Echoes of the Deceased: Thanatechnology and Memory Alteration in Jordan Harrison's Marjorie Prime
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol21.Iss3.1008Keywords:
Thanatechnology , Memory , Marjorie Prime , Continuing Bonds , digital mourning)Abstract
Technology and artificial intelligence are transforming how humans relate to memory, grief and identity. In Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime (2016), AI versions known as “Primes” assist people in processing loss by keeping particular memories of the dead. This paper examines how these digital constructs preserve emotional ties but exercise a revisionist spin on personal history, thus posing moral questions around authenticity and closure. While virtual representations expand mourning practices, they also erase the boundary between authentic grieving and artificial continuity. The analysis highlights the impermanence of AI memorials, and their reliance on human input and absence of true consciousness. Although these technologies may provide comfort in some cases, they can complicate the grieving process with unrealistic, artificial relationships. Situating Marjorie Prime within the larger conversation surrounding Thanatechnology and digital legacies, AI memorials are presented as simultaneously generative and problematic, enabling deeper considerations of the limits of human-AI interaction in grieving.
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