Compost My Body and Memorialize My Facebook: Death in the 21st Century

Technological innovations and cultural shifts of the 21st century have the potential to change what aspects of a person’s life endure after death. The research presented in this briefing aims to inform ethical frameworks and public policies around our physical and digital legacies. In May, Washington will become the first state to legalize a four-to-
seven-week process by which a body composts into a cubic yard of soil, with commercial facilities set to open this fall. While proponents of the new process, called natural organic reduction, tout it as an environmentally friendly alternative to burial or cremation, the technology has only been used to manage livestock carcasses. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs
will present new findings from the first study to attempt to compost human remains. Carpenter-Boggs and colleagues found that the natural organic reduction process broke down the tissue of donor research subjects, using high heat to meet EPA regulations for reducing pathogens and produce finished material with low levels of coliform bacteria, which are used as an indicator of biological safety. Faheem Hussain will discuss ongoing research on the policies that internet service providers, such as social media, e-commerce and dating platforms, use to address deceased users’ accounts. Recent controversies have highlighted the disconnect between users’ concept of digital ownership and providers’ legal claim to data created on their platforms. Malia Fullerton will address the recent
proliferation of biobanks, which preserve research participants’ biological samples indefinitely, and the ethical implications such collections raise. In precision medicine studies, for example, should genetic results from the samples of deceased participants be offered to family members who may be affected by similar health risks?

Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, professor of soil science and sustainable agriculture, Washington State University, Pullman
The Environmental Impact of Death, and the Science of Sustainable Alternatives

Faheem Hussain, clinical assistant professor of future of innovation, Arizona State University School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Tempe
Our Digital Afterlife

Stephanie Malia Fullerton, professor of bioethics and humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
And the Genes Lived On: Reflections on the Immortality of Personal Genetic Information

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