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Personality Capture and Emulation

Part of the book series: Human–Computer Interaction Series ((HCIS))

Abstract

Leading computer scientists as well as technology visionaries have predicted that eventually human personalities will be archived and simulated through information systems. This chapter anchors those ideas in the history of the personology movement at Harvard University in the mid twentieth century and in the parallel questionnaire research tradition in social psychology and sociology. Despite the faded reputation of psychoanalysis, and the rise of cognitive science, depth psychology in modernized form must be central to this novel response to death. Administration of afterlife questions from the General Social Survey to members of a radical group show how cultures and subcultures both shape individuals. Thus, capture must involve not only the individual, but to some degree the surrounding society as well, and emulation must benefit other people. Five scenarios for the future of personality capture and emulation range from radical to modest: (1) Transmigration: the transfer of human personalities to a new substrate at high fidelity, (2) Apotheosis: creation of an idealized functioning model of an individual person, (3) Progeny: representing a person through multiple agents during the lifetime as well as afterward, (4) Incorporation: providing partial immortality by embedding a person into the collective memory of the community, and (5) Personalization: adjustment of an individual’s tools to reflect personal beliefs, values, and skills.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arlington, VA, USA

    William Sims Bainbridge

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  1. William Sims Bainbridge
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Correspondence to William Sims Bainbridge .

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Bainbridge, W. (2014). Background. In: Personality Capture and Emulation. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5604-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5604-8_1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-5603-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-5604-8

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