CREATIVE ADVENTURES — 12
Imagine You Can Talk To Dead People
Who Would You Talk To and Why?
Do you remember the Black Mirror episode titled ‘Be Right Back’? Martha reconnects with her deceased boyfriend Ash using the power of artificial intelligence. The AI preserves the digital footprint of Ash and turns it into a cohesive app and android.
Due to the advances in AI, these might indeed be a reality someday. Companies such as Memoto and Eterni.me are currently working on prototypes around similar concepts. There is also a lot of popular interest in this topic.
I know this sounds weird, but, let’s imagine: Imagine that you can talk to any person who is dead.
Please respond to the following questions:
- Would you like to use this power? Explain why or why not.
- Imagine that you have only three chances to talk to deceased people. Choose 3 people who have died. Whom would you choose? Why?
- Choose one of these people. Imagine the conversation you would have with him or her. Write down that conversation.
- Write a story about the unexpected consequences of using this power. You have just talked to one deceased person. Afterward, you are surprised at the turn of events. Write a short story.
- Imagine that you can ‘Zoom’ with anyone from the past. You can choose anyone living in any period. Imagine a character from another historical period. Write down the dialog you would have with this person comparing life today and life in the past.
- Steve Jobs said in an interview that he would give up all technology in order to spend one afternoon with Socrates. Imagine you could spend an afternoon with a famous person from history (such as Einstein). Who would this person be? Why?
- Imagine that you are given a unique opportunity to visit the realm of the spirits or the afterlife. Write a story about this visit using your imagination. What do you witness? Do you have any conversations? What happens next?
- Create your own questions and imagination experiments using this theme and its variations.
