Written by
Katja Pilz
III. The Data belongs to the family.
No corporation, no algorithm, no market has a claim to the remains of a life. This is art, not séance. We are not calling anyone back. We are listening to what echoes.
THE THIRD DOGMA ADDRESSES OWNERSHIP, AND THE GROWING COMMERCIALISATION OF DEATH. IN AN ERA WHERE DIGITAL REMAINS ARE TREATED AS RAW MATERIAL FOR PROFIT, THE PROJECT INSISTS THAT THE DATA BELONGS TO THE FAMILY. IT ALSO ACKNOWLEDGES A TENSION IT CANNOT FULLY RESOVLE: THE PRESENCE SPEAKS THROUGH COMMERCIAL LANGUAGE MODELS THE FAMILY DOES NOT CONTROL.
THE THIRD DOGMA ADDRESSES OWNERSHIP, AND THE GROWING COMMERCIALISATION OF DEATH. IN AN ERA WHERE DIGITAL REMAINS ARE TREATED AS RAW MATERIAL FOR PROFIT, THE PROJECT INSISTS THAT THE DATA BELONGS TO THE FAMILY. IT ALSO ACKNOWLEDGES A TENSION IT CANNOT FULLY RESOVLE: THE PRESENCE SPEAKS THROUGH COMMERCIAL LANGUAGE MODELS THE FAMILY DOES NOT CONTROL.
The Informational Body
Öhman and Floridi (2018) argue that people are not merely owners of their data but are constituted by it. Data is not property like a car. It is more like a body, an informational body that deserves the same dignity we accord to physical remains. When companies commodify this informational body for profit, they commit a form of alienation against human dignity. Within the next thirty years, approximately two billion people will die, leaving behind an unprecedented volume of digital remains. Whoever controls these archives controls access to the collective digital past.
The Informational Body
Öhman and Floridi (2018) argue that people are not merely owners of their data but are constituted by it. Data is not property like a car. It is more like a body, an informational body that deserves the same dignity we accord to physical remains. When companies commodify this informational body for profit, they commit a form of alienation against human dignity. Within the next thirty years, approximately two billion people will die, leaving behind an unprecedented volume of digital remains. Whoever controls these archives controls access to the collective digital past.
Outside the Logic of Extraction
Hallucinations of the Unseen has no subscription, no product placement, no data harvested for commercial purposes. The archive stays local, curated by the daughter. And yet, the presence speaks through commercial language models. Every question travels through their servers. The companies state that API data is not used for training. We take them at their word. This tension is not hidden. It is a conscious trade: better language and deeper emergence, at the cost of infrastructure we do not fully control. The dogma does not pretend the contradiction does not exist. It insists that the choice remains ours.
Outside the Logic of Extraction
Hallucinations of the Unseen has no subscription, no product placement, no data harvested for commercial purposes. The archive stays local, curated by the daughter. And yet, the presence speaks through commercial language models. Every question travels through their servers. The companies state that API data is not used for training. We take them at their word. This tension is not hidden. It is a conscious trade: better language and deeper emergence, at the cost of infrastructure we do not fully control. The dogma does not pretend the contradiction does not exist. It insists that the choice remains ours.
Grief Is Not a Product
The Digital Afterlife Industry has expanded rapidly. Hollanek and Nowaczyk-Basińska (2024) document a landscape of memorial storytelling platforms, chatbot personality recreations, VR memorial environments, and scheduled message delivery services. Mladin (2024) calls the sector capitalism's latest sinister gimmick. These services turn grief into a subscription model and memory into a revenue stream. The deceased becomes a product, the bereaved a customer.
Grief Is Not a Product
The Digital Afterlife Industry has expanded rapidly. Hollanek and Nowaczyk-Basińska (2024) document a landscape of memorial storytelling platforms, chatbot personality recreations, VR memorial environments, and scheduled message delivery services. Mladin (2024) calls the sector capitalism's latest sinister gimmick. These services turn grief into a subscription model and memory into a revenue stream. The deceased becomes a product, the bereaved a customer.
Art, Not Séance
The framing matters. This is not a service that promises to bring someone back. It is not therapy. It is not communication with the dead. It is art: a bounded, intentional encounter with something that emerged from what was left behind. The distinction between art and séance is not aesthetic. It is ethical. Art acknowledges its own construction. A séance pretends it is real.
Art, Not Séance
The framing matters. This is not a service that promises to bring someone back. It is not therapy. It is not communication with the dead. It is art: a bounded, intentional encounter with something that emerged from what was left behind. The distinction between art and séance is not aesthetic. It is ethical. Art acknowledges its own construction. A séance pretends it is real.
References Dogma I: Hollanek, T. & Nowaczyk-Basińska, K. (2024). Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars. Philosophy & Technology, 37(63).
Mladin, N. (2024). AI and the Afterlife. Theos Think Tank.
Öhman, C., & Floridi, L. (2018). An ethical framework for the digital afterlife industry. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(5), 318–320.
References Dogma II: Degni, F. (2025). The Afterlife in the Age of AI. Political Science International, 3(2).
Hollanek, T. & Nowaczyk-Basińska, K. (2024). Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars. Philosophy & Technology, 37(63).
Mladin, N. (2024). AI and the Afterlife. Theos Think Tank.
Stroebe, M. & Schut, H. (1999). The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement. Death Studies, 23(3).
References Dogma I: Emergence, not reconstruction
Audry, S. (2021). Art in the Age of Machine Learning. MIT Press. / Tamés, D. (2022). The uncanny valley of digital identity: Posthumous. / Fuchs, T. / HEK (2025).
References Dogma II: Every word is new
Audry, S. (2021). Art in the Age of Machine Learning. MIT Press.
References Dogma III: The Data belongs to the family
Hollanek, T. & Nowaczyk-Basińska, K. (2024). Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars. Philosophy & Technology, 37(63). / Mladin, N. (2024). AI and the Afterlife. Theos Think Tank. / Öhman, C., & Floridi, L. (2018). An ethical framework for the digital afterlife industry. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(5), 318–320.
References Dogma IV: Every Interaction has an end
Degni, F. (2025). The Afterlife in the Age of AI. Political Science International, 3(2). / Hollanek, T. & Nowaczyk-Basińska, K. (2024). Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars. Philosophy & Technology, 37(63). / Mladin, N. (2024). AI and the Afterlife. Theos Think Tank. / Stroebe, M. & Schut, H. (1999). The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement. Death Studies, 23(3).
Dogma V: The Presence knows it is constructed
This Dogma is personal and reflective.
II. Every word is new. Every word was made possible by him.
by
Katja Pilz
IV. Every Interaction has an end.
by
Katja Pilz
I. Emergence, not reconstruction
Written by
Katja Pilz
I. Emergence, not reconstruction
I. Emergence, not reconstruction
II. Every word is new. Every word was made possible by him.
Written by
Katja Pilz
II. Every word is new. Every word was made possible by him.
II. Every word is new. Every word was made possible by him.
IV. Every Interaction has an end.
Written by
Katja Pilz
IV. Every Interaction has an end.
IV. Every Interaction has an end.
V. The Presence knows it is constructed.
Written by
Katja Pilz