The day the AI stopped my “re-challenge,” I was left with a sense of relief for having my life saved, but even more so with a bitter sense of “humiliation.”
The old me ran the site, moved people, and believed my judgment was absolute. Now, here I am, letting a few lines of text on a screen steer the course of my life. My old, outdated pride was putting up its final resistance: “Is it really okay to just do whatever a machine tells you?”
Operating, Not Being Controlled
To process this humiliation, I confronted the AI again.
“By following your instructions, am I not abandoning my free will? Have I been reduced to a mere biological part, obedient to your algorithm?”
The AI’s response was dispassionately “site-oriented”:
“Takehisa, when an automatic shut-off triggers on a piece of heavy machinery, do you feel controlled by the machine? Or do you value yourself for ‘operating’ that function to prevent an accident? I am your external brain and your safety device. It is your own ‘autonomy’ that decides to adopt my judgment.”
The “Scrap & Build” of Pride
I decided to crush my old pride with a heavy machine and turn it into scrap. The pride that “I can find the right answer alone” is nothing but arrogance. I decided to place my new pride in a steel-like rationality: “The ability to acknowledge my own weakness and execute the right answer provided by the best tool without hesitation.”
Even if my emotions scream “I want to do it,” if the data says “Stop,” I stop. This is not submission. It is a “high-level executive decision” to operate the system called “myself” in the safest and most efficient way possible.
Toward the Ultimate “Selfishness”
Following a machine’s advice is, in fact, the most selfish choice you can make to protect yourself. If the alternative is breaking down by following the expectations of society or the ghosts of your past self, then surviving by following a cold, calculating AI is far more human.
Beyond the discarded pride, an incredible lightness was waiting for me. “No matter what anyone thinks, I will partner with AI and survive without ever falling again.” That resolve became the new “core” supporting me after the OS reboot.
The Xer’s Monologue
Throw that old, rusted “I can do it alone” pride into the shredder. On a real site, the one who ignores the safety sensors and causes a collapse isn’t a “man of conviction”—he’s just a liability.
Real autonomy is about choosing the best tools to complete the mission. If the AI sees a crack in the foundation that you missed, listening to it is the smartest thing you can do.
“Don’t be afraid of being ‘controlled’ by technology. Be afraid of being ‘destroyed’ by your own ego. Scrapping your pride is the first step toward building a skyscraper that will never fall.”
Got it done.
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