The true “immortal” is the impact that our lives had on others and the memories and the love that we leave behind. Hopefully, these imprints of our passed life will comfort our loved ones as they recall certain aspects of our lives.
In this respect, our immortality transcends a physical body, the container as it were. I personally would never be interested in true physical immortality. I’m much more concerned with living my life in a manner that will hopefully impact others, so that my influence on part of this world will not end when I do.
I then think about how this somehow relates as it’s the person who we are that dictates how people perceive and remember us. When remembering someone who has passed before us, we may recall the physical characteristics, but it’s the person that we miss; the kindness, the love, the touch and the laughter.
Although our online personas rarely reflect our true character, for most of us, they are generally representative of who we are and how we have chosen to live our life. For the most part, our digital alter-egos are free of the trappings of the physical bias that one might have in the “in person” world.
One of the benefits of technology in terms of cultivating relationships is that we can interact with individuals in different geographic locations that simply can’t be done as easily in the “real world”. As a result, it’s possible to build more relationships than might be possible in person. In addition, we may have an in person friend or family member who is abroad and technology can be a wonderful medium to stay in touch and in this respect; technology can enable us to improve the quality of our relationships.
I was amazed to read an article on wills recently that dealt with this topic and it’s something that I hadn’t considered. In addition to the normal instructions on disposition of assets, many wills now contain specific instructions for notifications for accounts, in addition to containing email and social network passwords so that the deceased individuals “electronic estate” can be wound down as well, including not only social networks but other sites where credit card information is stored (including those where there are automatic renewals).
Mind you, the biggest problem for me would be to somehow figure out what websites that I have a login. I recently went to buy tickets at Ticketmasters and completely forgot that I had a previously setup account. Accounts such as this, I wouldn’t be too concerned if they lived on long beyond me, but there are some others such as my online art ‘portfolio’ that I’d rather have instructions for it to be closed. Somehow, my artwork is very personal to me and I don’t like the thought of it being accessible in perpetuity.
I was also reminded recently when discussing this topic that one of the other problems with these digital identities and why they need to be “wound down” is that if they are not, it may lead to more identify theft, as the person who would normally monitor their online identify, obviously can’t do so anymore.
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