Of the moment

A story about a timely matter.

16 June 2023

Wyatt Mischler —

ChatGPT, How Old Would Mom Have Been Today?

Unfortunately, as a Large Language Model, I was never acquainted with your mother, and cannot provide any details about her life. Therefore, I do not know things like how old she was when she died, or how many people attended the funeral that you missed. My training data did not contain the lengths of the silences that passed between you before your conversations ceased.

As an algorithm still learning about the world, I also cannot tell you what day it was that she told you not to leave your room, and disappeared into the basement. The level in decibels of her sobs was never recorded. Nor can I say how many hours you passed quietly in that room before she came back upstairs. But I can imagine how I would feel, if she had taken me out for dinner that night, and tried to make normal conversation. Had turned her smile off like a lightswitch when I asked what happened.

Wyatt Mischler is a twenty-four-year-old living in Portland, Oregon, with a complete undergraduate thesis but no degree. The bulk of his time is divided between a front desk job at the local gay bathhouse, and freelance editing work. In his free time he scribbles. The above piece is one of his scribbles.

Photo by Douglas G. Campbell