Communicating with the Dead #142

Once in a while the question, “who, living or dead, would you…like to talk/share a meal with etc?” arises. My answer has changed over the years, but rarely does it involve anyone living. I suspect that most others answer that same way. Maybe it’s because we are interested in those who have died and have done extraordinary things. Maybe their impact on the world was remarkable. Perhaps they are just so very interesting. And maybe it might be because they can tell you what the afterlife is about. 

Faith groups tell us one thing about the afterlife. While there are very concrete differences within them, what they lack in consistency they make up for in certainty. Non-faith, or no organized religious faith, also has some certainty about what happens after you die. A character in Ted Lasso says, “you live, you die, you’re done.”

The question of an afterlife is perplexing and many have tried to find answers. I believe that the scams of fortune tellers, clairvoyants who also claim to be able to see the future, and the mediums who conduct seances are all reprehensible. But I get it. We need to know future events and we need to hear from lost loved ones again. 

That’s why I was surprised when I heard on The Next Big Idea Club, that some people in the early days of written communication thought that writing was supernatural. The “last will and testament” was one communication that came from beyond the grave. And that was scary. As far as I know, there isn’t a way to have a two way communication with the dead, but maybe AI can solve that for us.