EOLPodcast

Ep. 535 Planning Your Funeral and Legacy Online with Paul Fried

Learn about a helpful online platform for end-of-life planning and the benefits of using technology for this work.

My guest Paul Fried is an entrepreneur who recognized a need to reshape how we think about end-of-life planning. He founded a digital-first platform that focuses on compassionate funeral planning, digital legacy preservation, and emotional wellness titled I Made the Arrangements. He discusses the value of recording our end-of-life wishes and messages digitally for the sake of our loved ones. Paul is also the author of the book Live Fully. Leave Wisely: End-of-Life Planning as the Ultimate Act of Love. Learn more at his website:

Imadethearrangements.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Paul’s ancestry and personal history led him to create I Made the Arrangements
  • Why digital planning services are important right now
  • The disastrous consequences of not planning ahead or talking about our end-of-life wishes
  • Why employers are starting to offer online end-of-life planning as a benefit to their employees
  • How technology is rapidly advancing to help people reconnect with holographic images of their loved ones
  • How “wishkeepers” help secure their loved ones’ legacies
  • Resources available on the website

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee or made a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 397 Talking About Death with ChatGPT

Learn how the AI language model ChatGPT can be used as a resource for information about death and dying and when caution is required.

My special “guest” this week is ChatGPT an AI language model that can understand and respond to human language. Chat has been trained on a wide range of topics, including end-of-life care, hospice, palliative care, grief and bereavement, and advance care planning, among others. I conducted a written “interview” with Chat to test its knowledge and in this episode I report on my findings. In addition, I’ve compiled all of our correspondence into a book titled Conversations on Death with ChatGPT, which you can access now in ebook format. I hope you enjoy hearing about my adventures with Chat!

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What an AI language model consists of and how to interact with it
  • The amazing depth and breadth of content and resources that ChatGPT was able to generate in a matter of seconds
  • What I learned about euphemisms for death from Chat
  • What Chat got wrong about for-profit hospice
  • How Chat needed better information about talking to children about death
  • Chat’s creative ideas for promoting advance care planning in predominantly Black communities
  • Chat’s thoughts about the 5-stages model of grief
  • A haiku Chat wrote about grief
  • How Chat helped me deal with guilt over my father’s suicide death

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest patrons Susan Mackey and Colleen Bracken, and to Laura Srygley for buying me a coffee and Fabricio Vasconcelos de Lima for donating on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 389 Virtual Reality as a Tool for End-of-Life Anxiety and Pain with Gregory Roufa and Lama Karma

Learn how virtual reality technology can be utilized in a powerful way to ease distress and find meaning for people facing life-limiting illness.

My two guests, Gregory Roufa and Lama Karma, both work for Anuma, a company specializing in developing sacred experiences in virtual reality. Gregory is the co-founder and CEO at Anuma and Karma is an experience designer. They discuss the work Anuma is doing to create VR experiences that can benefit patients facing serious illness, particularly at the end of life, without the use of drugs. Learn more at the website:

www.anuma.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What is Virtual Reality
  • What equipment is used for a VR experience
  • The inspiration behind Anuma
  • What is a “self-transcendent” experience
  • How to use VR in a beneficial rather than a harmful way
  • What to expect from the Clear Light Program
  • Why a transcendent experience can be helpful for anxiety at the end of life
  • Results seen so far from Anuma’s studies
  • How to work with Anuma as a facilitator on pilot projects or as a capital partner
  • How Virtual Reality has similar effects to a medium dose of psychedelic medication (and is legal and available now)

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest patron Jean Oswald and also to Madeleine for buying me a coffee! Your contributions make all the difference.