The Humanity
There's something eerie about cemeteries beyond the bodies lying underground. It's the stories of the bodies underground. This is where it all ended for them. It's easy to be obsessed with, what, exactly, will our time here amount to? It's easy to be obsessed with, "what has my life story been so far," and, "what will be life story be when it's all over?" Walking through a graveyard brings that up for me. How many feelings are locked in this place? How many dreams were lost? How many where realized? How much fear has fueled this grass growth? How much peace has fed these trees? Just how much humanity rests here?The few times I've been in a graveyard, these feelings overwhelm me. Every single stone has a story, not just for the person resting there, but for that person's family and friends. How much thought went into choosing the tombstones? Do they accurately represent the body lying beneath? What humanity rests here?
Now, a Japanese company is trying to help answer that question.
In a true adoption of technology, a Japanese company, Ishinokoe, is now selling tombstones with QR codes on them. QR codes? They are like bar codes, but with content that represent letters, not just numbers, so they are much more dynamic. At the right? That's the QR code that will take you to Wikipedia.Japan has adopted these QR codes, placing this code on anything from a grocery store product to a piece of art to a bus stop to a visitors' center. A customer will scan the code with her cell phone and their phone browser will go to a relevant website. (One key part of this is that Japan has a very fast internet connection for cell phones, making this a quick process... not like in the U.S.). HAWT finds this amazingly sassy and makes us want to go to Japan. Want to know more about the Imperial Palace in Tokyo? Just scan the code with your phone...
Well, Ishinokoe has decided to put this technology on tombstones. Locked behind glass doors, the code will be available for scanning, taking the visitors to a website dedicated to the person lying beneath with photos, videos and text. The web pages will even have a guest book: Read through previous entries and sign your own condolences right there while standing over the body!This is a mixed bag. One on hand, it provides humanity to the humanity, so to speak. On the other, it could turn cemeteries into amusement parks. Which do you think? Will it link content to the deceased, or will people treat it like a fact-finding mission where success is measured by the volume of data collected?
One more thing: Are you scared that your loved one has been buried without this option for visitors to be taken to their Facebook page? Do you want a QR code on their final resting place? Rest easy. Ishinokoe will retrofit tombstones for about $2,000.
I'll tell you what... JLF's tombstone better point visitors to HAWTaction.com
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My tombstone will point to THIS site? I don't think so... I'll want it to go to a site people actually read. Do we have to prove, once again, John, that no one visits HAWTaction?
I'm the best blogger, ever.
- JLF
Wow....this is very...strange...
only the japanese. how long before you scan with your iPhone, and a little holographic video of them discussing their lives emerges from the headstone.
Its getting closer everyday. The quicker we can get to holographic chess (aka Star Wars) the better.
Are people really going to walk around graveyards learning about the deceased? Each time I have been to a cemetery it has been to bury somebody of visit deceased family---I'm usually in no mood for sightseeing!
Thanks, Jason! That's a much better way to explain my thoughts. Visits to cemeteries are usually focused, like you said, to bury or visit someone. Would these codes make the cemetery an exploration destination? That would bring a whole new dynamic to it that I don't think would fit...
JLF? Shove it.
Wow, that hurts, John. That hurts when you cut me down and 3 people read it.
I'm the best blogger, ever.
- JLF
if it makes people more comfortable with the fact of death and dying then i'm all for it. getting rid of the fear and/or denial of death seems like a big step forward for those societies where it is taboo.