digital afterlife theme
There is technology which can transfer the consciousness of a dying person into a simulated reality where they can live on after their body ceases to function.
Notes
This theme is not used when the portrayed transfer is featured as some sort of cloning process that creates an independent duplicate of a person.
6 total · 3 choice · 2 major · 1 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| blackmirror3x04 | choice | San Junipero was part of a simulated reality the elderly can inhabit, even after death. |
| Collection: Devs (2020) | choice | Somewhat incongruous, the story concluded with the Devs/Deus quantum computer which could see into the past and the future with ease, somehow being used to simulate a digital afterlife for Forest and Lily in a version of the universe in which their respective loved ones hadn't brutally perished. The conciousnesses of Forest and Lily were apparently transported into a simulation of that reality from their original one at the moment of their deaths. How and why the computer was able to simulate the unique new reality that emerged from such an intrusion, was quietly left as an exercise for the viewer. |
| movie: Robot Stories (2003): Clay | choice | The story is set in a future where it is normal for people to have their consciousness transferred to a digital world before they die. |
| movie: Open Your Eyes (1997) | major | It was ultimately revealed that César had killed himself, been cryogenically preserved, and was now inhabiting a virtual reality world that amounted to his own personal hell. |
| movie: Vanilla Sky (2001) | major | It was ultimately revealed that David had killed himself, been cryogenically preserved, and was now inhabiting a virtual reality world that amounted to his own personal hell. |
| futurama6x19 | minor | Bender lived on as a program in the cloud after he physically died. |