Welcome to this week’s edition of Simon Sees!
Inspired by our Future With Friends conversation with Michelle Newell, this week, we’re stepping into the shadowy – yet strangely illuminating – realm of death and dying. But not in the way you might expect.
From bringing long-extinct dire wolves back to life, to using a cheek swab to predict our mortality, and even creating new music from the brainwaves of a musician long gone – we’re seeing science, technology, and creativity reshape how we think about the end of life… and what might still be possible long after we’re gone.
In a world that often avoids talking about endings, we’re leaning into the uncomfortable to reimagine what the future might hold… in life and death.
Let’s begin.
NEOSCOPE
Musician Who Died in 2021 Resurrected as Clump of Brain Matter, Now Composing New Music
“Revivification is an attempt to shine light on the sometimes dark possibilities of extending a person’s presence beyond the seemed finality of death.”
9NEWS
Scientists help birth Dire Wolves 12,500 years after they became extinct
“A previously extinct wolf has been born for the first time in 12,500 years after a scientific breakthrough from the world’s first de-extinction company.”
NEOSCOPE
Fun New Mouth Swab Will Tell You When You’ll Die
“The fact that our epigenetic clock trained on cheek cells predicts mortality when measuring the methylome in blood cells suggests there are common mortality signals across tissues.”
Ep 3: The Future of Death and Dying
In this episode of The Future With Friends podcast, Simon Waller is joined by his good friend and long-time collaborator, Michelle Newell, for a deep and surprisingly uplifting exploration of a topic many find uncomfortable: Death and Dying.
Far from morbid, this thoughtful conversation is sparked by Michelle’s imaginative future scenario, which envisions her own hyper-personalised death experience in the year 2062. From there, the discussion flows through emerging burial practices, the future of memorialisation, and the shifting meaning of legacy. At one point, they even dream up a new social system – where turning loved ones into diamonds becomes a beautiful way to express what they meant to us.
Together, Simon and Michelle reflect on cultural attitudes toward death, emerging trends in the death-care industry, and why it’s so important to create space for more open, honest, and human conversations about mortality.
Ultimately, this episode reminds us that by taking the time to thoughtfully consider death, we make room to more fully appreciate – and truly value – life.
Simon
