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Black mirror is a popular Netflix original anthological series that examines the dark aspects of modern society with countless casts and stories, from political satires to future dystopias. Despite the vast palette of styles, the show centers around a common theme: technology changes, but people don’t. To relate this to burial and the process of dying, consider season 2, episode 1 of the series. “Be Right Back” begins with one of the most realistic couples the show has featured. Ash and Martha are clearly very much in love. The episode focuses on Martha’s bereavement after Ash’s sudden death.

      Martha practically sleepwalks through Ash’s funeral until her friend recommends that she try an experimental service that reconnects the living their deceased loved ones. The service uses algorithms to create a memory bot using online data such as photos, videos, and texts written by the person who had passed. This essentially creates a tailored “version” of the deceased loved one.

      The service offers different levels of interaction. The first is through texting. After trying the service, Martha began to receive texts from this version of Ash, in which the bot simply mimicked Ash’s texting habits and humor. The second is through calling. Martha sent the service samples of Ash’s voice, and the service used them to call Martha as Ash. Finally, the service could create a real life replica of a loved one. The creepiness of the concept is masked by Martha’s grief, and she soon has a walking, talking clone of her dead fiancé.

      Martha quickly became frustrated with all the subtle but important ways that the android was unlike Ash, particularly in that it was cold, passive, and emotionless. So she locked it in her attic. To Martha, the bot was not quite Ash, but too much like him to let it go. This led to a grief that spanned decades.

       Surprisingly, Martha’s unhappy ending didn’t dissuade computer scientist Eugenia Kuyda from repeating the experiment. After her best friend, Roman Mazurenko, suddenly passed away, Eugenia was overwhelmed with loss. As she grieved, Eugenia found herself looking through the thousands of text conversations between her and Roman. This inspired her to use the ever improving artificial neural network, allowing artificial intelligence to “learn” as a human brain would, to use Roman’s messages as the basis of a memorial bot.

      The prototype worked. Roman’s friends and family, (and now the public,) can communicate with the Roman memorial bot. Eugenia and other friends of Roman have said that the responses actually do sound like things that their loved one would say. As soon as the bot was created, Eugenia asked it, “Who’s your best friend?” to which Roman responded, “Don’t show your insecurities.” Immediately, Eugenia thought that it sounded like him.

       Unlike the Black Mirror episode, Eugenia believes that the memorial bot has helped, rather than hurt, her grief. She likened it to “just sending a message to heaven. For me it’s more about sending a message in a bottle than getting one in return.” The grieving process is different for everyone, and if a memorial bot system was available to the public, it may help many people overcome the deaths of loved ones.

Memorial bot article: https://www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot

In this class, we have discussed preparation for death in multiple instances. In “The Undertaking” a couple prepares for the death of their child and elderly plan their funerals. We know psilocybin mushroom can help ease the fear of death in terminal patients. We have discussed the importance of advanced directives. We don’t often consider the moment right before death.

Mathew O’Rielly, an emergency medical technician, gave a Ted Talk about the moment a critically injured person asks, “Am I going to die?” Early in his career, Mathew expected his patients to be consumed by the well-recognized fear of death that we see in American people. He wanted to treat this fear as he would any other symptom, and provide as much relief as possible. So, he lied to the patients to comfort them. He didn’t want their last moments to be moments of terror and desperation.

One patient in a motorcycle accident changed his approach. The patient was imminently dying and the EMTs were powerless to save him. Mathew decided to this time tell the truth, and inform the man that he was dying. Mathew was shocked by his reaction. He, “Laid back and had a look of acceptance on his face… I saw inner peace.” It was not fear, it was not terror. In the moment before death, the patient accepted death, and Mathew says this is the reaction he has gotten from almost all patients in his career.

Mathew also observed a pattern of three commonalities in imminently dying patients. First, they needed forgiveness. Whether it was “sin” or just regret, there is something they wish they had done differently and they seek forgiveness. Second, they want to be remembered. I was surprised that Mathew said many patients ask, “will you remember me?” It is not just a need for the family or loved ones to remember them after death, but a more general desire. Finally, they wanted to know that their lives had meaning; that they made a difference and their lives are not menial. Mathew seemed to think most people underestimated the positive influences they had.

It is difficult to imagine how we would react to death if confronted with it in such an immediate way. We have discussed at length our society’s fear of death and how that influences our behavior, but Mathew’s experience provides a perspective not many people know. I think his experiences might challenge the way we think about the fear of death in our culture, at least to understand our relationship with death is complicated and nuanced.

Necromancy, also known as nigromancy, describes a theoretical magical practice of communicating with the dead.  This happens either through raising them by summoning the spirit. Generally, the goal of this practice is to use the dead for divination; the practice of acquiring knowledge about the unknown or the future through supernatural means.

In classical antiquity, a term associated with the history of the ancient Greece and ancient Rome, there was much fascination about the practice of Necromancy. This time period looked at ghosts and the wisdom that they could provide. In their attempts, they would visit oracles, try to reawaken skulls and corpses, and sleep on tombs. The personal involved in ancient Necromancy included the likes of zombies, early vampires, shamans, Chaldeans, Roman emperors, sorceress, ghosts and witches.

There was a general understanding that even during the time of Classical Antiquity that majority agreed that it was better to leave the dead unmolested and only a few people engaged in this practice. I think this runs parallel to our culture now where there is a general understanding that we do not defile the dead once they are gone but also likewise that there are people who choose to act against that grain. Overall Necromancy during this time was seen more prominently in literature.

Do I believe in the legitimacy of this practice? No. Do I believe in ghost, spirits, the dark arts? Not really. It’s not something that I have explored extensively but I do believe in supernatural powers in more biblical/Christian way. Necromancy addresses a question that we have explored in ANT Death and Burial. Which is where do our spirits go when we die? With Necromancy there is this idea that even after death you are able to actively contribute to society. After you die your legacy lives on; whether it is big, small, good or bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necromancy

The other day I read a headline regarding a woman waking up from a vegetative state after seven years. After reading many articles about the Terri Schiavo case, I had to read about this woman. It turns out that she fell into a coma after giving birth due to developing sepsis, a deadly blood poisoning disease. It seemed almost impossible to me that she woke up from this vegetative state after reading about the true definition of a vegetative state. After doing some research I began to find more cases in which patients have woken up after being labeled as “vegetative.”

A woman named Maggie Worthen fell into a coma after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 22. She woke up from a deep coma two weeks later and began her recovery; however, two months after therapy she became unresponsive and was labeled as “vegetative.” Her family claimed that she was responding to certain things but only one doctor believed them (similar to Terri Schiavo) and she was transferred to a hospital to experience new high-tech imaging that assesses brain activity. The technology did, in fact show that she was responsive and she was now labeled as “minimally conscious.”

This new technology can help people in these comas or vegetative states be properly diagnosed. Some neurologists are claiming that these new brain imaging scans prove that “some seemingly vegetative patients are actually teetering between consciousness and unconsciousness.” While this is definitely a break through in the medical world, it still makes things very murky. The definitions of these so-called labels are still obscure. When are these patients considered alright to die? Are they ever, because some people are waking up from these states? All of these questions emerge when new technology comes about. Imagine if this was around during the Terri Schiavo case. However, we can only hope that this new brain-imaging technology can help patients with severe brain injuries and damage to recover.

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/05/06/vegetative-state-consciousness-brain-imaging-452747.html

New Orleans is well known for its spectacle and pageantry of civic ritual, represented in festivals like Mardi Gras. The spectacle display is also seen in their funeral practices. Jazz funerals are used to celebrate the life of the lost community member in a fun spirted manner. The performance of Jazz Funerals is unique to New Orleans, specifically among the African American community. This tradition became popular in the late 1800s, early 1900s. The Jazz funeral generally consists of a brass band playing songs such as “When the Saints Go Marching In.” In addition to the brass band, the “second-line” parades behind the bass band consisting of friends and family marching from the church to the burial site. People can be dressed in costumes inspired by iconic figures with in the African American Carnival life. These aspects transform a sober time into one of celebration.

Jazz funerals are extremely ritualized. There is specific order to the events. Typically, before the funeral service there is a wake, of which the family and friends congregate before the service. After the wake the brass band accompanies the body on its way to the church for the funeral service followed by the second-line. When the service is completed the brass band and the second-line rejoin the body for the march to the burial site. The brass band leads the way. As part of the march the band and the second line strut and swing their bodies corresponding with the music creating a spectacle. In addition to the spirted display, individuals follow the Christian traditional practice of crying at the birth and rejoicing at death. As with everything about the funeral the rejoicing is done at specific moments and is not impromptu or undignified. The formal portion of the funeral follows the death rituals of the Christian religion.

While Jazz Funerals are a tradition, recently they are have become less common. People have opted for smaller funerals. A reason for this is the expense that it takes to perform this ritual. The cost of a Jazz funeral is high given the need of the theatrics. While performance of this ritual has diminished, its popularity still exists. This form of celebration has been adapted by other parts of the country due to migration and adaption of this tradition. The joyous form of Jazz funerals shows a different take on the somber American funerals. They put the fun back into funeral.

Work Sited:

Coclanis, A. and Peter A. Coclanis. (2005)” Jazz Funeral: A Living Tradition”. Southern Cultures. The University of North Carolina Press. V11, N2. 86-92

Secundy, M. (1989) “Coping with Words and Songs: The New Orleans Jazz Funeral.” Literature and Medicine. John Hopkins University Press. V8. 100-105