The post-mortal condition: being with the dead in the age of digital media

Thesis

The dead are increasingly present on the web. Within the next three decades alone, an estimated 2.2 billion people will die, many leaving behind a considerable volume of data, commonly referred to as digital remains. Despite the societal significance of this development, existing literature has mainly focused on lived experience, leaving macro-level concerns largely unexplored and under-theorised. As a first step in addressing this lacuna, the present thesis sets out to identify and critically interrogate the macro-ethical challenges that arise from the accumulation of digital remains. This objective is pursued in five distinct studies. The first two propose a critical framework to understand the ethically undesirable consequences of commercial and ideological interests in the management of digital remains. The following two studies use statistical modelling to project the accumulation of digital remains throughout the 21st century, and then identify a number of ethical risks associated with their curation. The last study provides an in-depth interrogation of the concept of presence as it relates to past individuals and digital technology, and unpacks some of the ethical implications. The integration of these five studies, I argue, illustrates the emergence of a new mode of being with the dead — referred to as the post-mortal condition — whereby the deceased are no longer separated from, but maintain a personal presence within, the domains of the living. I argue that this presence is more than merely a private matter for the bereaved. It is ultimately a concern for all of society — future, past, and present. Consequently, the challenge before us is to develop technological, regulatory, and economic systems that place the good of all humanity, rather than merely the share currently alive, at its centre.

Authors: Ohman, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-e26rgjy16
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Big data; Information ethics; Digital afterlife; Online death; Political economy; Philosophy of information; Intergenerational justice
• Subjects: Sociology; Ethics; Media studies