(Is) Life (is) Perfect.
When the alarm rang for the third time, Eric finally had to wake up to go to work. He was feeling lazier than usual today, but he tried never to miss work. He loved it too much. But he had not always been like this. Humanity had not always been like this. He could never forget the time when advancement of AI was at a boom, and humanity had been “jobless” for more than 30 years. At first it seemed a really good development, with humans indulging in whatever attracted their fancy. Food and shelter had become as common as air. AI had made life too easy. But it kicked in sooner than expected, the existential crisis. “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.”( Camus, A. The myth of Sysiphus ) No development in artificial intelligence had yet been able to solve that. With no meaning in life, more and more people adopted the last resort every day. It had become a “hit phenomenon”.
Eric was on the verge too, but just before he could commit it, the government had to put a ban on all AI developments. There were some unexpected anomalies with the technology, something about AI taking over humans, and even the smartest people on earth were struggling hard to solve that issue, but with no success, yet. Till then, stopping AI was the safest decision. He still couldn't believe that AI could develop that level of reasoning, but what did he know? He was a simple man after all. The technical problem had come as a boon, with humans finding the meaning of life in work again. He worked hard as soon as they started hiring people back, and rose through the ranks quickly. He was an important man at his work now. Life had become too perfect too fast, once again.
“But we can’t keep him like this. It is ethically wrong to make this choice for someone.”, argued Senator Tom, but very few other Senators shared his thinking. He was a strong supporter of letting people make their own life choice, and the new case of Eric had created a ruckus. The states medical AI detected Eric had 90 % chances of committing suicide, so they had to place him in a “modulated reality” chamber. A permanent deep sleep VR of sorts, where AI ensured the person always stays happy. In his dreams, that is. Even Tom was not sure what was right or wrong. Eric’s medical data did show he was happy. Much happier than he was in real life. Had the search for the meaning of life from the time of Socrates boiled down to this? Should happiness not be based on reality? What is reality?
Although he loved indulging in these questions from time to time, he did not have much to devote to them. Though he often wondered though what kind of reality the “Modulated reality” chambers created for a person, his job as a Senator kept him too busy. He remembered a time where unforeseen philosophical problems due to AI technology had started creating problems, and he, an unimportant citizen, had lost his will to live. But his strong opinion against AI had put him in spotlight, and his life picked pace from there. His new aim was to advocate pro-human ideas, and with the popular support,he looked forward to becoming the President. Life had become too perfect too fast, once again.
