Two decades ago, my good friend Jim Malmros (of IO Interactive fame) and I had frequent discussions about the possibility of transferring, copying or otherwise messing with the contents of the human mind. Partly because we were weird but also because most computer science types probably wonder at one point or another just how similar the human brain is to a computer. Considering our maturity level at the time, I'm happy to report that these were purely theoretical exercises.

Since that time, the idea of leaving my stories and experiences intact for others to enjoy has fascinated me. I started thinking that it would really suck to have all the information stored in my brain simply vanish upon my expiration (there are those who would argue there isn't all that much information in my brain to lose). But simply writing a book about myself wasn't going to cut it. I wanted something people could interact with. Something they would come back to time and time again when they felt like a chat. Something that would surprise them once in a while, and something that would be available to anyone at any time.

If I was ever going to do something useful with technology, this was it.

When my grandfather passed away a while back without the family, despite our best intentions, having captured everything we wanted to, I knew I had to act. I spent a ton of time doing manual proofs-of-concept, and later implemented successful software prototypes. And here I am now, working on it double-full-time.

While a cure for death is a long way off (and I'm fairly certain I won't be the one finding it), I'll be happy if inluu.com can encourage and help people in saving and sharing their life stories. Far too much important information is lost when the people around us depart. Taking the time and spending the energy to write a formal autobiography, let alone getting it published, distributed and read, is a challenge only a fraction of the population is up to. Blogging is great but there's nothing guiding you through the process, keeping track of where you are and what remains to be said, structuring your memories to mirror your mind. And the end result is not interactive. We need something that opens up the opportunity for endless but easy, fun data mining.

The mission of Human Proxy is to invent and implement technologies that help you be there for your people. The launch of inluu.com v0.7 BETA is the first, tiny baby step. The list of future features is long, because I believe the need is great.

/Juan Irming

inluu territory blog