1st Edition
The Ethics of Digital Ghosts Confucian, Mohist, and Zhuangist Perspectives on AI and Death
Introduction
1. Digital Remains and Digital Ghosts
2. Caring for Physical Remains
3. Confucian Connections with Digital Ghosts
4. Mohism and Seeing Ghosts
5. Zhuangzi on Remixing, Reanimation, and Remembering
6. Learning from the Conversation
Biography
Alexis M. Elder is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is the author of Friendship, Robots, and Social Media: False Friends and Second Selves (Routledge). She publishes on issues involving technology and interpersonal relationships, drawing on historical philosophical traditions.
“A thoughtful exploration of grief in the digital age, drawing on wisdom from ancient Chinese philosophy, this text explores how novel technology is reshaping our relationship with the dead. A must-read for anyone interested in the ethics of AI and how it intersects with our deepest human experiences.”
Kathryn Muyskens, National University of Singapore
“‘Digital ghosts’—simulations of the speech and behavior of the deceased using generative AI—are a spooky and fascinating prospect that provokes all sorts of philosophical questions. Elder’s book is the first major philosophical study of the phenomenon and covers many of its most provocative and troubling implications, as well as a few concerns you might not even have thought of. Strongly recommended.”
Mark Silcox, University of Central Oklahoma, USA
