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Aaron's avatar

In 1896, French writer Jules Claretie wrote, after seeing an exhibition of the new cinematograph,

"And will this marvelous cinematography, which gives us the ghosts of the living, give us, by allowing us to preserve the ghost and the gestures, and the very sound of voices, the sweetness and caresses of dearly departed beings?"

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Ari Sussman's avatar

Such a thought provoking post. I think about other mediums of creating memory of people who have passed. My Dad is a musician who is very much alive, and whose music will live on forever. I feel fortunate to have access to a medium like that that can instantly trigger emotion in a very unique way. I also had my parents do something called Storyworth (www.storyworth.com) that prompts them with questions about their life. allows them to respond with text and pictures, and then turns it into a photobook keepsake. I like the idea of an AI bot and think it could capture a particular dimension of a lost loved one. I think about how it could capture the unique humor of a particular individual. Because comedy is so spontaneous it's hard to capture it in a non-dynamic medium like a picture or even music.

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Nellie Hermann's avatar

Glad you had your parents do that, wish I had had my mom do more. I’m suspicious of a bot doing humor! But perhaps you are right :)

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Ari Sussman's avatar

someday...

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Pat Dolan's avatar

I have to believe that someone, somewhere conceived similar delusions at the birth of photography and/or film.

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Nellie Hermann's avatar

100% -- the fascinating history of spirit photography (another post?) bears this out ...

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Pat Dolan's avatar

Ooooh. I'll be looking for that post.

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Jen Dickson's avatar

Hi Nellie! I was so happy to see your name in my inbox and to read your (fascinating!) writing, as always. I hope you are well, so great/interesting to hear about what you've recently been up to.

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Nellie Hermann's avatar

Hi Jen, thank you so much!

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