Would you make the deal? Let’s talk about Dorian Gray.

I would not want one.

Hello, thank you for your response! Could you tell me a bit more about why you wouldn't want one?

No I will be happy to go when my time is up, (not yet of course).
I don’t want to be here to see what we have become in another thirty years time.

No thank you.

Hello, thank you for your response! That is completely understandable.

Basgetti

No thank you.

Hello, thank you for your response! Could you tell me a bit more about why you wouldn't want one?

This is AI, I believe, just look at the posts. Reported.

Wyllow3

This is AI, I believe, just look at the posts. Reported.

I'm not an AI! I'm just new to using forums and still figuring out how everything works here.

Wyllow3

This is AI, I believe, just look at the posts. Reported.

Why do you think it’s AI willow3?
I can tell on YouTube but not on here.

It’s an interesting question though, don’t you think?

I've read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" including the preface and I enjoyed it but it never occurred to me to wish to emulate the eponymous character.

The preface states, among many other things; "All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

Prior to this the preface states; "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are either well written or badly written. That is all." This is one of my favourite quotations.

A BOT wouldn’t say I’m not an AI. AI is a concept.
A BOT would say I’m not AI. NO an

I have knowingly taken part in a 'interview' with an AI entity and the responses of the OP read exactly like the conversations I have with the AI entity.

Well I think it would be fascinating to have this conversation with AI (or an AI) so let it roll on.

Roksana - would you like to have a portrait hidden away that as you say, reflects your inner soul? What exactly would you be hiding away?

I most certainly would not want a portrait hidden away to reflect my inner soul, but thank you for the reference, a good suggestion for Book group. I read a great deal of Wilde (when I was supposed to be doing homework)but never finished Dorian Grey.

Dorian wanted the short term gain of superficial beauty and wit. But he paid a hideous long term price.

A study of Wilde's inner demons?

Chestnut

Well I think it would be fascinating to have this conversation with AI (or an AI) so let it roll on.

Roksana - would you like to have a portrait hidden away that as you say, reflects your inner soul? What exactly would you be hiding away?

At the beginning, I wouldn't mind, because who wouldn't want to be forever young? It sounds perfect, but when you think about it more deeply, it's a nightmare. Dorian Gray is a perfect example, he was young, rich, and could do anything. Yet the portrait was his downfall and his curse. That is why I wouldn't want the portrait, because I think no matter how hard you tried, it would always turn out to be a curse.

You would be signing onto forging yourself. giving your life to deception, you could never be yourself because you were not yourself.

eazybee

I most certainly would not want a portrait hidden away to reflect my inner soul, but thank you for the reference, a good suggestion for Book group. I read a great deal of Wilde (when I was supposed to be doing homework)but never finished Dorian Grey.

Thank you for your response! I definitely recommend finishing it! I always suggest this book to my friends.

I need to read the book again, as it’s been 40 odd years since I first read it. My first thought, though, was that if I didn’t visibly age, everyone would just assume that I died my hair, had Botox and all the other things people do these days to stop themselves looking older!

No,too creepy

I think that any serious discussion of the book, for instance at a book club, should require reading the preface as well as the story. Some editions do not include both but the author intended that the story be read after reading the preface.

It’s a sort of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde scenario really.
The painting being Mr Hyde.
No, I wouldn’t want beauty at the expense of my inner being.

Magenta8

I think that any serious discussion of the book, for instance at a book club, should require reading the preface as well as the story. Some editions do not include both but the author intended that the story be read after reading the preface.

You are totally right. In my edition there is a foreword at the end of the book, although I think it should have a preface at the begining because it changes the perspective.