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Imagine reuniting with a loved one after they have already passed away. Can you imagine what it would be like to hold them for one last time, hear them laugh, or just watch them exist?
Jang Ji-sung, a South Korean mother experienced such an unprecedented miracle when she reunited with her 7-year-old daughter Nayeon in a virtual world. Nayeon had passed away three years before this reunion and was part of it thanks to this virtual world that was created specifically for a televised documentary.
The documentary titled I Met You is a project funded by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. A recently shared YouTube clip by the same organization showed the footage that kept switching between the virtual world and the real one.
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In the footage featuring the real world, we see Jang in front of a green screen with the necessary pieces of apparatus like the VR headset and gloves. When the clip switches to the virtual world we see a playful Nayeon running around in a green field, asking her mother all sorts of questions you ask after a long separation. They celebrated Nayeon’s birthday as they both sang the birthday song, and blew out the candles on the cake. Towards the end, we can see Nayeon frolicking in the green and beckoning her mother to come towards her. She gives her mother a single white flower and informs her that she is not sick anymore. While she drifts off to sleep, mother and daughter exchange emotional messages stating how they will be together again when the time comes.
This was an emotional reunion. Nayeon’s siblings and father was watching Jang and Nayeon interact from the sidelines. They could not hold back their tears when the seven-year-old asked her father to reduce smoking and her siblings to not worry mom. Even the people from the set were affected by this extremely touching interaction.
The production team behind this monumental idea spent eight months in making it a reality. The park featured in the virtual reality was inspired by the real-life park the mother and daughter visited frequently. A child actor was used as a model for the virtual Nayeon, and her movement was recorded by motion capture technology. Even though the technology is not perfect, as we hear one of the sibling comment Nayeon looks a bit different, it is convincing enough to make one’s loved one cry.
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The advent of this clip has opened a myriad of questions on the implications of such a technology. Will it revolutionize the way we humans grieve for a deceased person? Is it really far in the future, when we can access such an interaction with an easy upload to a virtual reality platform? What if people get addicted to the life in VR and refuse to move on like in the Black Mirror episode, Be Right Back?
The technology is still relatively new to answer these questions. However, a lot of start-ups have already laid the foundation to make this kind of interaction more streamlined. They have already started compiling data about people who are living and people who have deceased to create a “digital avatar” of them. Other companies are creating robot clones of real-life people. Each of these innovators should remember, that VR reunion, unlike the Black Mirror episode, should be a positive thing. A key aspect of doing so is through ensuring that the living person has fully accepted the death of their loved one. It should be a comfortable and nostalgic flip through an old album rather than a denial of reality.
Yet, a lot of responsibility accompanies such an innovation. If not anything else, regulations should be put in place so people don’t misuse the power of reuniting with the dead. The people enjoying this innovation should be able to look towards the mysterious unveiling of the future rather than being unable to move out of the past.
