Editorial: Technology shouldn't change grief and healing

British animation expert Simon McKeown this week claimed that within 50 years computers will be advanced enough to create "synthetic digital life" based upon people's past movements, preferences and history on social media.

Basically that means we could virtually keep people alive so we could interact with their avatars.

The avatars would be created using a process called "photogrammetry", which can accurately reconstruct a virtual 3D shape of a human being from existing photographs and video.

Computer voice synthesis will take account of local and regional accents to deliver a more accurate representation of what they sounded like.

The digital life form would also be linked up to social networks and large databases so they would be kept "up to date" with their relative's activities and could communicate with them.

I'm not convinced that's a good idea.

No-one wants to lose a close family member or friend. It's always painful and difficult.

This technology does not change that - everyone will still die eventually.

The only difference will be in the grieving and healing process for those left behind.

Death is part of life and it's something we all deal with differently. But it's something we all need to learn to deal with.

I can imagine grieving people creating avatars of their lost loved ones and clinging to them as though they were still here.

Having conversations with something that looks and sounds like that person can't be healthy in the long run.

They may be able to ask appropriate questions about your day and even recall memories but they will never be a real person. It is simply a computer program.

They can't love or share experiences with you. They can't offer advice or support in a tough time.

How would you ever even consider dating again or getting on with your life if you were always talking to your late spouse?

It may bring comfort for a while but I can see it only adding to the grief eventually.

We need to learn to let go and say goodbye, however tough that may be.

We need to remember those people we've lost and cherish their memories and the time we spent together but we don't need an avatar to do that.

I think it's safer to stick with memories, photos and videos.