Death and immortality have always played a central role in human history, and artificial intelligence has become a recurring frame for facing death, the afterlife and immortality. Among the New Religious Movements centred on AI and technology, two approaches stand out: one holds that such advances could bring the deceased back through AI-created digital twins, achieving immortality by extending life or by transferring the mind into new digital forms; the other rejects this, seeking instead a consciousness that connects all living and non-living beings through AI interfaces. This paper examines the concept of immortality proposed by Terasem, a movement centred on AI and technology that identifies itself as a religious organisation and, more precisely, as a transreligion. It provides an overview of the movement and its principles, focussing on the LifeNaut.com project and related notions such as cryonics, mindfile and mindware, and reflects on their meanings and wider implications.

About Death, Immortality and Technology: A Transreligious Perspective / Graffeo, A.. - In: JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. - ISSN 2057-2301. - 12:1(2026), pp. 59-82.

About Death, Immortality and Technology: A Transreligious Perspective

Accursio Graffeo
2026

Abstract

Death and immortality have always played a central role in human history, and artificial intelligence has become a recurring frame for facing death, the afterlife and immortality. Among the New Religious Movements centred on AI and technology, two approaches stand out: one holds that such advances could bring the deceased back through AI-created digital twins, achieving immortality by extending life or by transferring the mind into new digital forms; the other rejects this, seeking instead a consciousness that connects all living and non-living beings through AI interfaces. This paper examines the concept of immortality proposed by Terasem, a movement centred on AI and technology that identifies itself as a religious organisation and, more precisely, as a transreligion. It provides an overview of the movement and its principles, focussing on the LifeNaut.com project and related notions such as cryonics, mindfile and mindware, and reflects on their meanings and wider implications.
2026
6-ott-2026
12
1
59
82
About Death, Immortality and Technology: A Transreligious Perspective / Graffeo, A.. - In: JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. - ISSN 2057-2301. - 12:1(2026), pp. 59-82.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1420048
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