The ability to communicate with the dead. Immortality. Conquering death and breaking down the impenetrable barrier between the living and departed: it’s something humans have long strived for. Are advancements in technology bringing us closer to that dream? Today, WIRED breaks down the ways technology is reshaping the afterlife—and what it means to be dead.
Director: Efrat Kashai
Director of Photography: Chris Eustache
Editor: A.J. Schultz
Host: Andrew Couts
Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Camera Operator: Jeremy Harris
Gaffer: Salif Soumahoro
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Sonia Butt; Malaia Simms
Assistant Editor: Britt Bernstein
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@RhynadaLong
October 31, 2025 at 12:01 pm
First comment 😂
@bobbyblazini
October 31, 2025 at 2:10 pm
Frozen in time, forever.
@MrCjlance
October 31, 2025 at 12:01 pm
2
@R.Byleth
October 31, 2025 at 12:09 pm
nothing is meant to last forever, humans should just accept their mortality like literally everything else on the planet
@camronlindsey2036
October 31, 2025 at 12:17 pm
I’m sayin!!
@StrawB0ss
October 31, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Go for it. I finna live to be 1000
@JustSomeoNe-e9g
October 31, 2025 at 1:39 pm
well, i don’t think this is the correct way to see things. We need to control nature and overcome death.
@RoaldRoberts
October 31, 2025 at 2:15 pm
exactly
@AnEvilEel
October 31, 2025 at 4:01 pm
Humans have never accepted their position in the universe. That how they got to the moon, that’s how they made the Atomic Bomb.
@samthurgood
October 31, 2025 at 12:13 pm
This is such a great series
@AikelJoseph
October 31, 2025 at 12:28 pm
that thumbnail is like when markiplier was hospitalized
@RoaldRoberts
October 31, 2025 at 2:13 pm
AI avatars of the deceased? Nah. That is so morbid and creepy and wrong imho **shivers** and as a believer in souls and reincarnation, it’s not them, it’s never them, its not their voices. Who wants a fake version of a loved one? This is just how we want it to be, gotta just accept man. And I’d say you’ll meet them again on the other side and we do live forever but I know not everybody believes. In my perspective, I’d rather live my life to its natural end, go back to the “source”, then live my next life. Btw, no one can definitely say *yes* or *no* yet to whether consciousness is only a product of the brain or something more.
@infinitemonkey917
October 31, 2025 at 5:04 pm
Right, and nobody can say that there is or isn’t an invisible dragon with anti-radar, anti-sonar and anti-lidar tech living on my roof.
@RoaldRoberts
October 31, 2025 at 5:19 pm
@infinitemonkey917 sounds a little paranoid, but good one. It’s one of those things you have to see to believe, you know? An anti-radar dragon on my roof tho, no 😄
@infinitemonkey917
October 31, 2025 at 7:00 pm
@RoaldRoberts Just making the point that because something isn’t falsifiable, that doesn’t make it a viable possibility. I haven’t seen a soul, just as you haven’t seen my dragon buddy.
@infinitemonkey917
October 31, 2025 at 7:03 pm
I do like metal, folk, rock and sci-fi, though.
@Xking3000
October 31, 2025 at 3:26 pm
I thought this was a Simon Whistler video at first based off of the thumbnail.
@Jasonxbr
October 31, 2025 at 5:56 pm
I thought so too😂😂😂😂😂
@michaelpipkin9942
October 31, 2025 at 3:44 pm
I thought Simon was being tested upon…….
@urbanstrencan
October 31, 2025 at 4:31 pm
another great video, keep it up 🤟
@kristin9123
October 31, 2025 at 5:55 pm
Every time I see him, I think it’s Simon Whistler 😅
@iamdmc
October 31, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Terrible, bad, no good idea
@lowbudgetmic
October 31, 2025 at 6:25 pm
Undead 🧟 😮😮😮
@rosscomt5295
October 31, 2025 at 7:23 pm
Having lost my mum only 4 months ago. Death is something, that once you witness it fundamentally changes who you are. It’s bad enough with how your own mind processes it, let alone creating avatars. It’s difficult enough on what to do with someone’s worldly possessions such as clothes, shoes, jewelry etc let alone create artificial connections that I think would create unending grief.
@techinthehouse
October 31, 2025 at 7:24 pm
Nice. These really are the hard questions we’re going to have to start asking the more this tech evolves
@michelleloper8878
October 31, 2025 at 7:40 pm
Are we not gonna talk about that Black Mirror episode??
@aliothspectranet5678
November 3, 2025 at 4:11 am
our obsession with fictional examples filling in for our non-examples is actually a big issue with how we talk about AI
@rikachiu
October 31, 2025 at 8:31 pm
You will never ever be able to recreate someone with AI. Maybe your perception of the person, but nobody is ever truly their true self to anyone. You can tell me you know someone better than yourself and I will never believe you.
@SHDW-nf2ki
October 31, 2025 at 11:11 pm
If someone made an AI copy of my dad I’d kill it with an axe.
@lil----lil
October 31, 2025 at 11:23 pm
I recently had a sugeny and was put on anastatic. I _ONLY_ remembered the events up to the point when I was talking with the anesthesiologist TWO hours BEFORE the operation. When I “woke up” it felt like coming out of a “Blank” state as I remembered absolutely NOTHING nor pain despite the fact I have THREE covered holes in my body. The first thing that came to my mind: HOW NICE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN to die while under anesthesia? There was NO PAIN, NO DREAMS, NO Astral projection, NO feelings or awareness of ANY KIND. Just two hours of PURE stillness.
@karoke6
November 1, 2025 at 12:20 am
I’m no stranger to grief, but all of this just seems like a colossally bad idea
@oldcowbb
November 1, 2025 at 1:33 am
AI zombie is so disgusting
@Craigbn981
November 1, 2025 at 1:53 am
I hope by the time I’m old or have a debilitating illness, there’ll be easy access to ‘medications’ which lead to a peaceful death. No religion involved, please.
@currykingwurst6393
November 1, 2025 at 6:45 am
I thought this was just another one of Simon Whistler’s videos in my sub box.
@czechoutboom1597
November 1, 2025 at 12:08 pm
Boo! I thought this was going to be Internet Historian / Incognito mode face reveal. Boo!
@darkmarc
November 1, 2025 at 4:17 pm
The cryo-preservation stuff is interesting and only history will have the final say on whether it was a good idea or not, but the rest of this — people interacting with half-assed AI versions of the dead — is just mental-illness-promoting nonsense. Your family member is dead. You playing with a database about them isn’t a replacement.
@magstheonlyone
November 1, 2025 at 7:50 pm
They moved on. Why can’t we
@phillipmoore6249
November 1, 2025 at 10:52 pm
It’s a black screen. Do you remember before you were born? No.
@OktoberStorm
November 2, 2025 at 5:23 am
The subject is interesting, but if the video opens with an introduction to what cryogenics is and there’s no chapters so I have to look for when the video actually starts, then I’m out. I don’t need yet another introduction just to hear someone’s opinion about it, just link me to the chapter that actually says something new.
@killingfield
November 2, 2025 at 9:06 pm
Wired never misses a chance to slip in some “gun control” 4:08. It’s like their fetish.
@D.O.E._LLC
November 3, 2025 at 12:08 pm
😂 the lawyers are having a field day with an ai witness.😂😂😂
@krishnachoudhari.youtube
November 3, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Presumed to be his own word? I call BS
@DanielKolbin
November 4, 2025 at 5:09 am
hmmmmmm
@DanielSingularity
November 4, 2025 at 5:09 am
hmmmmmm
@gtrida
November 4, 2025 at 12:29 pm
Perhaps good for therapeutic purposes helping people handle grief, or some sort of closure, but overall I find this a terrible idea.
Deep fakes has been an issue for a few years, but only became a mainstream concern now.
@jessemairose4534
November 4, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Am I the only one who feels like I’m being screamed at by this guy? 🤣
@Cherrywifebanger
November 5, 2025 at 12:11 am
i’d like this for animals not humans tho
@Steven-p2n1l
November 5, 2025 at 1:47 pm
I pray they probably could keep someone alive with Quantum Artificial Intelligence by going right into treating and recovering the problem also save and rescue after a case of death with Time Travel to recover, Fault Tolerant Quantum Computer 2029, Quantum Internet reading universe program Stargate flight doing better than money restore experience time in advancements nature in technology doing better than death everything in life Aliens among us and God bless America the future and life extension of the universe. Amen. God bless.
@badboydrd
November 6, 2025 at 12:35 pm
Well hello Black Mirror
@DrQuiza
November 7, 2025 at 2:51 pm
What about not valuing people anymore because once you mistreat them and scare them away, you know you can resort to a idealised version of themselves on AI?
@cargi9926
November 8, 2025 at 8:38 am
1:34
@toddhensley880
November 9, 2025 at 7:34 am
It’s not your loved one. It’s fake. It’s fictional. It’s unhealthy for the same reason visiting “mediums” is unhealthy. It’s someone fabricating artificial interaction with a person who is no longer alive. It’s a con. It’s dishonest.
@devina.2238
November 9, 2025 at 1:13 pm
Humans are not supposed to be God, and playing God will backfire horrifically