Opportunities and Risks of the Digital Afterlife: results from a comprehensive Swiss Technology Assessment Study
Digital aids, such as virtual memorials or AI-driven “deadbots”, have broadened the options in dealing with death. A recently published interdisciplinary study, commissioned by the Swiss foundation for technology assessment (TA-SWISS; explored how the emergent field of digital afterlife impacts on death planning and grief practices.
The study was composed of four work packages. The first aimed at mapping the existing services and tools. The second aimed at investigating how digital tools are used related to death. The third delved into the philosophical and ethical implications. The fourth discussed both the transformative potential and inherent risks of digital afterlife services and made recommendations.
Digital tools enable people to express and streamline their preferences regarding the end of life and to store their wills, advance directives, and funeral arrangements in safe and centralized platforms. Benefits relate to alleviating users’ and their relatives’ burden. Risks concern unwanted reminders of the deceased that potentially disrupt the grieving process. The study therefore investigated professionals’ emerging needs and responsibilities. The philosophical analysis questioned the ontological continuity between a person and their virtual representation (the “versona”). Ethically, the importance of respecting the deceased’s wishes regarding their digital legacy is emphasized, advocating for guidelines to prevent unwanted digital resuscitation. Based on the considerations and practice-oriented recommendations put forward in the study, our presentation will discuss the following key areas:
- Planning ahead the end of life: How digital platforms are transforming and streamlining the action of planning the end of life (advance care planning) and the leftovers.
- Impact of digital technologies on relatives: How digital tools are used during the grieving period and how they transform the relationship between the dead and the living
- Ethical and philosophical implications: Discussion on the normative issues surrounding digital legacies and the concept of “versona,” including the ethical obligations towards the deceased’ data.
For the first time in Switzerland, a study gathers empirical evidence about actual uses of and experiences with tools in the field of digital afterlife. Our results suggest that, even if the frequency of use is increasing, the adoption remains limited. If the acceptance and the use of digital technologies in relation to the end-of-life evolves, professionals in all areas of end-of-life assistance will play an increasingly important role in mitigating their risks and seizing opportunities they may bring upon.
About Dr. Jean-Daniel Strub
Jean-Daniel Strub holds a Ph.D. in Theological Ethics from the University of Zurich. He has over 15 years of experience as an independent consultant in applied ethics working with companies, universities and public authorities in the fields of biomedical ethics as well as digital ethics and innovation.
He is the co-founder and co-director of ethix – lab for innovation ethics in Zurich and clinical ethicist at the Zollikerberg hospital and deputy director of Institut Neumünster at Zollikerberg (Switzerland). Previously, he acted, among others, as the general secretary of the Swiss National Advisory Committee on Biomedical Ethics.
His main interests cover topics in applied biomedical ethics, innovation ethics, the ethics of artificial intelligence and the influence of new technologies on individuals and society. He was director of the TA-SWISS study “Death in the digital age”.
About Prof. Dr. Ralf J. Jox
Ralf J. Jox is a professor of biomedical ethics, neurologist and palliative care specialist at the University of Lausanne (Chair of Palliative Geriatric Care/University Hospital Lausanne), Director of the Institute of Humanities in Medicine, and co-lead of the Clinical Ethics Unit at the University Hospital Lausanne. He is a member of the Swiss National Advisory Committee on Biomedical Ethics.
He studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg and Munich, Germany, and at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. He is also a trained philosopher from the School of Philosophy in Munich, completed a Master in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College London, UK, and did a PhD in Medical and Health Ethics at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He holds board certificates in neurology and palliative medicine.
His research activities focus on end-of-life ethics, advance care planning, clinical ethics, and neuroethics. Dr. Jox pursues clinical studies, quantitative and qualitative socio-empirical studies as well as conceptual work. He has obtained several third-party funds in Germany (DFG, BMBF), Switzerland (SAMS) and on the international level (ERA-NET Neuron). He was a member of the research team of the TA-SWISS study “Death in the digital age”.
About Prof. Dr. Francesca Bosisio
Francesca Bosisio holds a doctorate in health psychology and is a full professor at the HEIG-VD (HES-SO), the School of management and engineering of the Canton de Vaud, Switzerland, where she is the head of the Healthcare Systems and Management Lab. Previously, she was a researcher at the Lausanne University and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV).
Francesca’s favorite subjects are advance care planning, shared decision-making, end-of-life, co-production of healthcare services, and how technology is changing our relationship with our body and death. She was a member of the research team of the TA-SWISS study “Death in the digital age”.
