Imagine leading a quality digital life for 50 more years. What will happen when you die? What will become of your online accounts? Your data? What do people pass on to their heirs? Can your survivors box up your digital life and archive it? Will the data be lost without people to tend it?

Or will the data live on forever? Can our digital self image achieve immortality?

Three generations have now been using computers most of their lives. We have been busy collecting digital photos, music, and movies. We have been writing blogs. Recently, we have begun uploading our digital assets to the Web and sharing them with each other.

As of late we have begun creating and connecting online profiles to one another, creating a complex landscape of online social networks. When we look at how fast things are changing we see that much of this innovation has happened in just the last 5 years.

A whole industry will be born to answer these questions and satisfy a desire that has existed since the beginning of time – the desire for immortality. We all can’t have a terra cotta army in our tomb, or a great pyramid above us. But for a fist full of dollars we will be able to maintain our digital footprint for all time. Just you wait and see.

Reposted from jwromano.com

Matt Ludwig has accepted our invitation to be the second facilitator at our session “Who Will Check My Email After I Die?”

We are excited that Matt will be joining us at SXSW and look forward to his persepctive.

You probably remember my previous posts about Dead Man’s Switch and the e-mails I’ve received from the service.  Here’s a follow-up to the last e-mail.

Subject: Dead Man’s Switch is REALLY worried about you

Hi, Are you okay? You haven’t answered our last two emails. If you don’t answer this, your emails will be sent out in one week.

To update your status, visit the following address:

http://www.deadmansswitch.net/update/

Hope to see you there,
Dead Man’s Switch staff

There’s only one more week before my test e-mail gets sent out.  I’ll be sure to post when it gets to me.  Stay tuned.

Re-posted from Field Notes

There has always been money to be made selling the afterlife, and the digital afterlife will be no different. In the near future a host of businesses will spring to life to help us deal with virtual bliss. But what will they offer?

The digital mausoleum.

A place where people can go online to see (or download) the remains of a person. Blog posts, photos, videos, and files would all be stored (or linked to) there. The services will work much like a cemetery – pay once and it will be there forever.

I know that the issues around long term data management are complex. File formats, video codecs, plug-ins and players all contribute to the complexity. A good digital mausoleum would have to maintain the data. Tend it like the grass and the flowers.

Digital Estate Law and Control of Data

Estate lawyers make sure that your will is carried out and that your heirs get what you want them to. In the future their services will likely expand to cover online assets. As usual, these issues will revolve around control of assets and any income (or Google Ad word revenue) being made.

People are already thinking about this.

And people are already making money. AssetLock is already seeling a service, and Dead Man Switch (free) lets you send out a batch of emails when you kick the bucket.

Re-posted  from jwromano.com.

Man has been struggling with death since the beginning of consciousness, and while we aren’t any closer to answering the big question, we are getting closer to a solution.

There will come a time when super computers (or the average wrist watch) will be able to trace and store the patterns of thought. While some believe that there is something unquantifiable about the mind, some believe that this will be the birth of digital consciousnesses.

What would happen if someone actually figured this out? I’ll tell you what – that person would become richer than Bill Gates. To be able to sell eternal consciousnesses would be a service beyond imagination. While it might not be the answer, it would certainly be an attractive solution.

Well, it beats pushin’ up daisies.

Re-posted from jwromano.com.

You probably remember my previous posts about Dead Man’s Switch and the e-mails I’ve received from the service.  Here’s a follow-up to the last e-mail.  It seems that I didn’t successfully confirm my continued existence, so here’s my next notification:

Subject: Dead Man’s Switch is worried about you

Message: Hey there, where have you been? You didn’t answer our first email. If you don’t answer this, you will get one more warning in a week before all your emails are sent out.

To update your status, visit the following address:

http://www.deadmansswitch.net/update/

Hope to see you there,
Dead Man’s Switch staff

It’s still kind of creepy, but I do like that the subject line shows a bit more compassion.  I wonder what the final notice will say… stay tuned.

As I said previously, I don’t have it setup to send any e-mails in the event that I don’t respond.  Although I may set it up to send one to myself, just to see what type of introduction the service might add to the e-mail message.

Re-posted from Field Notes