It\u2019s one of the more blood-curdling things about Facebook \u2013 the social media death notice. You know the score: the recently deceased star of Top of the Pops, sitcom or stage is commemorated by way of a YouTube video and a deluge of weepy RIPs and \u201cpart of my life\u201d eulogies, a phenomenon derided as \u201ctearleading\u201d. The high-water mark for this was who \u201ctaught us how to live, then taught us how to die\u201d two years ago. <\/p>\n
Of course, entrepreneurs have noticed this spectacle, which writer and psychologist Elaine Kasket brackets as \u201cthe data of the dead\u201d. It\u2019s part of a digital-led revolution in dying and death and it\u2019s changing the way we see people pass into the ineffable digital afterlife. \u201cWe\u2019re developing an entirely new mentality about death and dying,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u200bKasket (yes, she knows) is the author of an upcoming book about digital death called All the Ghosts in the Machine, and has observed a huge rise of interest. \u201cI was at a recent SXSW festival and was introduced to someone who put on a super-serious voice and told me: \u2018I\u2019m in the death-tech space\u2019.\u201d As a subject, dying has become fashionable, with investors pouring money into startups, bolstering thought leadership and inspirational TED Talks on \u201cnew ways to think about death\u201d. <\/p>\n
There are so many new death-tech sites that they break up into different types….<\/p>\n