So are we all really being watched over by "machines of loving grace"? If you've never seen the documentaries by Adam Curtis, full as they are of quirky and strangely compelling arguments, patterns and links between the seemingly unlinked, then sit back, ingest a huge pinch of salt, take it all in and think for yourself.
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At least until the transhumanist dream becomes a reality, which according to one leading modern philosopher may be never, we will cling on to whatever we can that reminds us of our loved ones.
What will survive of us is love - Philip Larkin, Arundel Tomb
We need not think alike to love alike - Francis David
We could define love...as a kind of respect, a sensitivity by one person to another's existence. To be shown love is to feel ourselves the object of concern - Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety p11
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To love something is to want it to live - Confucius
The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart - Anonymous
The meaning of life is creative love. Not love as an inner feeling, not as a private sentimental emotion, but love as a dynamic power moving out into the world and doing something original - Tom Morris, Philosopher
The major preoccupations of our time are happiness, love, friendship and respect - Theodore Zeldin