Metaverse Summit

💀As contemporary society continues to digitize, life in the metaverse raises the same timeless questions about what happens after death.

⁉️The age-old question of “what happens after we die” is one humanity has grappled with for millennia. Religions, philosophers and thought leaders have put forth theories about each person’s fate beyond life on earth. Until now, no factual, science-based conclusion has provided a satisfying answer.

😰Psychologists have understood that the fear of death — or the realization of mortality — is a major motivator of human action.

🧬Developments such as cloning and creating virtual worlds, which were previously science fiction, have come to reality, perhaps as another scramble to answer this question — or even defeat death.

🗾Now, in the age of the metaverse, humans are the architects of a new digital world and, therefore, a new digital life. In the Web3 space, the metaverse has garnered much attention from outside investment and increased participation from legacy companies.

💲The metaverse sector will have an estimated value of $5 trillion by 2030.Many believe that the metaverse will reshape how social life is structured.

❓We still may not know what happens after we die; however, in the metaverse, we’re getting much closer to the answer.

🔔In 2016, James Vlahos discovered that his father was dying from terminal lung cancer.

🧠Painfully aware that their time together was running out, Vlahos rushed to gather memories while he still could, recording his father’s life story; everything from childhood memories to his favourite sayings, songs and jokes.

💬Once transcribed, these recordings filled 200 single-spaced pages.It was a great, but inert resource, and I longed for something interactive. So I spent nearly a year programming a chatbot replica of my father: the 'Dadbot,'" said Vlahos.

🎙️This "Dadbot" was able to revive his father’s stories via text messages, audio, images, and video, creating an interactive experience that emulated the unique nuances of an individual; of Vlahos' dad.

🤖While this artificial version could never replace Vlahos’ real father, it did give him some comfort - and a way to remember him more viscerally in the form of an AI afterlife.

🇺🇸It also inspired Vlahos to launch HereAfter AI, a US-based company that allows people to upload their memories, which are then turned into a “life story avatar” that can be communicated with by friends and family.