The Afterlife of Data
- What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care
- Carl Öhman
Today, much of our lives unfolds online—but what happens to our lives after death? Thanks to the digital traces we leave behind, our identities can now be reconstructed after we die. In fact, AI technology already allows us to “interact” with the deceased. Before long, there will be more dead people on Facebook than living ones. In this thought-provoking book, Carl Öhman explores the increasingly urgent question of what should be done with all this data and whether our digital lives truly remain ours after death—and if not, who should have the right to decide their fate.
The stakes could hardly be higher. In the next thirty years alone, around two billion people will die. Those who remain will inherit the digital remnants of an entire generation—the first digital citizens. Whoever ultimately controls these archives will effectively govern future access to our collective digital past, and that power carries profound political implications. The fate of our digital remnants should concern everyone—in the past, the present, and the future. Addressing these challenges, Öhman explains, will require a collective rethinking of our economic and technological systems to reflect more than just the monetary value of digital remains.
As we face a period of profound civilizational change, The Afterlife of Data will serve as an essential guide to understanding why and how we, as a human species, must take control of our collective digital past—before it is too late.
- Cover: paperback
- Year of the edition: 2025
- Original title: The Afterlife of Data. What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care
- Original language: English
- Translation: Marko Maras