#1389 Books I Enjoyed in 2023

In 2023, I started reading physical books again. Although I had been exclusively digital for the past decade, I changed my mind and realized there's no reason not to use the library. The library is, in a sense, an analog Kindle Unlimited.

And the books I enjoyed were ones I borrowed from that library (I later bought the Kindle versions as well).

"The Book of Adventure: Unlearning in the Age of AI" by Taizo Son

It's a book aimed at teenagers, but I read it as a middle-aged man who has already passed the halfway point of his 40s.

I wrote a rough summary of my thoughts on Instagram, so please check that out.

It's a book that makes you rethink the question, "Why do I have to go to school?" If the current purpose of education is to "raise workers," then in the near future when AI replaces workers, we will lose sight of the original purpose.
In that case, wouldn't it be better to do what you love?
And wouldn't it be better to keep doing what AI workers cannot do = "asking questions"?
To put it very broadly, that is the content.
So, it's not reskilling, but "unlearning."

The point is unlearning, not reskilling.

In today's world, there is so much noise about "reskilling in the AI age" that unlearning is likely effective as an antithesis to that.

This is because unlearning allows you to ask "Why in the first place?" and think for yourself.

Coincidentally, the fact that I am personally going through a history boom is one of the reasons I enjoyed reading it.

It is a book that allows you to "think with someone else's head" rather than "think with your own head." You can learn the essence of why various historical thinkers thought the way they did in this one book.

I also strongly believe that unlearning is necessary to create breakthroughs in the AI age.

The following is a quote from another book, which clearly illustrates this point.

AI can only return the greatest common divisor answers thought up by others (because that is its learning source). As expected, a Columbus's egg type of idea is likely difficult for it.

I want to believe that the ability to think with someone else's head while still being able to create a breakthrough is unique to humans who can ask questions themselves.

However, as I mentioned at the beginning, I am in a state like the grandfather in "Whisper of the Heart," saying, "I have become quite old."

Therefore, my hope is to entrust the unlearning of the AI age to the future Seiji Amasawa and Shizuku Tsukishima.