A grieving woman was reunited with her deceased 7-year-old daughter through virtual reality on a Korean television show that stretches the bounds of what is sane and ethical to do with technology.
The Korean TV special called Meeting You aired last week and focused on a family that lost their 7-year-old daughter. In a bizarre and troubling finale to the special, the mother was reunited with her dead daughter through a virtual reality simulation. The mother put on a headset and began conversing with a likeness of her daughter through the device.
“Where have you been, Mum? Did you think about me?” the “daughter” said to her mother through the simulation.
“I do all the time,” the mother replied as she reached out to “hold” the hand of her counterfeit daughter.
The mother said that she agreed to do the program because of her intense grief over the loss of her seven-year-old daughter in 2016. She is still pained immeasurably due to her loss.
“Three years later, I now think I should love her more than I miss her… so that I can be confident when I meet her later,” she said.
The mother enjoyed seeing the virtual reality recreation of her daughter, but appears to have a hard time separating fantasy from reality as a result of the experience.
“Maybe it’s a real paradise. I met Nayeon, who called me with a smile, for a very short time, but it’s a very happy time. I think I’ve had the dream I’ve always wanted,” the mother said following the experience.
The video from the special can be seen here:
While some observers believe this was a touching moment, others are creeped out by the concept and wondering about the dark roads that rapid technological advancement may lead mankind down.
“Were this done behind closed doors, then maybe we could argue the psychological and ethical merits of such an exercise. And now we’ll have to. But putting it on TV, and then the internet, for the world to see? Whatever the long-term moral and ethical questions are that we’re going to have to face, this is extremely f**ked up,” wrote Kotaku reporter Luke Plunkett about the ordeal.
The scenario from the Korean television program is eerily similar to a dystopian fantasy from the Netflix sci-fi show Black Mirror produced in 2013 in which a service was created to provide a counterfeit copy of deceased loved ones to the bereaved.
The human experience is growing more artificial as mankind is empowered by technological advancement to play God. The results to the human race could be catastrophic on an unprecedented level.