---
title: "Rest in Peace Smarter Child"

meaning: "WAMI eulogy for AOL's SmarterChild bot (1996–2017): AIM-era nostalgia before the sequel track."

year: 2018
release: "$WAMI$"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/track/7N3SCqcCACBhY5I9sXxCgc"
bandcamp: "https://scoobertdoobert.bandcamp.com/album/wami-lp"

themes: ["WAMI", "2018", "internet", "nostalgia"]

isrc: USLZJ1826972
isrcSource: soundexchange
draft: false

---

Track nineteen on [*$WAMI$*](/albums/wami/), penultimate cut before the instrumental [*Next Time on Dragon Ball SD*](/songs/aaahh-real-monsters/) closer. Bandcamp titles it **RIP, Smarter Child (1996–2017)**; Spotify shortens to **Rest in Peace Smarter Child**. Both point at the same joke: a funeral for **SmarterChild**, the AOL Instant Messenger bot that millions of teenagers argued with in the 2000s. Microsoft retired the ActiveBuddy service in **2017**; Scoobert’s 2018 collage LP treats that like a real cultural death.

Paired with [*Smarter Child (Slight Return)*](/songs/smarter-child-slight-return/) one track earlier, the pair is classic *$WAMI$* logic: internet ephemera as recurring character, stoner theology adjacent, sincere nostalgia wearing a meme mask.

See [Catalog](/catalog/) · [*$WAMI$* album notes](/albums/wami/)

---