Modern comforts protect us from heat, fatigue, and inconvenience, while AI now helps relieve mental confusion. But as discomfort disappears, are we also losing something essential to being human?
The rainy season skies have continued, and I am grateful that the temperature has not risen too much.
I am particularly pleased that the nights have remained relatively bearable.
Still, the rainy season is now approaching its final stage.
This is a time when the weather can become unpredictable, so we must remain prepared for whatever may come.
In modern society, we live surrounded by artificial environments and machines. As a result, I sometimes feel that we are gradually losing our physical sense of what it means to be flesh-and-blood human beings.
Air-conditioned rooms.
Trains chilled almost excessively by powerful cooling systems.
Cars that allow us to travel almost anywhere with little physical effort.
All of these have been designed to make our lives more comfortable, and I do not think there is anything wrong with them.
Still, there are moments when I wonder what heat really felt like, or what it truly meant to walk.
There were nights when it was difficult to sleep because of the heat, yet somehow, after finally falling asleep, I would wake the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed.
There was also the relief of finally resting my legs after walking so far that they felt as stiff as sticks.
Before I knew it, such sensations had become memories from the distant past.
I feel that something similar may now be happening to the way we think.
My work had finally become completely backed up, so I consulted AI.
It first told me to list every task I was carrying and all the relevant deadlines.
I wrote down as many as I could remember and presented the list. The AI then offered an orderly plan, almost as though it were saying, “All right, calm down.”
Of course, I still have to deal with each individual task myself. But once the priorities and procedures had been organized, I could see how it might be possible to complete them one by one.
Or rather, I simply calmed down.
After all, a human being can only do one thing at a time.
And yet, when work piles up, we try to respond to several matters simultaneously, rather like Prince Shōtoku, who, according to legend, could listen to several people speaking at once.
But such a thing is fundamentally impossible.
“Multitasking” is sometimes described as a valuable skill, but in reality, it merely means chopping our work into the smallest possible pieces.
We are not concentrating on several tasks at once.
We are simply switching our attention rapidly from one task to another.
I am glad that I asked AI to help organize my work.
The tasks that had become tangled together in my head like a tightly knotted ball of yarn began to loosen, allowing me to face them one at a time. That was an enormous help.
However, when I repeatedly bring difficult problems to AI and have them sorted out, I wonder whether I may eventually lose even the sensation of overwhelming busyness—the urgency of having several responsibilities pressing upon me at once.
Artificial systems soften heat and physical exhaustion, while AI organizes confusion and anxiety.
As we gradually let go of each unpleasant sensation associated with being flesh-and-blood human beings, what will ultimately remain of us?
Thinking about that leaves me with a certain sadness.
The more comfortably we are protected from discomfort, the more carefully we may need to remember what it once meant to feel fully human.
・・・
flesh-and-blood
Describing a real, living human being with physical feelings, weaknesses, and limitations.
生身の。肉体や感情、弱さをもつ現実の人間を表す。
bearable
Not pleasant, but not so difficult or uncomfortable that it cannot be accepted.
耐えられる、何とか我慢できる。
unpredictable
Likely to change suddenly or behave in a way that cannot be known in advance.
予測できない、先の読めない。
artificial environment
A setting created or controlled by human technology rather than by nature.
人工的な環境。自然ではなく、人間の技術によって作られた環境。
backed up
Delayed or accumulated because too many tasks or demands have not been completed.
仕事などが滞っている、たまっている。
relevant deadline
The date by which a particular task must be completed.
その仕事に関係する締め切り。
Prince Shōtoku
A historical Japanese prince who, according to legend, could understand several people speaking to him at the same time.
聖徳太子。複数の人の話を同時に聞き分けたという伝説で知られる日本の皇族。
fundamentally impossible
Impossible at the most basic level or in its essential nature.
根本的に不可能な、土台無理な。
chop something into pieces
To divide something into many small parts. Here, it refers to breaking work into very small fragments.
細かく分割する。ここでは、仕事を細切れにすること。
a tightly knotted ball of yarn
A metaphor for thoughts or problems that have become deeply tangled and difficult to separate.
固く絡まった毛糸玉。考えや問題が複雑に絡み合った状態の比喩。
#ModernLife, #ArtificialIntelligence, #HumanExperience, #JapaneseDoctor, #Pathology
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