Tamara Kneese is a researcher and author whose work examines the ethical and environmental implications of technology, particularly concerning digital afterlives and artificial intelligence. Her recent book, Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in this Life and Beyond, explores the material infrastructure and collective labor required to maintain digital representations of the deceased, questioning the true cost of keeping the dead alive online. She focuses on the intersection of technology, ethics, and sustainability.
Kneese’s research delves into the labor and environmental impact needed for AI systems, specifically how this plays a role in digital preservation of loved ones. This work focuses on the energy consumption and sustainability challenges associated with data centers and AI, particularly in the context of maintaining digital legacies on a fragile planet. She highlights the often-overlooked labor performed by women and marginalized groups in maintaining these systems.
Kneese has engaged with Mormon Transhumanist Association (MTA), attending their conference in Provo in 2019 as part of her book research. She is interested in the combination of religious cosmologies and technological life extension, emphasizing the MTA’s ancestrally oriented approach to transhumanism and kinship networks.
