Hacker Neue

Preferences
Retr0id parent
The idea of someone AI-ifying me posthumously is gross, but deleting all record of me would be even worse.
echelon
You don't get both.

You want to be remembered? You'll have no control over what future technologies people have or use. Trying to impose conditions on our descendants is pointless, overbearing, and futile.

There are billions of us here. The future will be preoccupied with itself, mostly. It would be a rare treat to be remembered at all.

We're all ephemeral. Every picture, every memento -- everything will vanish within a few generations. Even our DNA gets washed out after about a dozen generations.

It's over in a geologic blink of an eye.

Retr0id OP
> You don't get both.

That was my point, I guess I forgot we were on HN

jfengel
I had been wondering about the philosophical ramifications of torturing a ChatGPT persona. (I'm surprised I haven't seen more of that.) Now we can do it to our enemies.
card_zero
If you believed that it's an AGI then this would be an evil thing to do, even though your belief was false.
netsharc
Relevant Black Mirror episode: https://youtu.be/qgTtyfgzGc0
opdahl
Interesting. Why do you think that deleting all records of you would be worse?
Retr0id OP
"They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time."
acheron
And then 4000 years later people start saying your name again, and find out what a bad copper merchant you were.
anigbrowl
I collect Ea-nasir memes as a form of proxy revenge for his deceived customers.
marcosdumay
Yeah, he became famous for doing that too.
FirmwareBurner
All of us will be forgotten eventually after you great-grandkids forget about you. What's the point in trying to keep your name alive when you'll be too dead to care? Focus on the life you live not the one after your death.
card_zero
Why? Being dead is inconvenient, but I don't see why I should stop achieving things at that point. Indeed it might be a good time to start.
ttemPumpinRary
Because that is our little claim to fame, to go down on history .ChatGpt who started this meme?
rectang
Would you deny others their wish to have their data deleted?
dr_dshiv
Actually, do living persons have the right to die? That's really not firmly established legally — the state has been saying no to suicide for a long time.

Not making a moral claim here, just pointing out that something that seems to be an individual right might not have strong legal precedence.

rectang
An excellent point. Compelling others to live no matter how great their pain or grim their prospects has much in common with compelling others to cede their likenesses after death no matter how much the usage might go against their wishes. In both cases, it's external collectivists demanding that an individual exist only for the benefit of other entities — either society at large, or private businesses.
jeroenhd
> That's really not firmly established legally

Depends on where you live. Where I live, that's a resounding "yes, if you're mentally well enough to make that decision". Mostly applies to old people, and there's a process to prevent letting anyone with depression kill themselves, but the legal definitions are all taken care of.

scarface_74
And if you live in GA and are a medical brain dead, your family doesn’t even have the right to take you off of life support if you are pregnant and you must suffer…

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/06/07/nx...

hodgehog11
No, but it definitely should not be automatic. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority would not choose to have their online information erased posthumously.
Disposal8433
Do you agree with all the privacy invasive opt-out features in every commercial service?
hodgehog11
I see that as a bit different, since we are talking about something posthumous here. Privacy is important while we're alive because it can have an impact on our future life. In death, we live on for the sake of our loved ones and the future of humanity, or at least that's how I see it.
rectang
Do others have a moral duty to allow businesses to exploit their likenesses the moment they die?
Disposal8433
That's an issue about respect, not privacy. And dead people deserve it too.
hodgehog11
True, but I would think it disrespectful to automatically delete everything that someone posted online after their death.
Retr0id OP
Can't say I was planning on it, no

This item has no comments currently.