About Death, Immortality and Technology

A Transreligious Perspective

Authors

  • Accursio Graffeo University of Turin - UZH-URPP Digital Religion(s) - FBK-ISR

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.

Author Biography

Accursio Graffeo, University of Turin - UZH-URPP Digital Religion(s) - FBK-ISR

Accursio Graffeo is a PhD candidate in the Italian Doctoral School of Religious Studies (DREST) at the University of Modena-Reggio Emilia/University of Turin jointly with the University of Zurich (URPP Digital Religion(s) research centre) and at the Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK-ISR Center for Religious Studies). His research focuses on AI-related new religious movements. He holds a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Turin. In 2022 he published his first monograph entitled ‘Religioni e complessità. L’antropologia di Enrico Comba e i Nativi nordamericani’ (Accademia University Press). In the social sector, he has more than a decade of experience in the field of social community empowerment in the metropolitan area of Milan and solid experience in social design and project writing. In the field of anthropology, he is a member of the editorial board of AceTonico, an online project for independent and participatory anthropological publishing.

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Published

2026-10-06