Dr Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode - 'Will "Griefbots" Help us Grieve?'

Name: Dr Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode - 'Will "Griefbots" Help us Grieve?'
Start: 2026-03-23T19:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-03-23T21:00:00+00:00
Location: TheVictoria Lincoln

Schedule

Mon Mar 23 2026 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

TheVictoria Lincoln | Lincoln, EN

On Monday 23 March, Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode will deliver a talk on the ethics and moral psychology of "griefbots", AI simulations of deceased loved ones currently offered to bereaved customers by companies including HereAfter AI, Eternos, and Seance AI.
IMPORTANT: This special Monday edition of the Lincoln Philosophy Salon will take place on the first floor of THE VICTORIA pub. If you turn up at the usual venue you'll find yourself doing life drawing.
Time: 19:00-21:00
Venue: Upstairs room, the Victoria, 6 Union Rd, Lincoln LN1 3BJ
This event is free and open to the public.
Abstract: In this presentation I will defend two connected claims. Firstly I argue that although there exists, both in philosophy and psychology of grief, an influential movement emphasizing ‘continuing bonds’, it does not go far enough in that it remains ‘subject centred’. By this I mean that even proponents of the ‘continuing bonds’ model see the advantages of this conception in terms of its potential of elevating the suffering of the bereaved. I argue that this approach undermines an important 'object-centered' place grief has in human life, which is to express and preserve our love for those we have lost. Secondly, I argue that, despite what many suggest will be the primary use of this technology, griefbots will create more not less distance between the bereaved and those they have lost, and so undermine rather than aid object-centred grief.
Dr Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode is Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Humanities Research Institute, University of Buckingham, and Director of Graduate Research in Philosophy at the University. He is also a Research Fellow in Philosophy at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw. Currently he is International Visiting Fellow at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, Budapest. Dr Sławkowski-Rode specialises in philosophy of mind, phenomenology, philosophy of culture and philosophy of religion. His most recent book The Meaning of Mourning: Perspectives on Death Loss and Grief (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023) received personal acknowledgement from the Dalai Lama. He has written on grief and mourning for popular venues including the New York Times. He is a founding member of the Humane Philosophy Society, which organises the New Generation Research Exchange for Central and Eastern Europe.