Creating durable biographies in palliative care: the role of continuing bond avatars

In this paper I explore the potential benefits and harms of avatar or chatbot representations of persons who are in palliative care. Much has been written recently about the benefits and harms of ‘continuing bond’ chatbots: representations of those who have died. Depending on one’s view, continuing bond chatbots are either a useful tool that facilitates the bereaved engaging in conversations with a representation of the deceased or they are an unhealthy block to the bereaved’s ability to move through the stages of grief. But there are other grief contexts in which the needs of the griever are relevantly different to the needs of a person whose loved one has died. Here I consider palliative cases in which a loved one is significantly psychologically altered such that it is no longer easy to experience them as the ‘same person’. I consider the unique problems facing carers in this scenario and how personal avatars might provide some comfort and help with both the grieving and the ongoing caring prospect. I undertake a philosophical exploration of whether and how the arguments for the use of continuing bond avatars in cases of death carry over into palliative care contexts. Ultimately, I propose that a distinctive case can be made for the use of continuing bond avatars to help the grieving process of carers in some palliative contexts.