Philosophical aspects of the concept of digital immortality: between Russian cosmism and transhumanism

Background. In the modern world, the question of whether digital reproduction of a personality can be considered its continuation or whether we are facing only a new form of human memory is coming to the fore. Purpose of the study is to show that the modern digital immortality project continues the long-standing idea of overcoming death, but radically changes its meaning, transferring the problem from a moral concept to a technological one. Hypothesis: digital immortality should be understood not as a proven form of personality continuation, but as a philosophically controversial and ethically loaded model of its digital continuation. The novelty of the work is that the comparison of Russian cosmism and transhumanism is based on four criteria: understanding human nature, interpretation of death, the role of technology and the criterion of personal identity. It is these criteria that make it possible to avoid a superficial convergence of the two directions and show the limits of the very idea of digital immortality. Methods: comparative historical and conceptual analysis, as well as the method of philosophical reconstruction. Results. It is shown that in Russian cosmism immortality is thought of as a common moral cause of mankind, while in transhumanism it is considered as a study of scientific and technological progress in the prolongation or reproduction of personality. Special attention is paid to the problem of consciousness: even the complete preservation of information about a person does not prove the preservation of subjective experience.