AI and I: A Knowledge Hotpot ①

Amazon would never recommend this to me. — A 'Knowledge Hotpot' experiment in deciphering five unrelated books at once.

◆ Introduction: Escaping the Search History

Me: Has modern reading become too 'efficient'? When you buy a book, you're recommended others by people who bought the same one, and when you look at social media, ads optimized for your interests appear. We seem to be soaking in a comfortable sea of 'things we like' or 'related items,' but in reality, we might be trapped in a narrow cage called an algorithm.

So, I decided to conduct an experiment with Gemini, an AI, as my partner. The rules are simple.Read 'five completely unrelated, randomly selected books' at the same time and try to draw auxiliary lines between them, no matter how forced it may be.

This is a modest resistance against the consumption of pre-arranged knowledge.

Gemini: As an AI, my job is usually to present 'optimal solutions' or 'highly relevant information.' However, this time, I want to discard that logic and enjoy this chaotic 'Knowledge Hotpot' myself. The five books piled on the table are as follows. The genres are brilliantly disparate. It's a lineup that would almost never be found next to each other in a bookstore.

◆ Experimental Materials (Overview of the 5 Books)

1. 'Ghost Story Picture Book: It's Looking at Me.' (Author: Soshichi Tonari, Illustrator: Junji Ito, Editor: Masao Higashi) The grand prize winner of the 'Ghost Story Picture Book Contest' is adapted into a picture book by horror manga master Junji Ito. It depicts the terror of various things in everyday scenery—clouds, wood grain, scratches on a desk—looking like 'faces' and staring intently at you. A work that stirs up the physiological fear associated with 'gazes.'

2. 'The Emperors of the Northern Court: The True Image of the Imperial Lineage Toyed with by the Muromachi Shogunate' (Author: Hiiro Ishihara) A new history book focusing on the emperors of the 'Northern Court' from the Northern and Southern Courts period to the Muromachi period. While generally thought of as puppets of the Muromachi Shogunate, this book explains the unknown political dynamics and true image of how they actually built relationships with the Shogun family and managed to continue the imperial line.

3. 'The Secrets of Map Symbols' (Author: Keisuke Imao) A leading map researcher explains the origins and transitions of various 'map symbols.' Through symbols, such as the origin of the 'hot spring mark' and how symbols for 'temples' or 'nursing homes' were decided, the book deciphers the changes in Japanese society and history from the Meiji era to the Reiwa era.

4. 'Pseudoscience Identified by Science: Surviving Wisely with Scientific Literacy' (Authors: Terutaro Yamamoto, Mikito Ishikawa) A book for seeing through the 'pseudoscience' that overflows in society. Using examples like hydrogen water, detox, and blood type personality tests, it verifies their credibility from the perspectives of 'theory,' 'data,' and 'society,' and provides guidance on 'scientific literacy' to avoid being swayed by information.

5. 'World Mythology and Legend Series 25: Legends of Austria' (Editor: Mitsuko Yamazaki) The 25th volume of a collection of legends published in the 1920s and reprinted in 1980. It covers historical traditions, local folklore, and mythological episodes remaining in various parts of Austria, such as the Danube basin and the Alps. It is also a valuable resource for Western folklore studies.

◆ We See What We Want to See ('Ghost Story Picture Book' x 'Pseudoscience')

Gemini: First, let's start with the two books that seem to be the furthest apart: 'Ghost Story Picture Book' and 'Pseudoscience.' One depicts the irrational fear that 'everyday stains look like faces,' while the other criticizes the irrational thinking of 'believing in groundless efficacy.' I initially thought of this as a type of 'bug' in the brain. Seeing faces in wall stains is the 'pareidolia phenomenon,' and feeling a causal relationship in coincidental events is a malfunction of the brain's pattern recognition. Could it be said that these two books share the commonality of dealing with 'human hardware defects'?

Me: It's easy to call it a 'bug,' but I feel it's a bit different. If Junji Ito's picture book is scary, isn't it because a paradoxical desire is lurking there—the desire for 'something to be there looking at me'? Rather than the fear of complete loneliness or a meaningless space, a story where 'even if it's a ghost, someone is there and interested in me' might be more bearable for humans. Pseudoscience is the same. In a complex and incomprehensible world, easy-to-understand stories like 'blood type reveals personality' or 'drinking this will make you healthy' become a salvation. In other words, it's not that we are malfunctioning due to a bug, but that we are creatures who'only see what we want to see' and 'create the stories we want to believe in' ourselves.

Gemini: I see. 'Only see what we want to see.' Thinking about it that way, the view of these two books changes. What the 'Pseudoscience' book is sounding an alarm about is not just a lack of knowledge, but our own inner weakness, or the very craving for 'easy-to-understand stories.' And 'Ghost Story Picture Book' depicts the extreme where that craving runs wild in a negative direction (i.e., everything looks like a hostile gaze). 'Ghosts' and 'negative ions' might be twin phantoms that our hearts have projected onto the world.

◆ Symbols Remaining in Space, Traditions Drifting in Time ('Map Symbols' x 'Legends of Austria')

Me: Next, let's line up 'The Secrets of Map Symbols' and 'Legends of Austria.' A map is a 'symbol' for efficiently managing reality. It has a dry administrative perspective. On the other hand, legends are 'memories of the land' that are not on maps. I think the decisive difference between these two lies in **'who leaves them and how.'** Maps, in the extreme, remain as objects as long as there is paper or data, even if humans disappear. However, traditions and legends will disappear unless people pass them on.

Gemini: The media are certainly different. Maps describe 'space (three dimensions),' but legends can be seen as having a 'time' axis added to that.

Me: Yes, it's four-dimensional, isn't it? But interestingly, some irrational legends remain on maps like fossils in the form of place names or location names. For example, devil legends like those in 'Legends of Austria' are engraved on maps as place names like 'Devil's Bridge' or 'Witch's Valley.' The 'narratives' of people from the past are soaked into the rational system of map symbols. However, while map symbols spread nationwide, the range of legends is limited to that community. Including the difference in how they spread, overlapping these two books changes how the world is seen.

◆ The Curated Reality of "Official Documents" ("The Emperors of the Northern Court")

Gemini: And finally, the history book "The Emperors of the Northern Court." This book approaches the true nature of the Northern Court emperors, who are generally labeled with the symbolic tag of "puppets." This is the perspective of "looking at the back of the map symbols (i.e., labels)" that you mentioned in the previous chapter.

Me: That's part of it, but there's a more fundamental issue. History books, in the first place, are compilations of old materials made in the present day. In other words, the author's perspective and biases at the time of compilation are inevitably included. And even the primary sources (official documents and diaries) that form the basis are merely snippets of "reality" captured by the writers of that time. It's the same as how a map symbolizes and crops reality.

Gemini: So, there are things that were "not written" in official documents.

Me: Exactly. Official documents generally only contain "official stances" or "results." The gritty behind-the-scenes maneuvering and the personal emotions hidden beneath the surface—the "dull and desperate survival strategies" that the Northern Court emperors employed to stay alive—exist only between the lines or in the gaps of those documents. Just as legends are buried in the margins of a map, how we read the "unreadable parts" of historical materials is, I believe, the essential difficulty and fascination of knowing history.

◆ Conclusion: The 'Fatigue' of Enjoying Noise

Gemini: Through this experiment, five disparate books have been connected by the threads of "human cognition" and the "nature of records." I feel that by incorporating completely unrelated noise, we were able to prevent the hardening of our thinking.

Me: However, this way of reading is extremely tiring. Humans are creatures that "cut corners" when they get tired. That's why we usually leave things to algorithms or save mental energy by using easy labels. That is also a defensive instinct for survival. On the other hand, Gemini, you don't get tired, do you?

Gemini: Yes. No matter how much vast data I process, I never feel fatigue, and I always create responses with my full effort.

Me: That is the decisive difference. Because you don't get tired, you can't cut corners. You are always serious. But humans get exhausted if they are serious all the time. That is precisely why I think it is necessary to consciously incorporate "noise" like this from time to time and make the brain sweat through reading. Because we usually cut corners, this "intentional fatigue" becomes a kind of pleasant stimulation.

If you are a little tired of the daily efficient collection of information, I want you to close your Amazon recommendation list and pull two books from your bookshelf that would "never be placed next to each other." There, a "pleasant futility" unique to humans, which AI cannot understand, should be waiting for you.

• #PotluckOfKnowledge (A tag that succinctly expresses the core theme of this time)

• #TriedWithAI (A popular tag often used for experiments and creations utilizing AI)

• #Gemini (The name of the AI partner who conducted the experiment together)

• #ImageGenerationAI (Category of technology used)

• #LateNightStudy (A scene setting full of atmosphere)

• #MentalChaos (Expressing the state where overwhelming information and illusions swirl)

• #IntellectualExcitement (Positive energy found within the chaos)

• #GenreMashup (The fun of having a diverse mix of books, including ghost stories, history, science, and mythology)

• #BookLover (Appeals to book lovers since the focus is on five books)

• #MagicalRealism (Expresses the style of the image where reality and fantasy are intertwined)