In February 2021, a post on Twitter by a Concordia University student in Canada went viral. Aaron Ansuini had emailed his lecturer a question. He didn't get an answer, for a very good reason. During the global Covid-19 pandemic, every lecturer I know is pre-recording lectures, or capturing them live. What happens to those recordings? Could a university actually keep on using those lectures after the lecturer leaves - or really leaves? And if so, who benefits? Elaine Kasket, author of All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of Your Personal Data, speaks with sociologist Carla Sofka, philosopher Patrick Stokes, and privacy lawyer Albert Gidari about questions we could never have asked 20 years ago, such as: What are the pros and cons of being educated by the dead? Written and produced by: Elaine KasketAll music used under license from Epidemic Sound. In order of play:Stay Whimsical (Arthur Benson)Sneaky Sam (Jerry Lacey)Sad Clowns (Alexandra Woodward)Confused Mind (Stationary Sign)It’s Not That Serious (Arthur Benson) Gas$ Money, Instrumental Version (Xavy Rusan)Carmen, Act II: No 14 Couplets (Traditional)The King of Thieves (Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen)

The ancient Natufians buried their dead under their houses, hanging plaster death masks of the ancestors on the walls of their dwellings. Over ten thousand years separate them from us, but how different are we, really? Well, for starters, the citizens of the modern age have handed over responsibility for the dead - and culture, and history - to the powers of social media and the market. Why does that matter?Still Spoken explores how the dead live on: through us, through our stories, and through technology. In this episode, Elaine talks with Carl Ohman. Carl is a recent PhD graduate from the Oxford Internet Institute, the 2020 recipient of the Scotus Early Career Researcher award for Arts and Humanities. He's predicted the tipping point when Facebook becomes a digital cemetery - with more dead profiles than live ones - and more recently he's raised alarms about the dire consequences if Facebook fails. Carl and Elaine talk economics, equality, politics, history and technology, and how it all links to the digital dead. Host Elaine Kasket is a psychologist, storyteller, and author based in London. She's an expert in bereavement and in death & the digital. Her latest book is All the Ghosts in the Machine.Produced by Elaine KasketMusic and sound effects all purchased under license from Epidemic Sound:Savannah Nights - ZauanaComputer Wiz - Marten MosesGa$ Money - Xavy RusanErudition - Ambre JauneMy Machines - Real HeroesRather Erratic - Benjamin Rice

In They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera writes that 'stories can make someone immortal as long as someone else is willing to listen.' Annie died in 2019, but to London audiences of The Moth, she feels as alive as ever thanks to her grandson, the storyteller Scott Young. His tale about Annie and an ill-advised engagement party took him to London's July 2019 GrandSLAM, a competition for some of the best storytellers around. In this episode of Still Spoken - a podcast exploring the way the dead live on through us, through our stories, and through technology - Elaine Kasket and Scott co-create a kind of auditory memory box of Annie, full of complexity, pain, love, humour, and redemption. Host Elaine Kasket is a psychologist, storyteller, and author based in London. She's an expert in bereavement and in death & the digital. Her latest book is All the Ghosts in the Machine.Produced by Elaine KasketMusic:Under a Cloud - Across the Great Valley (Epidemic Sound)Le Chef - Marc Taboel (Epidemic Sound)Audio 191283019 © Matteo Curcio | Dreamstime.comPlaying by Hollywood's Rules - Golden Age Radio (Epidemic Sound)O Christmas Tree (Jazz Version) - The Evergreen Trio (Epidemic Sound)Amazing Grace - Edward Hall (Epidemic Sound)Sneaky Sam - Jerry Lacey (Epidemic Sound)Without Words - Lalo Brickman (Epidemic Sound)Between the Cracks - Lalo Brickman (Epidemic Sound)Taxi - Lalo Brickman (Epidemic Sound)An Ode to All Mothers - Howard Harper-Barnes (Epidemic Sound)All additional sound effects from Epidemic Sound.

Just in time for Halloween, the news hit that Kanye West gifted his wife a hologram of her late father as a 40th birthday surprise. Is this the best or worst present ever? And should we be treating this as a weird headline about those crazy celebrities, or as a wakeup call for us all?Elaine Kasket, psychologist and author of All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of Your Personal Data, talks to Patrick Stokes, philosopher based at Deakin University in Australia and author of the upcoming Digital Souls, about the massive societal issues raised by Kim's milestone birthday gift.More context: Kim's tweet about 'the most thoughtful gift of a lifetime', where you can watch the hologram delivering its messageTamara's Kneese's article on Slate about Herman Cain and the problems with tweeting after deathMusic: 'Confidence is Key' by Arthur Benson and 'Jaded' by Blue Steel, both from Epidemic Sound