A mother had an emotional outburst after having ‘met’ her deceased seven-year-old daughter who died of a rare disease 4 years ago. The meeting was made possible via virtual reality by building a computer-generated model of the young daughter. However, in real world- Jang, the mother, was standing in a studio wearing a virtual reality headset and touch sensitive gloves.
The experiment was a trial attempt to check if technology can warm people’s heart and it certainly did! The video shows mother crying uncontrollably after having encountered her daughter’s avatar. The other family members watching this reunion from a distance were also tear-eyed. Oh my pretty, I have missed you, the mother can be heard saying as she strokes hair of the digital replica of her daughter. Towards the end of video, daughter reciprocated by wishing that her mum stops crying and dad should quit smoking.
It took production team 8 months to develop the VR simulation. They used motion capture technology to record the movements of a child actor that they could later use for their virtual model and reproduced her voice too. They also designed a virtual park, based on the one mother-daughter duo frequently visited. The two were able to touch, play and hold conversations- the little girl even reassured her mother that she was no longer in pain.
The production company positions this technique as a “new way to keep loved ones in memory,” where as critics disregarded it as an exaggeration of personal pain. One of the main concerns pointed out here is about the right of the deceased. Would they want to be digitally brought back to life? Who should control the words that they say? Such techniques also have the potential to force the dead into conversations that they wouldn’t have agreed to normally. The further concern is how long do you keep the relationship alive? Is it a one-time opportunity to enable closure or do you then prolong that relationship?
Irrespective of arguments and consequences, a mother’s wish of meeting her child and letting her know how much she loved her has been granted true!
This content was originally published for my TechTuesday’s initiative on LinkedIn.
