The 21st Century's Greatest Paradox: 'Learning Humanity from AI'🤔
Good evening, this is Satsumie.
I've written here before that I quite like "analysis," but actually, I'm also interested in "paradoxes," and they have appeared in my articles several times.
It's a phenomenon where you reach a contradictory conclusion that goes against common sense or is unacceptable, starting from premises that seem correct and valid reasoning... but still.
There are many examples of this.
Among them,
the ones that seem understandable at first glance but make you wonder, 'What does that even mean?'
I've organized them in my head step-by-step again,
and here they are ↓
"This sentence is false (a lie)."
When thinking about this sentence,
if it's true, it becomes "false," leading to a contradiction, and conversely, if it's a lie, it becomes "true (the truth)," resulting in a state where you can't reach either conclusion.
Ah, as I start to understand it a little,
it just makes me think, 'Oh, so it's like this because of that, and because of that, it becomes this...'
It's literally an infinite loop💦
Oh, I realized there might be another one like this too.
Something that seems to be happening a lot in recent years.
A modern-day paradox
For example,
'I am writing text that is human-like'
The infinite loop that starts the moment you say that.
However, I, who am supposed to be human,
am telling the AI,
'Write it in a human-like way'and giving it instructions.
When the AI says, 'Understood,' and creates something with a 'Ta-da!' flair,
'No, no, that's not something I would ever do' I say, rejecting it.
But then, while holding my head and wondering what the difference is, I end up asking the AI, 'What does it mean to be human?' anyway.
And, there's no exit💦
Are we stuck in a 21st-century version of the digital Liar Paradox, forever spinning between 'human-like' and 'not human-like'?
But... perhaps
the theory is actually simple, but it's a truly troublesome
'disease of forgetting that you are human'
(where humans try to use AI to become more human)
that we might have secretly caught😱
So,
humor my delusions for a moment
One day,
inside a zoo enclosure,
a zookeeper looks at a tiger curled up and sleeping soundly, feeling unsatisfied and saying, 'Man, you've completely lost your wild side, haven't you?'
Alright!
He throws raw meat from outside the cage,
'Show me your wild fangs like a real tiger!'
The moment the raw meat hit the tiger's nose, it curled up its slightly reddish nose,"Grrrrr", glared at me, and started baring its fangs.
Grrr
It's approaching step by step, baring its emotions.
Even though there's a cage between us,
"I-I'm scared, so please go back to normal----💦" I say.
Though I wonder what 'normal' even means.
It's funny, but
it's also a not-so-funny delusion of mine (lol).
But
the composition is similar to before,
where I, who should be a real human, am offloading the definition of humanity to AI, getting scared of the answer that comes back, and throwing a boomerang right back at it.
At first glance, it looks like the latest comedy sketch of 2026,
but is there no cure?
Actually, it's not that there isn't one.
I think the moment you can laugh at this loop, you've already entered the recovery phase.
As a prescription:
・First, become aware of the loop.
・Enjoy the loop by saying, 'This is what's most human.'
・View AI not as a 'tool,' but as a 'mirror.'
Humans aren't perfect,
and most of us live lives full of contradictions.
If you don't realize that, it can sometimes accelerate a 'painful vicious cycle,' but if you change yourself, the mirror reflecting you changes too.
When I unfold the prescription again and ask myself these questions,
oh, how mysterious.
From what seemed like an inexplicable paradox at first,
'interesting self-exploration'
I've started to feel like it's turning into that instead.😊
The end.
Today's summary
A prescription for the paradox is as follows
There's a classic gag about a grandfather searching for his glasses while they're already on his forehead, butit's not just about grandfathers after all
It's not limited to grandfathers, either
Humans have a psychological tendency to overlook the things closest to them
As I write these words
Emotions, body temperature
Naturally, even though I fully possess my own clumsy, irrational self
For some reason, I end upcraving what I don't have on my own
And furthermore
pretending that what I do have doesn't exist
Just to tidy everything up into a neat, pretty shape😅
When you take the glasses off your forehead and look
Even a tiger sleeping soundly
at times
Ngoooo-gogo
Gwoooooo-
occasionally flashes its fangs
showing clearly that it hasn't lost its wild side😱
Lastly
My article was featured in a magazine
Tsuzuki Kiraku na Sanpo-san✨✨
Midori Donguri-san✨✨
RIKA-san✨✨
Perin-san✨✨
Thank you so much, as always.
I am filled with gratitude.💞
Membership
'Mayumi's Backstreet' has begun.
Please, come and take a peek at the backstreet sometime.😊