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‭The Human Experience: Emotions, Ephemerality, and the Entanglement with AI‬‭- Sophia Razavi‬

‭Are you alive?‬

‭ our instinctual reply might most likely consist of a slight eye-roll and an inner-dialogue‬
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‭of:‬‭Obviously. What kind of question is that?‬

‭But what does it really mean to be alive?‬

‭ ou might remember sitting in a classroom as a kindergartner, learning about the human‬

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‭body’s five senses: sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing. As a child, it was probably interesting‬
‭to put words to the feelings you knew so little about. But not so long after, the notions‬
‭surrounding them likely became so plainly obvious and second-nature that they grew dull to‬
‭ponder. However, let us travel back and try to grasp the importance of senses, thoughts, and‬
‭emotions, while considering the raw power the human brain possesses.‬

‭ umans are not only able to feel and experience, but rationalize and learn, consequently‬
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‭perceiving the world differently from another. This diversity is naturally due to the genetic,‬
‭environmental, and biological predispositions we are brought into this world with. And yet, we‬
‭all share the same phenomena of experiencing all kinds of emotions, regardless of what factors‬
‭your specific identity may play a role in determining your reality.‬

‭ his shared experience is pretty much unavoidable; no matter how someone may try to‬
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‭avoid feelings or thoughts they are uncomfortable with, they will always cycle back at one point.‬
‭As Brian Doyle writes in‬‭Joyas Voladoras‬‭, “You can‬‭brick up your heart as stout and tight and‬
‭hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant, felled by a‬
‭woman’s second glance, a child’s apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words‬‭I have‬
‭something to tell you‬‭.”‬ ‭Regardless of what could‬‭be considered ‘bad’ or ‘good’ in regards to‬
‭emotions or any fact of life, there seems to reside an underlying beauty.‬‭It could be reasonable to‬
‭hypothesize that life is defined by the ability to sense and perceive the world around us, along‬
‭with the uniqueness each human being holds and the rarity of each experience. Intertwined with‬
‭thinking, rationalizing, and experiencing moments through our five senses, the marvel of feeling‬
‭consequent emotions ultimately creates a remarkable phenomena: the human experience.‬

‭ nd yet, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) contradicts the‬

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‭authenticity of human individuality and the importance of emotions. To preface, AI chatbots‬
‭have become extremely popular: ChatGPT, Snapchat AI, etc. Each one has its own purpose,‬
‭whether it be for homework help or understanding and learning new ideas. Some chatbots have‬
‭different, more ethically blurry purposes. Tamara Kneese, in “‬‭Using Generative AI to Resurrect‬
‭the Dead Will Create a Burden for the Living‬‭,” introduces‬‭the perplexing new invention of AI‬
‭grief chatbots: chatbots that have the ability to create replicas of both the living and deceased in‬
‭the form of AI. A chatbot version of you from your voice, texts, phone calls, photos; it can now‬
‭exist. However, Kneese points out that “‬‭these replicas‬‭rely on the work of the living to persist,”‬
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s‭ o to what extent can AI truly encompass someone’s unique soul, and how might these creations‬
‭affect the human experience of those still on our Earth?‬

‭ hatbots of dead loved ones were created to alleviate the pain and tremendous grief one‬
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‭goes through after losing a loved one. Two main dilemmas arise: Just how authentic could a‬
‭mirrored replica of a human being truly be? And would this be diverting from part of the human‬
‭experience to feel the entire scope of emotions?‬

‭Source: Vox‬

‭ ypothetically, to speak or get in touch with a version of a dead loved one could be‬
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‭emotionally soothing, but only if the copy really does seem like their ‘presence.’ Grief chat bots‬
‭only use a ‘summary’ of who you really are; texts, videos, pictures, and any kind of data points‬
‭to help it create a shadow of the person you really are. It does not, and cannot know everything‬
‭about you… or can it? If what drives human individuality and existence is our diverse identities,‬
‭then who would that ‘version’ of you be?‬

I‭ n a‬‭CNBC article‬‭, Elon Musk disputes the idea that‬‭human individuality is a rarity, a‬
‭belief based from his endeavors to preserve the human consciousness through artificial‬
‭intelligence. Musk said in an interview that “we could download the things that we believe make‬
‭ourselves so unique… as far as preserving our memories, our personality, I think we could do‬
‭that.” Now, whether or not scientific advances have made it thus far to create something like this,‬
‭we have perhaps reached a halfway point. In a‬‭publishing‬‭by the San Francisco Chronicle, author‬
‭Jason Fagone delves into the experience of a man named Joshua who decided to try out a grief‬
‭chat bot designed to process and output the character of a human; in this case, it would attempt to‬
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r‭ eplicate Joshua’s passed lover. Chatbots like this have been described as an innovation “so good‬
‭at impersonating humans that its designer - OpenAI… has largely kept it under wraps.” Joshua‬
‭was able to experience the essence of his loved one from a chatbot so creepily similar, that it was‬
‭paralleled to “paintings or essays-algorithmic sketches that preserved some spark of an‬
‭extraordinary person.” So, it does seem that AI may indeed have the capabilities to encapsulate‬
‭‘some spark’ of the original human. If that is the case, then what differentiates a human being‬
‭from their successive artificial creation? Would the uniqueness human beings seem to embody‬
‭not be a factor of determining the core concepts of life?‬

‭Source: SF Chronicle‬

I‭ n any case, the laws of nature and time, dictating that there must be both a beginning and‬
‭an ending to everything, would be defied. Can someone’s existence truly be infinitely prolonged?‬
‭As of today’s day and age, to try and dance around observable laws and inevitabilities like death‬
‭cannot be sustainable. Kneese points out how the lifespan of something online, AI or not,‬
‭“requires vast resources, including raw materials, water, and energy pointing to the folly of‬
‭maintaining chatbots of the dead in the face of catastrophic climate change.” Needing immense‬
‭amounts of resources and being financially costly, any creation involved with such would only‬
‭exist for a short period of time, AI creations included. As a result, manufacturers and producers‬
‭must take account of these factors in regards to the success of their company, and consequently‬
‭generate an end-date to the lifespan of these grief chatbots.‬
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‭ he fact that someone else, someone who has no relation with the deceased, would be in‬
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‭charge of the consequent grief chatbot’s life and death, could be extremely problematic for those‬
‭who do have connections. If someone is mourning their dead loved one and uses the chatbot that‬
‭has a marked ending they cannot control, they may end up grieving two ‘deaths,’ and‬
‭unpredictable psychological results. So, would it be wise to try and divert around the inevitable‬
‭experiences of loss and grief?‬

I‭ t may feel nice in the moment to prolong someone’s life, to prolong the feeling of still‬
‭having them, the feelings of warmth and love, and deny the feelings of loss and grief. But by‬
‭seeking to defy the natural order of life, death, and inevitable decay, are we not also destroying‬
‭the profound beauty of life’s impermanence? We cannot truly consider ourselves to be alive if we‬
‭do not allow ourselves to experience the full scope of emotions and thoughts the human mind‬
‭lends itself to offer.‬‭Albert Einstein, in his essay‬‭“‭T ‬ he World As I See It‬‭,” expresses that‬‭“The‬
‭most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious… Whoever does not know it and can no‬
‭longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.” Just because we‬
‭can‬‭divert around ‘the mysterious,’-death, fear, grief,‬‭any phenomena that we do not understand‬
‭nor can-does not mean that we‬‭should‬‭. The way we feel‬‭,‬‭process, and think, has to exist with the‬
‭opposite.‬‭To try and avoid grief, loss, and the transience‬‭of life in an attempt to solely feel the‬
‭positive and comfortable aspects of our world would only subject one to an unfulfilled life. T‬‭o be‬
‭granted the gift of dying, the gift of grief, the gift of pain, simply affirms we are alive. Stripping‬
‭away elements of the roots of our soul only exposes us to a myriad of potential psychological‬
‭obstructions one could not fully predict.‬

‭ his is the best case scenario-experiencing possible psychological effects that stems from‬
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‭an AI creation‬‭successfully‬‭matching the original‬‭human in some way. But what if a misaligned‬
‭recreation of someone you know is produced? How would that affect the people connected to‬
‭them?‬

‭ e can see the potential predictions in a Black Mirror episode called “‬‭Be Right Back‬‭.”‬
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‭Although fictional, Black Mirror is a tv series that predicts near-future possibilities and dystopian‬
‭outcomes through dramatic stories that sometimes have not occurred (yet). In this episode, a‬
‭woman’s partner, someone she loved so deeply, passed away. Later on, she found out that there‬
‭was a service that had the ability to ‘reconstruct’ an AI model of him through pretty much the‬
‭same methods done for the chatbot. At first, everything was great. But as she continued to talk‬
‭and spend more time with him, she could not shake the chilling reality that there were‬
‭dissimilarities in the model compared to her actual partner. This misalignment bothered her so‬
‭deeply that she demanded the AI to ‘commit suicide.’‬
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‭Source: Be Right Back Episode‬

‭ fter all, any impurity in a replica, however small, possesses the weight of inflicting‬
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‭extreme emotional damage to the living. Given that the artificial duplicate of someone would‬
‭solely be based on fragments of data points inputted into a processor, the chance for such‬
‭‘mistake’ would be very high. How would the data be collected, and would such a series of‬
‭information truly define someone’s identity?‬

‭ et us widen the scope of our view on this matter. We all own pieces of technology,‬
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‭whether it be phones, laptops, cameras, or others. And on these devices, we portray some version‬
‭of ourselves, whether it is our full authentic selves that exist in the real world, or some aspect‬
‭that may or may not exist. In any case, this portrayal of self would be defined by the perspectives‬
‭of others, including ourselves, thus making it biased. How well can the technology we own really‬
‭showcase our true identity? And what if the identity we show online consists of pieces of self we‬
‭prefer remain hidden?‬

‭Source: Campaign US‬

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‭ he process of recreating a person that dies involves their personal data to be picked‬
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‭through and revealed. Unfortunately, someone who has passed may not have wished for such‬
‭preservation of self. Not only is this a violation of privacy, but it could also have detrimental‬
‭effects to the family of the deceased. Information that may best stay private could be exploited,‬
‭along with the memory of the person they were. “Identity… is not something that we innately‬
‭possess and reveal, but something we understand through narratives provided to us by others,”‬
‭author Jia Tolentino expresses in her book, “‬‭Trick‬‭Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion‬‭.”‬
‭Someone’s entire identity cannot be well-defined, nor be fully narrated through what they‬
‭portray, or do not, online. The identity of the person who has passed, once perceived in a certain‬
‭way by loved ones, would now become altered and bare. On top of that, their loved ones would‬
‭consequently be burdened by millions of questions and thoughts would never get answered.‬

‭ n the other hand, maybe some would want or have no issue with their data being used.‬
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‭Unless explicitly said, there would be no way of knowing whether that is true for someone or‬
‭not. Therefore, people should be given a chance to consent to the revelation of their personal data‬
‭while they are still living, but that still does not change the outcome for those who have already‬
‭died and had their data sorted, even though they never gave consent.‬

I‭ n any case, the amount of potential issues to everyone involved is monumental, and that‬
‭only covers what we can predict and observe. The quality of what it means to be alive would‬
‭thus decline from trying to bend the fundamental laws of nature and the full human experience.‬
‭Perhaps, in trying to elude the natural processes of life, death, and emotions, repercussions must‬
‭coexist as well.‬

‭ haping our perceptions and interactions with the world around us, life is a series of‬
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‭fleeting moments composed of the good, the bad, and the gray. Think about the people, places,‬
‭and moments that have come and gone, leaving behind memories, traces of laughter, colors,‬
‭moments, ideas, in our minds. From the moment we are born, we continue along a trajectory that‬
‭is marked by change, loss, and eventual decay. This path is a crux of existence, as, “‬‭Everyone‬
‭knows decay has a pu‬‭rpose… More elegantly: death is‬‭what gives life shape,” (Miles Klee,‬‭Ever‬
‭After: Solving the Problem of Mortality‬‭). The question,‬‭'Are you alive?' confronts us not only‬
‭with what ‘life’ might really mean, but also with its fragile ephemerality. Everything we hold‬
‭dear to our hearts, or try so hard to forget, is subject to the passage of time, susceptible to the‬
‭inevitable processes of decay. Yet, it is within this fragility that the beauty of life resides. We‬
‭cherish each moment knowing that it is temporary and that it will eventually fade into a distant‬
‭reverie of a memory. And it is only when they are accompanied with the full scope of every‬
‭emotion that we can fully understand the enigma of what it means to be living.‬
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‭Works Cited‬

‭Brooker, Charlie. “‘Black Mirror’ Be Right Back.” Edited by Owen Harris,‬‭IMDb‬‭, IMDb.com,‬

‭11 Feb. 2013.‬

‭Doyle, Brian. “Joyas Voladoras.”‬‭The American Scholar‬‭,‬‭Phi Beta Kappa, 2 Dec. 2019.‬

‭Einstein, Albert.‬‭The World as I See It‬‭. Open Road‬‭Media, 2011.‬

‭Fagone, Jason. “He Couldn’t Get over His Fiancee’s Death. so He Brought Her ...”‬‭The Jessica‬

‭Simulation: Love and Loss in the Age of A.I.‬‭, San‬‭Francisco Chronicle, 23 July 2021.‬

‭Klee, Miles. “Ever After.”‬‭Lapham’s Quarterly‬‭, 30‬‭Nov. 2013.‬

‭Kneese, Tamara. “Using Generative AI to Resurrect the Dead Will Create a Burden for the‬

‭Living.”‬‭Wired‬‭, Conde Nast, 21 Aug. 2023.‬

‭Sauer, Megan. “Elon Musk Says Humans Could Eventually Download Their Brains Into Robots‬
‭— and Grimes Thinks Jeff Bezos Would Do It.”‬‭CNBC‬‭,‬‭9 Apr. 2022,‬
‭www.cnbc.com/2022/04/08/elon-musk-humans-could-eventually-download-their-brains-i‬
‭nto-robots.html.‬

‭Tolentino, Jia.‬‭Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion‬‭. Vol. 42, no. 2, 2020, pp. 33–35,‬
‭dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7240901.‬