The End is Trending: Virtual Immortality in the Digital Age

The remains of the dead increasingly haunt us and have made themselves comfortable, ever-present, and accessible through their digital remains—the photos, videos, and messages left behind.

by Nilou Davoudi

For YouTube user @00WARTHERAPY00, video games can be—and have been—a spiritual experience. While playing Rally Sport Challenge on their father’s Xbox console, newly discovered ten years after his death, @00WARTHERAPY00 noticed something: a transparent racing car flying across the screen of the game. It was a “racing ghost,” or the saved …