Ghost In The Steem Machine
View this post on Hive: Ghost In The Steem Machine
7 years ago in #suicide by stellabelle (75)
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I think that if Laura set her bot to continue voting then we should respect her wishes... she is a lovely young lady and resting in peace. Thanks for this good post Stellabelle , I wish you a blessed week.
Thank you for what you wrote at the very end of the post in the "personal update" combined with choosing this topic we benefit a ton from looking at! I am honored Laura included me in her upvote list which I just discovered on your post here that I found by the retweet from the @steemit Twitter account at https://twitter.com/steemit. I appreciate you thinking of me for the post here and having the courage to share about this especially in how the death impacted you! I just added you to my @steemvoter after reading this post!
That's the thing about suicide; it only has to be a good idea for a few minutes.
I remember years ago, I took a breakup pretty hard. It all went pear shaped while I was at work, armed.
I never contemplated using it, but I recall being struck by how terrifyingly quickly I could do so.
It would only need to be a 'good' idea for a few seconds.
Glad to hear your dad is still around.
@Holoz0r is running an art contest in Laura's memory.
The theme of the first round is 'Darkness' and there's some quality entries already lodged.
The reason I'm running the competition is to encourage more steemians to produce consistent, quality content, and to make sure that Laura's 'ghost' haunts this place for as long as possible. She was an incredible role model and example for steemians all over the world, and we are a lesser place without her.
My friend Johnny committed suicide in 2015, and I find that although he doesn't still have a bot or anything like that, I still feel that he is with me. I regularly text his number when I want to talk to him (sorry to whoever is actually getting those texts). His facebook still exists, and people regularly post on his wall in his memory. Blockchain creates a really interesting problem in the world when a person dies. If you don't have any of your online information backed up, where does that money go? Where does that account go? There's no way to delete it, it always goes on in perpetuity... but should it? Should there be a way to memorialize a steemit account? I think the upvotes from her bot would be comforting, myself- although I often felt haunted by Johnny in the year after his death, especially when he would pop up in my facebook memories or one of his favorite songs would play on the radio just as I turned it on. Hopefully Laura's bot creates more comfort than pain, eventually.
What a good write-up, both of you. It's interesting to have a virtual you an avatar. I think everybody is going to have a virtual me to protect ourselves against bullying maybe but also for our privacy. I hope we can truly heal people in the future, maybe it is possible even now. Times are harsh, let's grab and hold each other and go into the night together. Soon the sun will rise.
Peace.
Laura and I had talks about a few things and she asked my opinion on some of them and for assistance on others.
Personally when I saw her bot running immediately still after her leaving us, I was humbled and stunned --- but had seen it running for a long time on my posts. I thought that was nice of her, I still do.
One thing was the behaviour of people on here, and how it affected things and people and I feel the same as her, to this day, as to how some people are affected.
I could say a lot more but I just won't. For lots of reasons.
I think Laura gave a lot of herself, with what she had to give, just like many of us do who get maligned and tossed to the side many times, no matter what we are dealing with or how good our intentions are.
Some of what we discussed and the rest has been discussed a lot on this platform.
The behaviour of people at times, has really changed how I view people and motives and generosity and transparency and a lot of other things now.
I always felt I was going to meet Laura one day, and looked forward to that, despite both of our health issues, oddly --- neither of our faults. We consoled each other in that regard also.
I also knew she was a ticking time bomb that suffered greatly.
And I will miss her and our conversations ring ever so loudly in my ears and mind as she impacted many of us.
I have always tried to be kind to people but like I said, some of the behaviour of people towards one another is really quite cruel and cold and that is something else many of us share and have a burden to deal with, in the reality of this life we are here for.
Our days are numbered, clearly. It would be nice to show a little more kindness to one another.
Kindness is sometimes hard to come by, until a tragedy shakes us up. I'm glad that you and Laura connected.
Thanks.
I am still bothered by all of this. I wonder if her passing will lead to any substantive changes.
I think she would like that.
In the end everybody dies.
I can't say I'd like the idea of a random Bot wandering the cosmos, making decisions on my behalf, after I leave it.
When I go. I'd just like the people that knew me to remember me.
For good or bad. Hopefully for the good.
There is an old saying,
"You will live on, until the last person that remembers you passes away"
Just my opinion.
Laura's suicide is a shocking news. It's a huge loss not only to Steem community but the whole society. May her soul rest in peace.
Sudden unexpected incidents like these may shock anyone. Since you knew her personally, and the manner she chose to put an end to her life has triggered a lot of past painful incidents in your heart. I feel it's not just Laura who was responsible to take this extreme step but the whole of human society is responsible for directly or indirectly making her life miserable to such an extent.
Your ramblings here has raised an interesting scenario of whether this artificial machine borne consciousness of a human being should continue after his / her death or not. We certainly need to think upon various aspects related to it. A good issue for deliberation!
This is very intriguing, a part of you will live on the blockchain. I didn't know Laura, but her death is saddening, depression is a hard thing to deal with. However it's very cool how steemit supports her after death and people coming together to put some light in this dark subject. This kind of bonding of people coming together over a terrible event, empowers the faith in people and humanity. This community is strong and loving and it's nice to have a break from all the trolls and assholes out there.
@stellabelle - I did not know Laura but after reading your account of her sad demise, I have a hollow feeling. Did not know I was capable of feeling this way.
I am amazed to think of the 'consciousness' left behind in the form of a bot. What a unique concept - never thought of the block-chain as a 'consciousness transference medium'!!
I hope you come to terms with the loss and your mood improves. I can feel the pain in your blog.
Regards,
@vm2904
Thanks for this post, I learned a whole bunch of stuff - I was pretty confused each time Laura's bot upvoted my posts.
Best wishes and I hope you feel better soon. Thanks for your insights.