When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal
This paper explores death practices and how societies have “placed the dead”. It examines the implications of analyzing death in the digital age, using Portugal as a case study. In a country where death has long been tied to Catholic traditions, how do people respond to rising cremation rates, onlin...
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MDPI AG
2025-04-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/4/488 |
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| author | Clara Saraiva |
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| author_sort | Clara Saraiva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper explores death practices and how societies have “placed the dead”. It examines the implications of analyzing death in the digital age, using Portugal as a case study. In a country where death has long been tied to Catholic traditions, how do people respond to rising cremation rates, online memorials, and social media groups dedicated to the deceased? Are they open to “digital death ways”, such as AI-driven chatbots, holograms, and platforms that preserve messages beyond one’s lifetime? Following Recuber’s call for empirical studies on how, when, and by whom technology is used to communicate with the dead, this research serves as a preliminary step toward a broader project on Portuguese digital death practices. It focuses on two key themes: changes in the treatment of physical remains due to evolving perceptions of the deceased and the relationships between the living and the dead (also in the new form of digitally resurrected personas). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2dee35b7149b428494e3017004211192 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-2dee35b7149b428494e30170042111922025-08-20T02:18:01ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-04-0116448810.3390/rel16040488When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in PortugalClara Saraiva0Institute for the Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisboa, PortugalThis paper explores death practices and how societies have “placed the dead”. It examines the implications of analyzing death in the digital age, using Portugal as a case study. In a country where death has long been tied to Catholic traditions, how do people respond to rising cremation rates, online memorials, and social media groups dedicated to the deceased? Are they open to “digital death ways”, such as AI-driven chatbots, holograms, and platforms that preserve messages beyond one’s lifetime? Following Recuber’s call for empirical studies on how, when, and by whom technology is used to communicate with the dead, this research serves as a preliminary step toward a broader project on Portuguese digital death practices. It focuses on two key themes: changes in the treatment of physical remains due to evolving perceptions of the deceased and the relationships between the living and the dead (also in the new form of digitally resurrected personas).https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/4/488digital deathspiritsghostsmetapersonsgriefonline memorials |
| spellingShingle | Clara Saraiva When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal Religions digital death spirits ghosts metapersons grief online memorials |
| title | When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal |
| title_full | When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal |
| title_fullStr | When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal |
| title_full_unstemmed | When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal |
| title_short | When Death Meets AI: Engaging in New Death Ways in Portugal |
| title_sort | when death meets ai engaging in new death ways in portugal |
| topic | digital death spirits ghosts metapersons grief online memorials |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/4/488 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT clarasaraiva whendeathmeetsaiengaginginnewdeathwaysinportugal |