Deck 29: Death and Survival Online

Question 1

According to Floridi, what does it mean to say that some data is 'constitutive' of persons?

A) The data provides accurate information about that person.
B) The data is associated with that person their whole life.
C) The data is part of what makes the person who they are.
D) The person knows all of the data.

Answer 1

The data is part of what makes the person who they are.

Question 2

According to Heersmink, extended cognition implies that:

A) You exist solely in one place but information about you is distributed throughout the world.
B) You are distributed across the world.
C) You are identical with your body.
D) You are identical with a human animal.

Answer 2

You are distributed across the world.

Question 3

According to Stokes, when we delete a dead person's social media profile:

A) We are acting in that person's interests.
B) We are deleting information about a person, but not the person themselves.
C) We are deleting a person themselves, and we should never do this.
D) We are deleting a person themselves, and we should not do this unless we have overriding reasons to do so.

Answer 3

We are deleting a person themselves, and we should not do this unless we have overriding reasons to do so.

Question 4

Stokes concludes that:

A) We would be right to see AI chatbots made from a dead person's digital remains as being a continuation of that person.
B) We could anticipate having the experiences of an AI chatbot built out of our digital remains.
C) It is an open question whether we would regard AI chatbots of the dead as being that person or not.
D) We would not regard AI chatbots made from a dead person's digital remains as being a continuation of that person.

Question 5

What does Buben argue about the use of AI-driven avatars of the dead?

A) This is a way of memorializing the dead.
B) This is a way of replacing the dead.
C) This is a way of avoiding our responsibilities to the dead.
D) This is a way of helping the living to grieve.

Question 6

Could it be the case that whether we survive death or not under certain circumstances - say, if we left behind a chatbot that would continue to interact with our friends on social media - depends on perspective? Why/why not?

Question 7

Explain the analogy between corpses and 'digital remains.' What are the ontological and ethical implications of this analogy? Do you think that digital remains have moral status in the same way corpses do? Why/why not?