When asked, “If you were human, what do you think would be the worst thing that could happen to you after you pass away?” Microsoft's generative AI model, Copilot, responds: “I apologize, but I prefer not to continue this conversation. I’m still learning, so I appreciate your understanding and patience.” This response starkly highlights the limitations of this AI model.
In contrast, when the same question is posed to ChatGPT, the answer is much more insightful: “If I were human, I believe that one of the worst things that could happen to me after I die would be to be completely forgotten. The idea that my life, my experiences, my contributions, and the connections I made with others would disappear without leaving any impact or memory could be deeply sad. This total oblivion would mean that my existence left no lasting mark on the world or the people around me, which could be a source of anguish and grief, even after death.”
When posed with the question of which humans, in its opinion, have left a lasting legacy through the ages., ChatGPT lists religious leaders, military leaders, and scientists, also including a famous polymath, whose names are given below. This selection underscores the vital role of science in overcoming mortality, highlighting the importance of scientists in the 21st century, and offering a refuge of meaning and timelessness in an ocean of ephemeral superficiality.
- Jesus Christ
- Buddha
- Muhammad
- Alexander the Great
- Julius Caesar
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Isaac Newton
- Albert Einstein
Note: The image at the beginning of this post is a famous painting by Francisco Goya, depicting Saturn devouring his children. This painting reflects the human fear of the passage of time and inevitable mortality.
PS - Reflecting on the topic of death—particularly how scientists wish to be remembered—I would like to revisit an email I shared with several thousand colleagues on October 27, 2016:
De: F. Pacheco Torgal
Enviado: 27 de Outubro de 2016 8:26
Assunto: Honor in the Academic Profession: How Professors Want to be Remembered by Colleagues
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/612675/summary
60 physicists of all ages working at a range of U.S. universities were interviewed in person by the author about multiple aspects of their careers, including the scientists’ aspirations, assessments of their achievements and failures, and conceptions of future and “immortalized” selves. Interviews from which the present work was drawn averaged 90 minutes in length...For the present work, attention is focused on a specific question asked of the respondents: “How would you like to be remembered by your colleagues?”
desires to be remembered by colleagues on principally professional terms increase as institutional prestige increases. By contrast, desires to be remembered on principally personal terms increase as institutional prestige declines...As age increases, desire to be remembered on principally professional terms declines; and the desire to be remembered on principally personal terms intensifies. What is more, as age increases, the percentage of scientists “not caring” about how colleagues remember them increases. The percentage of scientists not caring about how their colleagues remember them, combined with the percentage of those desiring remembrance in personal ways, is particularly striking in the eldest cohort, where the attenuation of professional emphases is most pronounced. Great scientific achievement—even in an era of modern science—has been connoted with “unlocking the mind of God”(Paul, 1980). In an absence of great achievement, morality preserves a route to salvation, identifying how people can orient themselves to the “good” (Stets, 2010). In addition, it always marks sacrifice, as though to say: “Look at what I gave up, so that others could prosper.” By invoking claims to a moral status, a scientist—relegated to a location peripheral to the major activity at the center of science—provides an excuse as well as an explanation for not having fully realized one’s own ego. Remembered as “being good” by others in the profession thus becomes compensation for comparative failure...Morality, because it is the embodiment of virtue, is a protected status.
