Awaiting the grand finale

It is interesting for me to observe how conversation topics with my friends have evolved with our age. Before we reached retirement age our discussions focused on women/relationships, travelling to exotic places, our professional activities, children's future, debates about Obama's birthplace, sports, movies etc. In more recent years, the focus has shifted to health issues, social security benefits, reminiscing about life, existence of God, financial planning in old age and so on.

- BASAB DASGUPTA

During one such recent group conversation, one friend posed a profound question: "Do you guys want to live a long life or are you content with your life as you lived so far and ready to happily check out when time comes?" A lively discussion followed, with many agreeing that living a long life is full of suffering and hardship, not only for oneself but for people one depends on; it does not make sense to prolong life, especially as all of us have already enjoyed life as far as marriage, raising children, professional career, home ownership, travel, dining, etc. are concerned. There were discussions about various senior living communities, their benefits and expenses, and a comparison between life at old age in the US versus that in India.

One friend, Kamal, surprised everyone by his declaration that he would like to live as long as possible. His reasons were interesting: he said that he is intrigued by several fascinating developments going on in the world from social, geographical and technological perspectives which are all nearing a grand finale; he would like to live long enough to see the final outcomes.

He did not elaborate but I was fascinated by his comments and started to wonder if I would like to see completion of certain ongoing events before I die. Here are the ones I thought to be most significant.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

While we were getting used to interacting with Amazon Alexa and hands-free driving in a Tesla, ChatGPT robots were introduced in November 2022. I realized that AI is at our doorstep and ready to serve us whether we want it or not. These days, no matter what activity you are engaged in, chances are that you will end up interacting with a robot. Despite claims to the contrary, they are not quite as efficient as live persons yet. However, it has suddenly become clear that with some improvements these robots will take over virtually all jobs in all sectors except perhaps construction and agriculture.