[Tycho]

It's an interesting thought how mourners may want to continually visit the webspace (Facebook page etc) of the deceased, while blocking it from the broader public. Perhaps people will start consciously creating 'dead-space' online to leave behind when they die. I imagine things like 2nd Life already encountered this (I recall a moving story about a terminally ill mother who left behind Harvest Moon presents for her kids, who didn't realize till later cause they'd stopped playing the game), but it could go even further. It could become a custom to create a sort of online world and fill it with things that are quintessentially you, and then after you die loved ones can access it (and maybe interact) as a memorial.

[aquadoctorbob]

Here's a link to the moving story you're thinking of: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/11/animalc...

[Cushman]

The eventual destination presumably being that your entire consciousness is uploaded into a computer on your physical expiration, and death no longer exists.

But that'll mean passing through that creepy uncanny valley period when they can build you a very convincing AI simulation of your mother, but it's definitely just a simulation.