever. (Vid- and weep.” The Monuments also said, “Remember Stone, n.d.) me;” but they often gave a particular reason for doing so (the dead’s profession, youthfulness, achievement, Even more advanced, a project at the Georgia Insti- etc.) and invited a particular response (e.g., curiosity, tute of Technology’s Augmented Environments Lab pity, admiration). The bond between the living and uses (AR) technology at Atlanta’s the dead remained strong, but now it was more Oakland cemetery: tightly fastened to distinct individuals. (Hijiya, 1983, pp. 355–356) Imagine wandering through a southern Victorian-era cemetery shaded by ancient oaks dripping with Span- Carved epitaphs (“on the gravestone” in Greek) fur- ish moss, seeing images of the people who are buried ther identify and help evoke the deceased, in some cases under the crumbling stones appear and listening as through their own words (“It was also the only form in they tell you their stories... [The] team is working on which the authors could imagine themselves dead, yet adding the appropriate ghostly images to the tour, addressing the living”; Demoor, 2005). which users will view through a head-mounted dis- Modern technology is allowing more vivid evocations play unit. The ’ appearances will probably be of the deceased. Grave site devices that play audio re- activated by RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] cordings of the deceased stored on computer (flash) tags on the . (Delio, 2005; see also MacIntyre, memory storage devices have been proposed (Boggio, Bolter, & Gandy, 2004)

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There are many other types of memorials that evoke (Mattison, n.d.; Meinwald, 1999). Writing about early presence including monuments, fountains, buildings daguerreotype photography, Mattison notes: named after the deceased, trees planted in their names, Most simply, the death portrait, especially a picture of art installations,3 even less tangible objects such as en- a dead child alone, was a memorial. If the daguerreo- dowed academic positions (a special physical chair is type served as an accurate portrait of the soul, of a often created for the person holding the position), person’s essence, it was doubly effective, with its ac- scholarships, and so on. curacy and haunting depth, as a way of keeping the A modern and international type of memorial worth memory of a dead child fresh, of bringing a dead noting is the roadside memorial, where family members child back to life. (Chapter Three: The Mourning and friends spontaneously mark the location of a death Portrait) with flowers, plaques, messages, photographs, and other objects they associate with the deceased (see, e.g., Clark In addition to the works in National Portrait Galleries & Franzmann, 2004). and the countless stone and metal statues in national capitals and elsewhere, the largest sculpture that evokes Dave Nance, a Madison, Wis., amateur photographer the presence of the famous is probably the one etched who has published a gallery of roadside memorials on into the side of South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore that his web site, said the practice might provide a sense of features the faces of four American presidents (Washing- being “with” the deceased better than a gravesite can. ton, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln). “My speculation, is that people actually feel closer to We also recreate the presence of the dead with wax the person who died when they are at the place where sculptures such as those at Madame Tussauds; celebrity that person was last alive, than they do when they are lookalikes, impersonators, and tribute artists and bands at the place where the person’s body is buried,” he (see, e.g., Homan, 2006; Splitting Images Celebrity said. “I have no personal experience with this, but I Lookalike Agency, n.d.; Tapley Entertainment, n.d.); think I can understand it.” Because the deceased do single person stage shows such as Mark Twain Tonight not visit their gravesite before death, survivors may [Hal Holbrook “becomes the legendary character for not feel their loved ones [sic] presence there. (Riddle, 90 minutes” (Mark Twain Tonight, n.d.)]; elaborate 2004) theatrical productions such as Beatlemania; and “living history presentations” in which “people perform history 3.3 Paintings, Statues, and Other Art live, stepping into the shoes of war leaders, sports he- The technologies of art are often used to create roes, and civil rights activists of the 1930s and ’40s.” likenesses of those who have died to evoke their mem- (Yates, 2004; see also Handler & Saxton, 1988). ory and presence. We create or commission drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and statues to pro- 3.4 Traditional Print and Electronic 4 vide a sense of closeness with deceased family members Media as well as national figures. Among the more interesting art forms are postmortem paintings and photography In most cultures, humans use a variety of common technologies, including written narratives, photographs,

3. The “Tribute in Light” memorial is a moving example, two col- and audio and audiovisual recordings, to retain a sense umns of light rising from the site of the World Trade Center each of physical and social presence with those who have died dusk to dawn from March 11 to April 14, 2001 and on each anniver- (Phelan, 2002). sary of the September 11, 2001 attacks; the lights “recreate [the] twin towers in spectral form” (Dunlap, 2002) to honor those who per- In American society, many families have a self- ished. appointed or designated historian of sorts, responsible 4. This paper was inspired in part by the effectiveness of a charcoal drawing and oil painting in evoking the sense of presence of the first for the documentation and preservation of major cul- author’s deceased dog (see http://matthewlombard.com/Sidra). tural events that affect the family, including the loss of a

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loved one (see Association of Personal Historians, Inc., are physically, socially, and psychologically vivid and n.d., and Brown, 2004). Americans and others keep “real.” diaries, scrapbooks, photo albums, and collections Many of these involve creative uses of the . to maintain a connection with family members, living Memorial web sites incorporate earlier technologies in a and dead. They read eulogies and after the convenient, accessible, relatively permanent, multisen- passing of a loved one and assemble biographies to me- sory venue. The Google directory of online memorials morialize the deceased. To preserve their own presence (n.d.) includes nearly 700 sites such as MemorialPage. after death, they create written and oral histories, write com (“As long as you remember someone they will live autobiographies, and leave personal letters, diaries, and forever”; MemorialPage.com, n.d.) and others that al- audio and audiovideo recordings to be used to evoke low users to create memorials that include various com- their presence only when they are gone. binations of text (obituaries, eulogies, stories, poetry), The technology used need not be sophisticated to images (drawings, photos), audio and video recordings, evoke presence: and guest books for visitors. With increasingly sophisti- [Matt] McCernon, 36 when he died of AIDS in cated cemetery web sites, “virtual visitors [can] purchase 1990, wasn’t a devoted diary-keeper, but in the last flowers, make memorial donations, see the park on a several months of his life, he filled several notebooks, web cam and view family pictures of the loved one” confiding his fears about his illness. “I’d read them (McKeon, 2006, para. 3). over and over, because it was almost like talking to In addition to a simple epitaph, we can now control him,” [his partner, Joe] Quinn says. (Hochman, the sense of presence we evoke after we die with an 2007, p. E11) e-mail message sent to our loved ones (and/or others) by DeathSwitch.com (n.d.), triggered automatically The same technologies are used to memorialize and by our failure to respond to regular e-mail prompts retain the presence of the deceased in the wider com- that ask us to confirm we’re alive. Or we can record a munity. Commemorations of fallen servicemen and video for an online feature such as the New women, for instance, often prompt the publication of York Times’ “The Last Word” [several celebrities, a photographs and biographies in newspapers and televi- former president, and a notable scientist have re- sion and radio broadcasts (recently American news pro- corded theirs, following humorist Art Buchwald’s, grams including ABC’s Nightline (“Nightline” to Honor “The Fallen,” 2005) and This Week and PBS’ which begins, “Hi, I’m Art Buchwald, and I just The NewsHour have presented the names, ages, and died” (Munarriz, 2007)]. photos of servicemen and women killed in Iraq). Na- Extending the roadside memorials mentioned above tional servicemen/women and leaders in earlier genera- to the web, personal pages on social networking sites tions who lost their lives in service are remembered in such as MySpace and Facebook of (mostly young) peo- TV programs and films, school textbooks, and even re- ple who die often become sites of mourning. Amanda corded reenactments of historic events. German satellite Lenhart, a senior researcher at the Pew Internet & broadcaster Etos TV has launched a “bereavement American Life Project, notes that “These are places channel” that airs “short film obituaries about the re- where people in many ways lived their lives online. And cently deceased” based on materials, and a fee of what better way to grieve or mourn a person than in a €2,000, provided by relatives (Scally, 2007). space they created” (Mourning on MySpace, 2007). The MyDeathSpace web site (n.d.) compiles the infor- mal MySpace memorial sites. “With all the obituary 3.5 New and Emerging Technologies postings, there is a strong sense of the presence of the A variety of technologies are now significantly en- deceased” (Cassidy, 2006). Many posts are written as hancing our ability to evoke the departed in ways that though the recipient were still alive (St. John, 2006).

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“Since the pages are personal it sort of feels like you presentation have also been used to recreate the experi- are still able to talk to the person you just lost, and it ence of a live concert by a deceased artist: seems to offer an intimate means of sitting down by yourself and having that last goodbye,” said Phil London [sets] the stage for Frank Sinatra’s latest and Lorenz, 27, a family friend who posted a goodbye greatest comeback, a new show called Sinatra at the message. (Mourning on MySpace, 2007) London Palladium....Never-before-seen 35 mm film was uncovered and digitally re-mastered, bring- Mr. Shorkey said he and his wife remained in touch ing the singer vividly to life. Because the vocal and with their daughter’s friends through MySpace. And orchestral tracks were recorded separately, Frank’s they visit her web page daily. “Some days it makes me voice could be separated from the music—the live feel she’s still there,” he said. “And some days it re- orchestra to be added later on....Theincorporation minds me I can never have that contact again.” (St. of other live elements—singers, dancers, and special John, 2006) effects—further enhances the idea that Sinatra is per- forming live onstage. A very different and disturbing use of the internet for staying connected with the deceased involves installing Sinatra: His Voice. His World. His Way premiered at in caskets before burial and webcasting the im- Radio City Music Hall in October 2003 for a limited ages (e.g., Death dot com by Andy War, 2004, and special engagement of two weeks. The run may have SeeMeRot.com, n.d.). been short, but the show created an instant buzz. The ability of film to retain the presence of deceased Sinatra performed each night to rave reviews and actors has long been noted: sold-out crowds. There was no doubt about it— Frank was back. (Sinatra at the Palladium, n.d., The The visual arts, wrote the French critic Andre´ Bazin Show: Background) in 1945, have “a complex”—they spring from a desire to preserve the human body from decay. A person’s presence can be reproduced with more The power of film, Mr. Bazin argued, is that it em- than recorded images and sounds. Animatronics (mech- balms more completely than any previous medium, anized puppets), for instance, have long been used to preserving not only anatomy but movements and evoke the presence of American presidents at Disney- sounds. (Klawans, 2004) world: “In a one-of-a-kind combination of dazzling widescreen film, breath-taking Audio Animatronics® But now we can do more than just replay the record- and Disney storytelling, all 42 U. S. presidents gather to ings of those who have died. In the 1980s and 1990s hear the words of Abraham Lincoln” (Walt Disney simple digital effects allowed living actors to seem to World Resort—The Hall of Presidents, n.d.). interact with previously captured film versions of dead A series of technologies are now available or emerg- ones (e.g., Steve Martin with Humphrey Bogart and ing to let individuals recreate their own or someone James Cagney in “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”), and else’s presence in a form that could remain after death. new techniques that manipulate archival film footage Many companies (e.g., Life Size Greetings, n.d.) pro- allow actors to “[speak] lines [they] never spoke and duce full size cardboard cutouts of individuals based on [make] gestures [they] never made” (e.g., Lawrence a photograph. A 2006 news story describes a memorial Olivier in “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” party held after a soldier was killed in Iraq: “Friends and (Klawans, 2004). The technologies are being used in family were photographed with a full-size cutout of advertising too, as in a series of ads featuring a [Army Special Forces Capt. Jeffrey “Toz”] Toczylowski new iPod-wearing incarnation of popcorn icon Orville in a red flight suit and Russian hat. The cutout took Redenbacher (Parpis, 2007). part in a limbo contest, and several of Toz’s former girl- Sophisticated techniques of digital manipulation and friends danced with it” (Sipchen, 2006).

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A new service in the will let base of an individual human life. DARPA hopes that residents create photorealistic avatars by uploading a the project, called LifeLog, will yield clues about how single photograph, and then purchase 3D printed repli- to make more humanlike. (Rae-Dupree, 2003) cas (CyberExtruder, 2007). It’s quite expensive Suggesting other uses of these stores of information (£150,000), but one can order a personal Madame Tus- about an individual, Microsoft has patented the concept sauds wax figure (“Imagine giving a gift that money of “immortal computing,” technologies that would “let can’t buy. Something as unique as they are: a life-size people store digital information in physical artifacts and sculpture of themselves, created by the talent [sic] team other forms to be preserved and revealed to future gen- of craftsmen at Madame Tussauds. Imagine the reaction erations, and maybe even to future ” of friends and family when they see the life-like figure. (Bishop, 2007). Imagine no more” (Harrods, 2005; I Want One of Those, n.d.). Or there is less expensive life casting or One scenario the researchers envision: People could body casting, “the art of taking molds directly from the store messages to descendants, information about human body” (Life-casting.com, n.d.). their lives or interactive holograms of themselves for In 2006, the graphics company NVIDIA created a access by visitors at their tombstones or urns. And virtual, real-time interactive version of model and “real- here’s where the notion of immortality really kicks in: ity” television star Adrienne Curry (who commented on The researchers say the artifacts could be symbolic how eerie it is to see, and especially be looked at by, her representations of people, reflecting elements of their realistic virtual self; New NVIDIA Graphics, 2006). personalities. The systems might be set up to take Dan Vivoli, senior vice president of marketing at action—e-mailing birthday greetings to people iden- NVIDIA, is quoted as saying, “The digital Adrianne can tified as grandchildren, for example. demonstrate the same range of emotions, movements, The goal of a project at the University of Illinois at and attitudes and appear just as lifelike as her living, Chicago and the University of Central Florida in Or- breathing counterpart” and “The uses for this techno- lando funded by the National Science Foundation is to logical breakthrough are truly endless.” “combine artificial intelligence with the latest advanced Several related projects offer the potential to combine graphics and video game-type technology to enable us physical likeness with stores of information about a per- to create historical archives of people beyond what can son to create artificially intelligent versions of people be achieved using traditional technologies such as text, who have died. Microsoft’s MyLifeBits project (2006; audio, and video footage,” according to lead principal see also Wilkinson, 2007) and the U.S. Government’s investigator Jason Leigh ( for Virtual LifeLog project (n.d.) are exploring ways of collecting Eternity, 2007; see also Towards Lifelike Computer our individual experiences. Interfaces, n.d.). UIC’s Electronic Visualization Labora- tory will build [W]ork is underway to get to capture hu- man life and remember it as people do—recalling bits a state-of-the-art motion-capture studio to digitalize of experience that are linked by a common time or the image and movement of real people who will go place or person. At Microsoft Research, computing on to live a virtual eternity in virtual reality. Knowl- pioneer Gordon Bell has stockpiled all the printed edge will be archived into databases. Voices will be and digital detritus of his 68 years of life; now he’s analyzed to create synthesized but natural-sounding developing tools to turn this computerized shoebox “virtual” voices. Mannerisms will be studied and used into a memory aid. And the Pentagon’s Defense Ad- in creating the 3D virtual forms, known technically as vanced Research Projects Agency wants to combine avatars. Leigh said his team hopes to create virtual sensors, cameras, bugging devices, and wearable com- people who respond with a high degree of recogni- puters to capture a comprehensive, searchable data- tion to different voices and the various ways questions

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are phrased....“We’re trying to tip towards being as ing over 10,000 pages of the author’s writings, and so- naturalistic as possible.”...Leigh sees a commercial phisticated natural language processing, speech synthe- market for preserving virtual people whose critical or sis, and artificial intelligence programming, “The Philip unique knowledge is vital to operations of corpora- K. Dick robot is a machine that literally holds a conver- tions and other institutions. Faster, more powerful sation with you, looks you in the eye, and has an open- computers in the future will likely enhance the realism ended conversation, where you can talk about just of these interactive avatars. How they will be used is about anything” (A Ubiquity interview, 2006). The limited only by one’s imagination. (Virtual Reality for android depicts the author in form and intellect that Virtual Eternity, 2007) simulate a human more realistically than any technology before it. When asked about the future, David Hanson Androids (robots that look and act like humans) have of Hanson Robotics says, “I’m interested in making the potential to produce an even greater sense of the these robots easily custom-designed and mass produc- presence of someone who has died. Hiroshi Ishiguro at ible” (A Ubiquity interview, 2006). ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Labora- Based on these early projects, it is not difficult to tories has created an android version of himself. imagine a day in the future when we’ll store nearly all of Ishiguro’s silicone-and-steel doppelga¨nger was made our experiences in a computer and then install them in from casts taken from his own body. Powered by an artificially intelligent android that looks and acts pressurized air and small actuators, it runs on semiau- nearly exactly like us as it interacts with our family and tonomous motion programs. It blinks and fidgets in friends after we are gone. its seat, moving its foot up and down restlessly, its shoulders rising gently as though it were breathing. These micromovements are so convincing that it’s 4 Interpretations and Research hard to believe this is a machine—it seems more like a Directions man wearing a rubber mask. But a living, breathing man....Ishiguro said he wants the robot to have Those who create, market, and use these technol- sonzai-kan, or presence. His group will try to quantify ogies rarely use the terms telepresence or presence, and the elusive quality that makes people sit up and take never use them in the scholarly sense, but it is clear that notice, and figure out how it can be captured and they seek to evoke a “psychological state or subjective transmitted. “I want to check whether students, as perception” in which “part or all of a person’s percep- well as my family, can feel my presence through tion fails to accurately acknowledge the role of technol- Geminoid,” says Ishiguro, who seems perfectly at ease ogy that makes it appear that he or she is communicat- with his new twin. (Hornyak, 2006) ing with one or more other people” (International Society for Presence Research, 2000), in this case peo- Finally, in 2005, Hanson Robotics Inc. (HRI), with ple who have died. It is also clear that the trend, from the FedEx Institute of Technology’s Institute for Intel- simple grave markers and paintings to artificially intelli- ligent Systems (IIS) and the Automation and Robotics gent androids, is toward illusions that have increasingly Research Institute (ARRI), created an android in the greater potential to be effective and consequential. The image of deceased science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, technologies and related phenomena therefore suggest author of many stories including the one behind the several opportunities for productive research by telepres- film Blade Runner. A team of scientists, artists, literary ence scholars. scholars, and writers worked together to make Dick A series of basic research questions concern which the android a “living” memorial to the author (Hanson current and emerging technologies are more and less Robotics, 2005). Featuring an elastic polymer called effective in evoking a sense of the presence of someone Frubber, tracking cameras in its eyes, a database includ- who has died. Presence scholarship and research (Ger-

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hard et al., 2004; Green, 2004; Hamza-Lup & Rolland, which the phenomenon of the “uncanny valley” (Mori, 2004; Hou & Aoki, 2004; Isgro et al., 2004; Kim & 1970), the eerie and even frightened response to nearly Biocca, 1997; Lombard & Ditton, 1997; Nitzsche et but not perfectly realistic synthetic humans, will be par- al., 2004; Riva et al., 2007; Schneider et al., 2004; and ticularly important. MacDorman (2005) even reports an Steuer, 1992) has established that the nature of the ex- experiment that suggests the uncanny reaction is due to perience depends on many factors, which can be the viewer’s being reminded of his or her own mortality. roughly divided into media form, media content, and The nature of the content presented via the technolo- media user. gies and techniques is also critical to their ability to Regarding media form, telepresence scholarship sug- evoke this kind of telepresence. Social realism, the ex- gests that the technologies and techniques surveyed tent to which the social characteristics presented corre- here that involve greater rather than less movement spond to those of the physical world (International So- (e.g., a video vs. a photo of the deceased), interactivity ciety for Presence Research, 2000), is likely most (e.g., Ishiguro’s artificially intelligent android vs. a important. Most often used to refer to the storylines, statue or bodycasting of the deceased), number of sen- characters, and acting in fiction, here it is the extent to sory channels (e.g., the visual, aural, and tactile Philip K. which the recreated person behaves as the actual person Dick robot vs. an audio recording of an oral history), did or might have—does he or she say and do the sorts and vividness (e.g., holograms, androids, robots, and of things he or she did when alive? (Green, 2004; Lom- 3D avatars vs. a newspaper death notice) would all pro- bard & Ditton, 1997; Schneider et al., 2004). The topic duce greater telepresence (Gerhard et al., 2004; Green, of the presentation or interaction would logically matter 2004; Hamza-Lup & Rolland, 2004; Hou & Aoki, as well, with familiar and shared personal topics more 2004; Isgro et al., 2004; Kim & Biocca, 1997; Lom- compelling than generic ones, for example. bard & Ditton, 1997; Nitzsche et al., 2004; and Steuer, As with other telepresence experiences, the technol- 1992). Technologies that involve physical embodiment ogy user’s willingness to suspend disbelief, knowledge in which the medium itself represents the deceased per- of and prior experience with the medium, age, gender, son (e.g., Ishiguro’s android) rather than those in which and other characteristics would likely play a substantial the person appears within the medium (e.g., a memorial role in his or her ability to experience the sense of the video) can reasonably be expected to evoke a more ef- presence of a person who has died (Lombard & Ditton, fective illusion. Direct address in any of the media 1997). The nature of his or her relationship with the should evoke stronger illusions (e.g., a person repre- person before the person died and his or her emotional sented in a portrait or an android who looks directly at responses to the deceased person in life would be partic- the user), as should technologies and techniques that ularly critical: An equally sophisticated recreation of a function reliably and have fewer features that draw at- beloved spouse or family member, a family member tention to the artificial nature of the creation (e.g., the with whom the user didn’t get along, a famous or infa- Dick robot with real-to-life polymer skin and sophisti- mous public personality, and a complete stranger, cated natural language processing capabilities vs. a would all logically evoke different types and degrees of touch wand-activated grave site presentation on a laptop telepresence (Riva et al., 2007). Each of these research computer from a Memory Medallion; Lombard & Dit- questions could be productively investigated using the ton, 1997). A key form variable is likely to be perceptual current and emerging technologies described above and realism (or ecological validity or naturalness), the extent purposefully devised variations of them (likely in labora- to which technology-generated sensory characteristics tory and field experiments), with the goal of determin- correspond to those of the physical world, in this case ing which combinations of characteristics of technology the extent to which the recreated person looks, sounds, form, content, and consumer most effectively evoke this feels, and so on, as the actual person did. In particular, type of telepresence. it seems likely that this is a context of telepresence in Of course the next, and arguably more important,

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questions concern the consequences of this form of tele- machine that closely (perhaps nearly identically) mimics presence: To what extent and under what circumstances their appearance, personality, and behavior. does it lead to more evoked memories of the deceased; Among many ethical questions these trends raise are sorrow, joy, anger, and other strong emotions; contin- those of access: Who will be able to use telepresence to ued discussion and even advancement of the intellectual recreate themselves and/or their loved ones? As with and other contributions of the deceased; and especially a nearly all new media, as these technologies are first de- satisfaction to some small degree of the sense of yearn- veloped and refined they will only be available to the ing for the deceased, comfort, and successful bereave- wealthy, but they will likely never be generally afford- ment. able, creating another form of “digital divide.” Related research questions concern which current While continuing bonds with the deceased in a lim- technologies are most used and which future technolo- ited way is apparently healthy and productive, another gies are most desired by the public, and why (focus set of ethical questions concerns the likely effects of groups, qualitative interviews, and surveys would be continuing to live with the presence of a vivid simulated appropriate tools to address these). version of a deceased loved one. Satisfying the yearning A final set of research questions about telepresence for the deceased may seem positive at first, but would it after death concerns the ethical issues these technologies delay recognition (emotional if not intellectual) that the raise, and those issues are discussed next. person has died, and interfere with healthy bereave- ment? Modern views of bereavement favor a changed relationship with the deceased rather than no relation- 5 Ethical Implications ship at all, but would a telepresent version of the de- ceased encourage such a changed relationship or cause For centuries humans have been comforted by survivors to dwell too much on the past? beliefs, ritualized behaviors, and objects that make us Legal and ethical questions have already been raised feel that loved ones and friends who have died are still about manipulations of images and reputations of celeb- present with and connected to us. Especially when be- rities who have died (see Silversmith, 1998; Walker, reavement is seen as a way not to sever the connection 2005), for example, when dead stars are made to appear but to continue the bonds with the deceased, nearly all in television advertisements for products they may not of these means of coping with loss have been viewed as have endorsed when they were living. So manipulations comforting and positive; but as technology evolves and of the appearance and personality of telepresent versions the objects we keep or create to represent the dead be- of the deceased seem inevitable. Will we use the tech- come more sophisticated and realistic, we will be faced nologies solely to remember a person as they were? If with many important ethical choices. we design the android that will represent us, will we Some of the modern means of evoking the presence want it to accurately reflect our flaws and foibles? Or of the dead—for example, the in the casket— will we create subtly, or not-so-subtly, distorted repre- raise obvious ethical concerns. The more intriguing is- sentations of ourselves and our loved ones, and if so, sues stem from our growing ability to recreate the per- who will decide which distortions are appropriate? son in their living form, as we move beyond simple text, Other questions concern how we’ll interact with and drawings, photographs, and even film and video record- care for these sophisticated representations of the dead. ings, all the way to interactive and intelligent avatars and Will we only interact with them when we need comfort androids. One day soon, humans may be capable of re- and advice, or will we grant them a greater in our cording their experiences from the moment of birth lives and in society? As semi-autonomous beings, could until the moment of death and then having that infor- they eventually affect us and the world as do the living? mation used by their survivors (or themselves before And just as humans are subject to accidents, aging, and death) to recreate them in a vivid, artificially intelligent death, technological recreations of humans (whether

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simple or complex), can be accidentally damaged and of the natural order on our planet. Is it ethical to try to eventually age and cease to function. Will we mourn the subvert that order? loss of telepresent versions of loved ones as we do the These questions and issues are obviously complex and loved ones themselves? How will we treat their “bod- difficult, and we do not presume to have the answers. ies”?5 But clearly as in the case of so many technologies, our A few products and creations that recreate the dead growing ability to evoke the presence of those who have are one thing, but what happens when they are com- died brings potential for both great benefits and costs to monplace? For one thing, it may become difficult to us as individuals and members of evolving societies. And know who is living and who has died. David Eagleman as with other technologies related and unrelated to pres- (2006), writing in Nature, extrapolates a future scenario ence, we think it is essential to consider and discuss from today’s e-mail death switches: these potentials and direct the development of technol- ogies and their roles in our lives carefully and thought- Today, building a death switch to pretend you are not dead has become an art form. Death switches are fully. That discussion (perhaps initially via the delphi programmed to send a occasionally, make a trans- method of controlled debate; Linstone & Turoff, 1975) fer between bank accounts, or make an online pur- could productively begin with telepresence scholars chase of the latest novel. The most sophisticated along with experts in philosophy, clinical psychology, switches reminisce about shared adventures, exchange and bereavement, and with the public. memories about a good story, swap inside jokes, brag about past feats, summon up lifetimes of experience. In this way, death switches have established them- 6 Conclusions selves as a cosmic joke on mortality....This began as a good-spirited against the grave’s si- Telepresence phenomena have been identified and lence. The problem for those of us still living, how- explored in a wide variety of human experiences, but ever, is the increasing difficulty in sorting the dead few experiences are as universal as mortality and facing from the living. the loss and difficult adjustment that occur when those close to us die. Technology has long provided the Eventually, society could conceivably become domi- means for us to evoke the presence of the deceased, but nated by increasing numbers of previous generations, as that evocation is becoming increasingly vivid and realis- deceased family members are reproduced and exert in- tic. While this may cause substantial harm if the technol- fluence on their creators and then their creators’ descen- ogy is used thoughtlessly or unethically, it also raises the dents. As Edmund Burke (1999/1790) noted, society is very hopeful possibility of easing the grieving process. “a partnership not only between those who are living, Those who design telepresence technologies and study but between those who are living, those who are dead, telepresence can play a key role in accomplishing that and those who are to be born” but recreating ancestors important goal. so they become omnipresent could create an unequal, and problematic, partnership. Finally, the use of these technologies is a way to References (seem to) “beat death”—a kind of immortality (for a more extreme view see Tipler, 1994)—but death is part A Ubiquity interview with David Hanson. (2006). Ubiquity (An ACM IT Magazine and Forum), 7(18). Available at 5. The head of the android memorial of author Philip K. Dick was http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/ lost when its creator, David Hanson, accidentally left it on an airplane. v7i18_hanson.html. Retrieved June 29, 2007. “For Mr. Hanson the missing android is an open sore, straining his relations with Mr. Dick’s foundation and the author’s two surviving Alcock, J. E. (n.d.). Electronic voice phenomena: Voices of daughters” (Waxman, 2006). the dead? Committee for the Scientific Investigation of

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