Defying Death

“What was the riddle asked by the Sphinx?” Professor Mritunjay Ghosh asked with a chuckle. Though he was not addressing his youthful students but a huddle of aging molecular biologists and grey haired scientists he displayed his usual sense of needling humour.

“Sir, the Sphinx asked what is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?" a smart Alec piped up.

“The answer as you all know is ‘Man’ as was answered correctly by the Greek hero Oedipus. The different times in the riddle represented the different stages of a man’s life. Morning meant childhood, noon is manhood and night stands for old age. Note how man grows up gradually and then degenerates towards his ultimate death,” explained the Professor pointing out to an info graphic he had inserted in his power point presentation. The image showed a baby, child, an adult and an old man with a walking stick ascending a one-dimensional staircase.

It was the annual brainstorming session of Life Plus, the futuristic pharmaceutical company hosted in a five star facility and the motley get together had as usual attracted A.I. techies, pharmacists, scientists, media persons and mavericks of all kinds.

The nonagenarian Professor Ghosh was on the raised stage giving his annual lecture. He had placed his laptop, projector, a black box type gadget and other paraphernalia on a small table. Most of the stage remained dark except the glowing screen. 

“Immortality is our ultimate goal and I have found its formula,” Professor Ghosh’s haughty jocular tone was similar to a flamboyant conjurer pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

“Have you found the Elixir of Life?” a critic sneered.

“Not the Elixir of Life but I have found a process to extend life beyond death,” Professor Mritunjay laughed aloud confident of his discovery.

“Please explain sir,” the critic was all ears now.

“Look carefully at the image. What happens to the old man after he steps off the stairs? He peaks his existence. He kicks the bucket. In other words, he dies and ceases to be. His dead body is disposed off as per his religion or culture. He remains just as a memory to us. Isn’t this a loss? What happens to the man’s years and years of experience; his vast accumulated knowledge. What happens to it? Is all this lost too?” the Professor had his audience in thrall.

“You are speaking about his soul,” the agnostic critic was aghast.

“Why call it soul. Why not an intangible memory disk,” the Professor had his wry riposte ready.

“I’ve figured out a way to transfer these timeless memories and profound experience from the human mind to a digital storage facility. Human analogue to digital medium. This artificial intelligence audio video device is highly interactive and keeps on learning life long,” the Professor’s voice boomed from the darkened stage.

Though his health was not keeping up lately his mind was razor sharp and his rich baritone voice filled the hall. He patiently explained his invention and jokingly replied to questions from the audience one by one.

When the lights came back on, the assembled audience noticed that the erudite Professor seemed to have fallen asleep in his chair. He was slumped with his head thrown back and his thick bifocal glasses askance on his motionless face.

The black box machine guffawed and continued to respond to questions from the curious members of the media and scientific community.

As usual, the Professor was having the last laugh.