This WIRED interview between Joshua Sariñana and Sinead Bowell explores the digital afterlife. They discuss the interplay between neuroscience, technology, and memory, discussing how advancements in understanding and manipulating memories could impact science, medicine, and identity. Joshua Sariñana highlights the potential of technologies like AI and neurotechnologies to reconstruct, externalize, and even upload memories, raising ethical concerns about privacy, equity, and data bias.

Joshua Sariñana, PhD, contributes his expertise in neuroscience and photography to the documentary In an Instant, which examines the evolving role of photography in memory and identity. Sariñana discusses how the overwhelming volume of digital images challenges our ability to process and retain memories, as the act of capturing and viewing photographs becomes increasingly disconnected. Drawing parallels between analog and digital photography, he highlights how physical media, like Polaroid film, fosters a tactile and emotional connection that modern digital platforms often lack.