History Main / ArtificialAfterlife

* ''Literature/{{Darwinia}}'' is set is so far into the future that the universe is beginning to undergo heat death. Luckily, humanity has developed an indestructible computer system that can withstand the end of time and the technology to upload human minds into a VR afterlife based on human history and experience. Unfortunately, the system is under attack from alien computer viruses which leads to glitches in history.

* In ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', there are a large number of possible [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/45e4f015a38b4 technological afterlives]] available for those citizens of the post-singularity spacefaring civilizations who choose not to take advantage of medical technology to live indefinitely. Mostly, these revolve around the ability to keep "[[BrainUploading backups]]" of people's minds and retrieve them should they die.

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': One strip [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3183 has humanity end]] when it creates VirtualReality machines that slow down perception, reaching the logical conclusion that it's better to spend ([[YearInsideHourOutside perceived]]) eternity in paradise rather than an hour in boring reality.

* The ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym tried inventing an afterlife after Bill Foster's murder by the rogue cyborg [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] clone named Ragnarok. It was stolen by [[Characters/MarvelComicsAim A.I.M.]] in a scheme to take control of it and sell space in it to the highest bidder. Unfortunately doing so would compromise the uploaded mind of Bill Foster already in there, adding even more urgency for Hank to get it back.

* The ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym tried inventing an afterlife after Bill Foster's murder by the rogue cyborg [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] clone named Ragnarok. It was stolen by ComicBook/{{AIM}} in a scheme to take control of it and sell space in it to the highest bidder. Unfortunately doing so would compromise the uploaded mind of Bill Foster already in there, adding even more urgency for Hank to get it back.

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym tried inventing an afterlife after Bill Foster's murder by the rogue cyborg [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] clone named Ragnarok. It was stolen by ComicBook/{{AIM}} in a scheme to take control of it and sell space in it to the highest bidder. Unfortunately doing so would compromise the uploaded mind of Bill Foster already in there, adding even more urgency for Hank to get it back.
* ''JLA: Heaven's Ladder'' is about the League confronting a race of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens that have existed since the Big Bang, scientifically cataloging the entire universe. Confronted with their own mortality, their utter fear of the unknown that comes next drives them to steal inhabited planets and use their cultures to build their own afterlife.

* ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'': In "Smurfed Behind: Smurfing In Heaven", Empath thinks he has died and gone to Elysium, the "smurfy hereafter" afterlife of the Smurfs... except, of course, he finds out that the Elysium he entered was just a magical illusion created by Ares the god of war (and so also is the Tartarus that Empath fell down from Elysium into), and that he didn't actually die.

[[folder:Film]]

** During "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", the minds of people killed by the Vashta Nerada (or any other means within the library) are uploaded into a virtual world to live in while they cannot be saved in the real world. [[spoiler:At the end of ''Forest of the Dead'', 4,023 of them are returned to the real world. It becomes the afterlife for River Song after her death.]]

* ''Literature/FallOrDodgeInHell'': Dodge, an irreverent billionaire, gets his [[BrainUploading brain uploaded]] to become the first inhabitant of Bitworld, a digital space he begins sculpting to his will. New inhabitants start joining and fall in line with his vision, but pretty soon the place gets filled with enough people that divisions and disagreements begin. Things start looking suspiciously Biblical.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': Vault 112 combines this with a LotusEaterMachine. When the Great War broke out, the inhabitants chosen for the vault were put into a virtual reality world overseen by Dr. Braun, who could enter several idyllic scenarios into the machine for the people to live in. Unfortunately, Braun was a sadistic madman who enjoyed tormenting and killing his charges, and since he also controlled their memories, they never recalled anything being wrong. By the time the Lone Wanderer finds the Vault to save their father (who'd hooked himself into the machine shortly before to get information needed for Project Purity), Braun has all the inhabitants living in an idyllic pastiche of suburban America called Tranquility Lane.

* ''Webcomic/Whomp'': In one strip, an elderly Ronnie decides to have his mind transfered into one of these via BrainUploading. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't actually move ''his'' mind into a virtual afterlife, it just copies it into a digital version of himself. The original [[DeadlyEuphemism has to be disposed of properly]]. Can't have two versions of the same person running around after all.

* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' is all about how the [[NobleWolf wolves]] are supposed to find a lost Paradise available only to them as an increasingly devastated world comes ever closer to the point where it can no longer sustain life. Many of nobles aren't content with the idea of being barred from Paradise, and have attempted to either find a way to enter it or create a faux one for themselves where they can live forever, as SorcerousOverlord Lady Jaguara attempts to do.

* In ''Fanfic/ResonanceDays'', the origin of the afterlife is unknown, but Elsa Maria recounts a popular CreationMyth that claims it was created by a magical girl who's wish was for all Puella Magi and Witches to have a second chance.

* Downplayed with Corbenic in the ''Website/SCPFoundation''. The afterlife itself is "natural", but it was originally nothing very interesting. Just a world without much in the way of civilization or culture, but various monsters you'd expect out of a D&D campaign. Once the Tripple Moon initiative arrived, however, they got to work. Their BadassCreed specifically states that there was no Heaven or Hell when they arrived there, so ''they made them''.

* Downplayed with Corbenic in the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''. The afterlife itself is "natural", but it was originally nothing very interesting. Just a world without much in the way of civilization or culture, but various monsters you'd expect out of a D&D campaign. Once the Tripple Moon initiative arrived, however, they got to work. Their BadassCreed specifically states that there was no Heaven or Hell when they arrived there, so ''they made them''.

* The Ant Man Hank Pym tried inventing an afterlife after Bill Foster's murder by the rogue cyborg Thor clone named Ragnarok. It was stolen by AIM in a scheme to take control of it and sell space in it to the highest bidder. Unfortunately doing so would compromise the uploaded mind of Bill Foster already in there, adding even more urgency for Hank to get it back.

* ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'' has the ARK Project, an attempt to create a digital paradise/afterlife where brain scans of people are uploaded and then shot into space in an effort to keep some part of humanity alive after all life on the surface of the Earth is wiped out by an asteroid impact.

* The short story ''Daddy's World'' by Creator/WalterJonWilliams revolves around a child living in a SugarBowl filled with famous historical figures, fictional characters, and fantastic creatures. As time goes on, he starts to notice strange details in the world, like his sister getting older while he stays the same age. Eventually, it's revealed that he died of cancer several earlier, and his parents uploaded his mind into a virtual world.

* ''Literature/{{Darwinia}}'' is set is so far into the future that the heat death of the universe is soon to happen. Luckily, humanity has developed an indestructible computer system that can withstand the end of time and the technology to upload human minds into a VR afterlife based on human history and experience. Unfortunately, the system is under attack from alien computer viruses which leads to glitches in history.

* ''Film/{{Freejack}}'': "The Spiritual Switchboard", a computer system that allows the rich to maintain their minds alive after death. The catch is that the system can only support them for a few days at most, so these rich men have increasingly turned to pulling a GrandTheftMe and putting their minds into new bodies.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]] and [[SpaceElves Eldar]] all carry Wayshards or Waystone {{Soul Jar}}s to absorb their minds upon death. The Elves then have their souls placed inside magical Waystones to continue to protect their beloved homelands after their deaths, while the Eldar are integrated into their [[PlanetSpaceship Craftworld]]'s Infinity Circuit to join the psychic gestalt of their ancestors. In both settings, they do this because the alternative is for the Chaos God Slaanesh to devour their souls upon death and, in ''Warhammer'', for the few surviving souls to be caught and eternally tormented by another evil deity.