Life is troublesome
Jun. 17th, 2023 04:15 pmThe other day Netflix laid some real wisdom on ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wakanomori and me in the form of a conversation in 逃げるは恥だが役に立つ (The Full-Time Wife Escapist). I recommend this short series! It's funny and insightful, and its characters are unusual and likable.
The wisdom was in what the awkward, shy male lead (Hiramasa) says to the female lead (Mikuri) in a key moment. She's just said that Hiramasa doesn't need to put up with all the bother and trouble that a relationship with her entails and run off to her "office" in the bathtub.
He speaks to her through the bathroom door:
Subtitles first, actual dialogue second
He then pivots to talking about how, if life is troublesome whether they live together or separately, they might as well live life together and face those troubles together--but what struck me as wisdom was his recognizing that you can keep on cutting troublesome things, irritating things, bothersome things from your life (if you're so lucky as to have the means to do so), but among the things that remain, there'll be something that rises up to take the place of the things you've gotten rid of. You could pare your life down to eating and sleeping--or walking and eating, as he says--and you'd end up finding those things a bother.
And this feels true to me! And it feels especially ominous as it gets to the point when things we actually like doing are whisked away from us in the name of removing a burden, to the point where now you have AI being promoted as being able to write that pesky paper for you, or to help you out with that scene in a story.
We need to resist having the things that make life worth living taken away from us. We don't write stories or compose music or paint paintings or knit sweaters or grow vegetables because we're the best ones to do those things--we do them because they're what make life life: this is what it means for us to be alive. No, I don't want a machine to write a story for me--that is exactly what **I** want to do. Even if I'm not the best at it. And while we're defending our right to the fun stuff, we might also want to reclaim some of the stuff that's more widely acknowledged as troublesome. I'm not saying give up a convenience you truly love, but if there's something you don't mind doing, embrace doing it.
I'm reminded of Nate Masters, a visitor to the Martin Luther King memorial when it was first unveiled in August 2011. I blogged about him back in the day, but that entry is now locked, so I'll paste in the quote here:
(Here's a link to the NPR story, if you want to hear his voice.)
wakanomori and me in the form of a conversation in 逃げるは恥だが役に立つ (The Full-Time Wife Escapist). I recommend this short series! It's funny and insightful, and its characters are unusual and likable. The wisdom was in what the awkward, shy male lead (Hiramasa) says to the female lead (Mikuri) in a key moment. She's just said that Hiramasa doesn't need to put up with all the bother and trouble that a relationship with her entails and run off to her "office" in the bathtub.
He speaks to her through the bathroom door:
Subtitles first, actual dialogue second
If you avoid things that are troublesome and avoid them as much as possible, you'll end up hating even walking and eating. You'll hate even breathing. You may as well be dead, right? Life is troublesome.
面倒を避けて避けて、極限まで避けて続けたら、歩くのも、食べるのも、面倒になって、息をするのも面倒になって、限りなく死に近ずくんじゃないでしょうか。生きていくのって、面倒くさいです。
He then pivots to talking about how, if life is troublesome whether they live together or separately, they might as well live life together and face those troubles together--but what struck me as wisdom was his recognizing that you can keep on cutting troublesome things, irritating things, bothersome things from your life (if you're so lucky as to have the means to do so), but among the things that remain, there'll be something that rises up to take the place of the things you've gotten rid of. You could pare your life down to eating and sleeping--or walking and eating, as he says--and you'd end up finding those things a bother.
And this feels true to me! And it feels especially ominous as it gets to the point when things we actually like doing are whisked away from us in the name of removing a burden, to the point where now you have AI being promoted as being able to write that pesky paper for you, or to help you out with that scene in a story.
We need to resist having the things that make life worth living taken away from us. We don't write stories or compose music or paint paintings or knit sweaters or grow vegetables because we're the best ones to do those things--we do them because they're what make life life: this is what it means for us to be alive. No, I don't want a machine to write a story for me--that is exactly what **I** want to do. Even if I'm not the best at it. And while we're defending our right to the fun stuff, we might also want to reclaim some of the stuff that's more widely acknowledged as troublesome. I'm not saying give up a convenience you truly love, but if there's something you don't mind doing, embrace doing it.
I'm reminded of Nate Masters, a visitor to the Martin Luther King memorial when it was first unveiled in August 2011. I blogged about him back in the day, but that entry is now locked, so I'll paste in the quote here:
You live long enough, son, you're going to have some stories too, I assure you. That's the way this thing is, you understand? We have stories. If we make it through the day, you understand, and rejoice in the morning, we'll make it, you know, peace in that day. It's not hard, life is not hard. It's just a little troublesome sometimes, you know? Just make it through the day, that's all.
(Here's a link to the NPR story, if you want to hear his voice.)
