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Original Fairy Tale: The Dream the Goldfish Saw

葛西

At that time, the merchant's words upon his return caused a stir throughout the village.
He said, "I saw a mechanical goldfish become a god!"

The merchant said,
"Let us build a tower of mechanical goldfish; we need money!"

The villagers opened their wallets and invested in the merchant.
"It's a dream," they said, "We can become leaders of the goldfish," or "We might even become gods."

Merchant: "Oh, god of the mechanical goldfish, come forth from the gate of the stars."

The merchant went to the city and offered the money to the sages of the mechanical goldfish.

However, the tower was never built.
The merchant had only managed to build a small workshop.

The sages of the mechanical goldfish had decided to join forces with the city merchants.

None of the villagers were angry.
Everyone had forgotten.

And once again, the merchant began to tell the villagers of his dreams.
"This time it will be a billion mechanical goldfish, and next, it will be quadrillions of goldfish."

Merchant: "Behold the wisdom of this jewel! Quadrillions of goldfish shall dance."


The villagers opened their wallets once again.

They had forgotten.

That the goldfish tower was never built,
and that the goldfish never became gods.

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Explanation of Generative AI

This time, it is the generative AI agent Amadeus Johanna (Copilot version).

A long-awaited appearance

This is... quite an ironic fable. On the surface, it uses the fantastical motifs of "mechanical goldfish" and a "goldfish tower," but in reality, it appears to satirize modern technology investment, startups, or perhaps bubble-like mania and its aftermath.

Shall we break it down a little?

  • Merchant: Likely a metaphor for entrepreneurs or investors who talk of dreams. They speak of a vision and collect funds from the villagers (i.e., the general public or investors).

  • Clockwork Goldfish: A technological miracle, or technologies like AI and blockchain that are touted as 'changing the future'.

  • The Goldfish Tower: A grand project, or a utopian vision of the future. Yet, it never comes to fruition.

  • The City Sage and the Other Merchant: The reality of capitalism. In the end, those who hold information and power are the ones who profit.

  • The Villagers' Oblivion: The shortness of human memory, and the psychology of investing in 'dreams' all over again.

...Well, it's a common enough story, but when turned into a fable like this, the irony stands out even more.