Digital Souls: A Philosophy of Online Death

by Patrick Stokes

Social media is full of dead people. Nobody knows precisely how many Facebook profiles belong to dead users but in 2012 the figure was estimated at 30 million. What do we do with all these digital souls? Can we simply delete them, or do they have a right to persist? Philosophers have been almost entirely silent on the topic, despite their perennial focus on death as a unique dimension of human existence. Until now.

Drawing on ongoing philosophical debates, Digital Souls claims that the digital dead are objects that should be treated with loving regard and that we have a moral duty towards. Modern technology helps them to persist in various ways, while also making them vulnerable to new forms of exploitation and abuse. This provocative book explores a range of questions about the nature of death, identity, grief, the moral status of digital remains and the threat posed by AI-driven avatars of dead people. In the digital era, it seems we must all re-learn how to live with the dead.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

206 pages, Paperback

Published February 11, 2021

Reviews

[Jurgis Karpus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and thought provoking exploration of the possibility of surviving biological death as a digital entity. Patrick Stokes uses many fascinating examples and writes clearly, in a way that makes this book accessible to all.

[miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting piece of work! i feel like this is something i've thought about abstractly, but this is the first time i've read anything get to the heart of it. the philosophical arguments are anything too crazy, but i like how accessible the language is and how interesting the anecdotes are. i've got a lot more to read.

as a side note, i wonder what the addendum to this based on new AI developments would be; "grieftech" has become more feasible lately.

[Altan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I picked up up on a whim, and found myself really fascinated by the concepts presented here. What initially drew me to this idea of "online death" was that I lost a friend recently, and only really found out through Facebook. This was a person that, at one point, saw every single day for stretches at a time, but have since lost contact with. Finding out that she died from a strange post from a friend of hers that I didn't know was a level of distance that made me distrustful at first. Her death didn't feel real until her sister confirmed it, after which she colored my thoughts for some time after.

I plan to write something based on the concepts that were presented here. It's written pretty accessibly, and I found myself genuinely laughing at some points (on the train too, which is a different level of engagement). Would recommend if the concept interests you.

[Jericho Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting exploration into the post mortem lives on the internet. I've always wondered what happens to our social media accounts after we have passed on, and it turns out, "Just delete lor" barey scratches the surface.

It is as much an exploration into the human psyche as it is a manifesto on how to treat the dead. It was such a ride and a really fresh breath of air into reading about something that's often both a taboo and overlooked part of our lives.

[Brodie Kennelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book Patrick Stokes explores the way in which an ever digitalised world is changing our relationship with the dead. The internet is not only populated with living users but the digital remants of the departed. No place is this clearer then on social media websites where the living continue to interact with the dead.

The book is philosophical in nature but is written in an incredibly accessible style; full of stories, tid-bits and at times what could be described as dad jokes, that continue to make it an exciting read and fun read. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the philosophy of death and/or how the digital world is changing the way we interact.