Life after death - a real example #55

Hey all,

This week I built an AI bot where you can talk to Marcus Aurelius.

Obviously I’m not really talking to him, he died in 180 AD, nearly 2,000 years ago.

The bot was relatively easy to set up, I used an open source, pre-trained AI model (Llama 3) - and set it up so it ‘thought’ it was Marcus Aurelius, and to only answer as Marcus Aurelius.

I also set it up so it would reply to messages via Telegram (similar to WhatsApp).

So now I can chat with Marcus Aurelius whenever I want to.

So I can ask it, him, my old friend Marcus, things like “what did you mean about nature?”

And he replies via a message - “My friend, I meant that nature is a guide for us to understand ourselves. We must strive to live in harmony with the universe and its natural order. The way of nature is not to resist change or lament its whims, but to adapt and accept. Let us not fight against the currents of life, but instead flow with them like a river.”

And this is pretty cool right?

Well I think it is *nerd*.

How is this possible?

Well, between 161 and 180 AD Marcus Aurelius wrote a series of personal writings, we’d maybe call them journals of some sort today.

In total he wrote 12 books which are grouped under the title of Meditations.

The pieces of writing are private notes to himself and on ideas on Stoic philosophy. And he is generally praised for his ability "to write down what was in his heart just as it was, not obscured by any consciousness of the presence of listeners or any striving after effect."

Since then, they have been found, translated and are widely available.

And even used in the training of the AI model I used in my bot.

Therefore the bot ‘knows’ about Meditations, it knows about Marcus Aurelius, and it also knows other information about what has been discussed about Marcus Aurelius.

Therefore, it can play the part of Marcus Aurelius.

What about us?

Marcus was an emperor of the Roman Empire, and Epictetus, who we haven’t talked about, was a slave. Both died thousands of years ago.

But they both left a legacy behind.

While Marcus was an emperor of the Roman Empire he is remembered for his written work.

And while Epictetus was a slave, he is remembered for his teachings (written down by his students).

You and I are neither an Emperor or a Slave, so what will we be remembered for?

And in honestly, we mostly won’t be remembered.

Not in the grand scale of things.

Within 1 or 2 generations of our family we will be forgotten.

And that is the way, that is the nature of life.

Leave something behind?

Marcus and Epictetus would have never expected to be talked about 2,000 years after their death.

And it’s extremely rare for that to happen.

According to the National Institute of Corrections (US Gov) 117 billion people have been born since 190,000 B.C.E., yet we remember so few.

But the AI Marcus Aurelius got me thinking. What if we could leave something behind.

Something which can be enjoyed by others, not matter how few will see it or be interested by it.

We do it already right, or do we?

I have photos from 70 years ago of my grandparents when they were younger.

But recently my mum died, and I didn’t have any recent photos of her, so I had to download some from Facebook. Or risk loosing them.

I write this newsletter, 55 issues so far - it’s not Meditations, but it’s perhaps my meditations.

And, some people who read this newsletter paint, and produce artwork.

Someone I know makes furniture.

Some teach, and make educated people.

Some invest in their children, while others don’t.

I guess what I am really saying is - think about the artefacts, the sprinkles, you are leaving behind.

We will all be forgotten, but maybe we can leave something behind more than a gravestone saying “<name> was here”.

So what will you leave behind?

Happy Friday, and best wishes

John