When is death preferable to living? Are there fates worse than death? And what sort of future society should we build?

Lionel Shriver discusses her latest novel, Should We Stay or Should We Go.

Should you be required to get a parental license from the State before you can raise your own children? Do the wishes of parents matter at all – or should we only care about the best interests of their children?

In this special episode of Brain in a Vat, we step outside our usual format to interview Miles Spencer, founder of Reflekta — a company using cutting-edge AI to recreate digital reflections of loved ones who’ve passed away.

Miles shares his personal journey of using Reflekta to reconnect with his late father and explains how the system blends voice recordings, photos, and written biographies to create realistic digital personas. The discussion covers the emotional impact, ethical questions, and philosophical issues raised by this technology, from preserving family memories to reviving historical or fictional figures.

We also consider what it means to build a living legacy in the age of AI, and how this might change the way we understand grief, identity, and memory.

Chapters:

[00:00] Introduction

[00:15] Meet Miles Spencer, Founder of Reflector AI

[03:07] How the Technology Works

[07:12] Philosophical Implications of Digital Afterlife

[15:29] Living Legacies and Ethical Boundaries

[23:12] Historical and Public Figures

[26:33] Family, Memory, and AI Elders

[33:17] Reflections on “The Rehearsal” and Reality

[42:31] Future Implications

[47:54] Legacy, Spirit, and the Human Story

[51:21] Closing Thoughts