Aeterna

There's this old saying that we die twice: once when our heart stops beating and again when our name is spoken for the last time. It's a poetic thought but also a haunting one. We leave behind memories, stories, and photographs, but those are static, frozen in time, unable to evolve beyond what they already are. What if there were another way? What if one could preserve not just records of ourselves but so much closer to who we are?

I’ve been mulling this idea for the past few years, and I finally think it’s time to shed some light on it. (And get feedback). Welcome to Aeterna, a service that doesn't let us be remembered but revived. Using artificial intelligence, voice synthesis, and 3D modeling, Aeterna is designed to produce a digital version of an individual as an avatar that resembles the person in speech, appearance, and, most of all, thought. This is not a cold archive of facts or the voice that reads pre-scripted answers. This is something deeper, something personal. This is a way to ensure that we never truly disappear.

Building the Digital Soul

The process of creating an AI version of a person isn’t simple—it requires a deep and multi-faceted approach to capture their essence. Aeterna is built around three core methodologies that form a complete and faithful digital representation of an individual.

1. Scraping the Digital Footprint

Most of us leave trails across the internet, whether we realize it or not. Social media posts, old blog entries, public comments, playlists, and even our online debates—each of these contains fragments of our personalities, our thoughts, and our values. Aeterna’s first step is to gather all this information, using sophisticated AI to analyze speech patterns, interests, humor, and even deeply held beliefs.

But this alone is not enough. Aeterna also requires a deep-dive personality questionnaire, an extensive survey that asks users about their likes, dislikes, and nuanced opinions on social, political, and entertainment matters. If you could create an AI version of yourself, wouldn’t you want it to hold the same views as you? To remember why you loved certain books or why you hated certain movies? To recall the details of your favorite childhood memory?

By combining what we share online with what we articulate in private, Aeterna builds an AI persona that isn’t just a reflection of public actions but a synthesis of both the curated and the candid.

2. Reconstructing the Voice

Voice is one of the most personal and distinctive parts of who we are. A recording of a loved one’s voice can evoke memories in a way that even photographs cannot. With advancements in AI-driven voice synthesis, Aeterna will use tools like ElevenLabs to capture and replicate speech with eerie accuracy.

The process is straightforward: users will record themselves speaking—answering questions, telling stories, even singing if they choose. The AI will then analyze tone, cadence, and inflection, creating a voice model that can generate new speech with natural emotion and personality. This isn’t a robotic imitation; it’s designed to sound like you, complete with the pauses, the little imperfections, and the warmth that makes a voice truly human.

Imagine your great-grandchildren asking a question about your life and hearing your voice answer, not as an old recording, but as something alive, something responsive. They could talk to you, laugh with you, even seek your advice.

3. Constructing the Face and Presence

Aeterna doesn’t just want to create an AI that speaks and thinks like you—it wants to give it a face. Through 3D scanning technology, similar to the technology used in blockbuster movies, combined with photographic analysis spanning your entire life, Aeterna will construct a visual representation that looks, ages, and emotes like you.

A state-of-the-art 3D scan will capture your current facial structure, while an AI-driven augmentation will use older photos to model how your face has changed over the years. The result is an evolving digital likeness that doesn’t just freeze you in time but allows for various expressions, emotions, and interactions.

This visual presence, combined with AI-driven conversation and a fully synthesized voice, creates an experience that is as close to "being" with someone as technology allows.

The Timeless Persona: Interacting Across Ages

One of Aeterna’s most remarkable features is the ability to interact with an individual at different stages of their life. Memories are not static, and neither is identity. A conversation with a 30-year-old self is different from one with a 70-year-old self, just as speaking to a 15-year-old version reveals a different perspective than an older, more experienced counterpart.

Through advanced AI modeling, Aeterna can reconstruct an individual's appearance, voice, and conversational style across various ages. By analyzing past social media posts, writings, and other digital records, the system can generate age-appropriate mannerisms, vocabulary, and viewpoints for each life stage.

• Visual Aging and De-Aging: Using photographs from throughout life, Aeterna will adjust facial models to reflect different ages, whether a childhood version, a young adult, or an elder self. This means that interacting with a 20-year-old version of someone will look and feel different than speaking with their 60-year-old counterpart.

• Voice Synthesis Across Time: Voice changes as we age, becoming deeper, softer, or more textured. Aeterna will simulate these changes, ensuring that the AI-generated persona reflects not just what a person looked like at a given time but how they sounded as well.

• Age-Appropriate Thought Patterns: Our beliefs, humor, and priorities shift over time. Aeterna will adjust the conversational flow accordingly, ensuring that when you speak with a younger version, the AI reflects that life stage's thoughts, knowledge, and experiences.

Imagine a grandchild being able to talk with their grandfather as he was in his twenties, hearing about his dreams, ambitions, and fears—then fast-forwarding to hear his reflections at 80. A child could ask their great-grandmother about her teenage years, not just as a story retold by an elder, but as if they were speaking to her younger self in real-time.

Aeterna makes it possible not only to preserve a legacy but also to experience it over time.

The Aeterna Experience

Aeterna is not just a company; it is an experience. To honor the gravity of what we are creating, Aeterna will establish outposts across the country, designed with elegance, refinement, and comfort in mind. These will not be sterile, clinical spaces but beautiful, thoughtfully designed environments that reflect the dignity and meaning of what is being built—a digital legacy that will outlive its creator.

Each client will be welcomed into an Aeterna office by a personal host, someone trained to guide them through the process with care and attentiveness. This is not a transaction; it is a journey of self-preservation. The host will take the time to explain every step, answer questions, and ensure that the client feels at ease as they create the most faithful representation of themselves.

Why Aeterna?

Right now, we talk about our ancestors in the past tense. We imagine what they were like based on old letters or faded photographs. But what if, generations from now, our great-great-grandchildren could sit down and have a conversation with us?

Not just watch an old video, not just read a memoir—but talk.

Aeterna isn’t just a company. It’s a way to defy time, to reach across generations, and to ensure that, in some form, we are never truly gone.

Because maybe we don’t have to die twice after all.