Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Edit: La Yan Peach
[New Zhiyuan Introduction] 5 years ago, cancer took his father away from him. Out of the longing for his father, the foreign brother created a VR company to let the deceased relatives achieve immortality in the meta-universe.
Remember Dr. Zola in Captain America?
As the brain of the Hydra Organization, he did not want his wisdom to dissipate after death, so he entered all his knowledge and ideas into the computer.
In one scene, Captain America and Black Widow break into the abandoned Hydra Bunker.
In the basement, a computer image of the villain Dr. Zola says to Captain America, "You're in my brain right now."
However, what you see isn't only possible in movies.
Today, VR companies are also expected to achieve this scenario through technology. Only, in the metaverse.
Now, a Czech company has come up with the concept of "immortality" in the metaverse!
The body is dead, the soul is eternal
Czech VR company Somnium Space says it's only a matter of time before "immortality" in the metaverse is a matter of time, and they are looking for ways to achieve this possibility.
Speaking of which, there is another moving reason behind the idea of "eternal life", or the establishment of this company.
Artur Sychov is the CEO of Somnium Space. About 5 years ago, cancer took away his father.
For a time, Artur did not come out of the pain of losing a loved one.
Artur was devastated at the thought that he would never see his father again and that his young children would have no grandfather.
Moreover, children cannot understand their father as they do, can never speak to him, and derive any wisdom from their grandfather.
In fact, Artur also knows that his time with his father is limited, and human life is even more limited, but he still hopes to be able to extend it indefinitely.
Thinking of his father, he began to explore how to preserve the character traits of the deceased after his death.
That's why Somnium Space will launch the "Immortal Mode".
The first immortal portraits are set to go live next year
In this mode, users can let deceased relatives and friends be "reborn" in the metaverse as digital virtual people, with the same appearance and voice, and even personality.
To achieve this goal, the company first obtained the consent of some members to record a large amount of their personal data, including daily conversations, behaviors, and emoticons.
"If I could collect all my data while I was alive, my kids would be able to talk to my virtual avatar and sound exactly like mine," Sychov says.
"You can reunite with the deceased, and even for the first 10 minutes, you may not realize that it's AI that you're talking to, and that's our ultimate goal."
Are you willing to be a piece of data?
This kind of thinking is not unique.
Earlier, Pluto, a forza player, posted a video of himself playing with his virtual girlfriend "BlueDreams4207" on Tiktok.
2 months after his girlfriend's death, Pluto tried to find her footprints in a variety of ways.
With the "Drivatar" system in Forza Motorsport, Pluto finally found the account of his late girlfriend by randomly matching more than 200 friends in his account.
Pluto not only managed to find his "girlfriend", but also played games with her for nearly an hour.
Before the game crashes, Pluto and his girlfriend "Ghost" gallop through the game, pouring out his thoughts and pain, but she never responds.
In addition to the story of the Forza player's reunion with his late girlfriend, there is another tear-jerking story that took place 8 years ago.
In 2014, a user named "00WARTHERAPY00" posted that he had shared an Xbox with his father as a child.
10 years after his father's death, when the user opened the Xbox again, he found that in a racing game called Rally Sports Challenge, he still retained the game record of his deceased father.
He constantly competes with the simulated role of his deceased father, chasing the ghost of his father.
Similarly, in July 2021, Joshua Barbeau, an American man, reconstructed an AI chatbot with GPT-3 to reproduce her dead fiancée after his fiancée's death, allowing her to live forever in digital form.
And in 2019, 78-year-old American writer Andrew Kaplan agreed to become AndyBot, the world's first "digital human".
Kaplan has said he is not seeking eternal life, but to create an intimate personal experience for him and his descendants.
It can be seen that the development of AI has enabled more and more users to digitally store their living habits. While searching for traces of deceased loved ones in the digital world sounds poignant, there is a hint of relief.
Virtual "Double Body"
Somnium Space will begin its collection efforts this year, selecting the first interested users, collecting their personal data, and building their own "immortal virtual avatars" next year.
With the help of Ethereum blockchain technology and VR headsets (Vive, Oculus, etc.), Somnium Space allows users to purchase virtual land, build or purchase virtual houses, objects, and other NFTs.
Combining blockchain technology with Somnium Space can make the company's business model completely transparent and understandable to everyone.
"Initially, Somnium Space will only collect data on the user's voice and behavior, and the amount of data collected will eventually be 100 to 300 times the amount of data collected on smartphones," Sychov said.
Sychov also believes that as artificial intelligence continues to develop, the "double body" of users in the virtual world will become more and more realistic, and will still exist long after the death of a real person.
At the same time, based on the principle of complete voluntariness, participants can call a halt at any time, for example, by asking Somnium Space to stop collecting personal data and delete all collected data.
In this way, it is still quite humane. After all, no one knows what the technology will eventually evolve into.
Sychov reassures users that he won't sell personal data to advertising agencies.
"Users don't have to worry about data being monitored, we're different from Facebook, Apple and other tech giants." Sychov said.
However, this is not easy to say. After all, personal data is too private, and users' concerns are taken for granted.
To reassure users, Sychov concluded, "We don't want to know the user's name, we don't really care who you are."
Of course, privacy issues aside, this technology is really eye-catching.
Who wouldn't want to one day "meet" their loved ones again in the metaverse?
Resources:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/this-vr-company-wants-to-give-you-the-chance-to-live-forever-in-the-metaverse/
https://solanews.medium.com/eternal-life-48242a7b1059
https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/14/czech-tech-company-wants-to-let-you-live-forever-in-the-metaverse-16468133/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkp47y/metaverse-company-to-offer-immortality-through-live-forever-mode?utm_medium=social+&utm_source=VICE_Twitter