I lived in China for many years before I moved to America. I finished my elementary school and a part of junior high school there. During these 12 years, three relatives of mine left me. After I moved to America, I finished junior high and high school. And before I could even graduate from high school, another relative of mine left me. I am now still feeling regretful for how I didn’t communicate with them much when they were still alive. I understand that death is inevitable and maybe we will never escape from that even with the help of the most advanced technologies, this is the unbreakable rule of nature. As an interaction designer, we can’t prolong people’s life or improve people’s health like doctors, but I am pretty sure that I can do something for those who just lost their lovers.
My goal is to create an application that can help people relieve their pain of losing their loved one or give people opportunities to interact with family members that they may never have before. I was inspired by the virtual lovers game from Japan and my idea is to offer virtual characters that people desire with this application. The virtual characters in this application will be highly customizable, the users can choose their appearances, voices, language, and even personalities. All the characters will be run by AIs, there will be different AI for different roles(for example, there will be an AI for father and an AI for mother). This application is mainly for keeping people mentally healthy and not recreating those who already passed away. I also want people to know that we only live once, and we really should treat each other with love and respect.
This is my plan for making this world a better place.
Sorry about that, Brian.
Death is inevitable and maybe we will never escape from it. All compounded things are characterized by impermanence. “This application is mainly for keeping people mentally healthy and not recreating those who already passed away.” I really love your idea, thank you.
Thanks for sharing your story.
I would challenge you that a Manifesto is a philosophy for living your life and for how you will approach your life’s work as an interaction designer. It is bigger than one project idea – while noble and nicely grounded from your personal loss — it’s more than a finite experience. Can you capture the feeling and goals you express here into a larger set of philosophies that will apply to all projects and work you do as a designer?
Sorry for your loss, Brian.
Love and respect for each individual is what really humans deserve.
Your project reminds me of five stages of grief, and hope it helps people accepting someone’s death and remembrance of those deaths.