The philosopher Martin Heidegger spoke of human existence as Sein zum Tode, or “being towards death.” In Heidegger’s thought, our existence as human beings is both defined and limited by our mortality. Life is always moving toward an end.
As artificial intelligence continues to widen the world of possibilities at breakneck speed, prompting Pope Leo XIV to issue caution with its use, it occurs to me that AI lacks something that is distinctively human: death.
Of course, humans are not the only beings subject to death. We share that with other animals and even with plants. What marks us distinctively is that we are conscious of moving toward our own individual death. This can lead to great fear and anxiety with an impending sense of loss; or, on our more constructive days, an urgency to meaningfully shape our lives in the time we have. In a secular and nontheistic context, that is that. We live, we die, we are finished, and all along the way we are conscious of this trajectory.
But a faith context leads to a very different take on mortality. The Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium Et Spes addresses the mystery of death, beginning with a sober account of our experience of mortality: “Not only is man tormented by pain and by the advancing deterioration of his body, but even more so by a dread of perpetual extinction.” (Gaudium Et Spes, 18).
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With thanks to National Catholic Reporter and Louis J. Cameli, where this article originally appeared.
