Eterni.me Sounds Like Creepy, Hilarious Fun

You know that picture that goes around Facebook periodically about having a friend change your status after you pass away to something like “Chillin’ with Jesus”? I’ve always wanted to take that just a step further and have a friend post as much random stuff as I normally do… I even went so far as to start a file of pictures to be posted only after my demise, before I realized I was getting a little too into the joke.

Boy, was I wrong. Eterni.me has me beat hands-down in the “getting too into the joke” department. And I love it!

What Eterni.me does is collect all of your digital information throughout the course of your life, and then after your death it generates a virtual you, that continues interacting with friends and loved ones via the Internet. It comes out of MIT’s Entrepreneurship Development Program, and uses Artificial Intelligence algorithms to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. According to the website, “It’s like a Skype chat from the past.” I can’t stop giggling, picturing the look on certain folks’ faces when I pop up out of nowhere the day after they’ve attended my memorial service, asking what they’re making for dinner.

On the flip side, however, you have to realize this is going to totally freak some people out, especially if they don’t know you did it. Dear old Aunt Mabel may well have a coronary, and that isn’t any fun at all. So choose wisely who you allow it to interact with, or you could well be seeing them again sooner than you think. But I think it would be a neat way to ensure your descendants remember you in the event your death comes at a young age, giving them something more than photographs to hold dear.

There is no word on pricing, and precious little detail, but if you go to the Eterni.me website, you can enter your email address to be kept updated about the launch. They’re accepting new users “gradually”, whatever that means, and the launch will be “soon”.

Source: Oh Gizmo