I read it as less about the value of the result from some measure of success and more of a question of ‘what are you if you simply do what someone/something else tells you to do?’ If all you do is enact the orders of the earring, are you still you? Are you even human? If your brain deforms to the point it loses the ability to make decisions or enact your own will, do you even still exist, regardless of whether the rest of your body still moves?
That seems to be the direction, and yet the story also says that its never wrong, nor does the person have to take that choice. Its an aid, but the problem is people turn the aid into a crutch. Which we are seeing with AI in ways, people claiming to do stuff but not really having a clue what they’re doing, nor able to fix or change it. But what if you always weighed the earring’s advice along with all the other choices and then made the choice that made sense to you? Knowing that the earring isn’t wrong in a certain context, but maybe taking other paths that are worse now will lead to better choices later.
I know the warning is that people tend to take the easier route, and at some point it becomes an addiction to just follow the suggestion “just once more”.
I read it as less about the value of the result from some measure of success and more of a question of ‘what are you if you simply do what someone/something else tells you to do?’ If all you do is enact the orders of the earring, are you still you? Are you even human? If your brain deforms to the point it loses the ability to make decisions or enact your own will, do you even still exist, regardless of whether the rest of your body still moves?
That seems to be the direction, and yet the story also says that its never wrong, nor does the person have to take that choice. Its an aid, but the problem is people turn the aid into a crutch. Which we are seeing with AI in ways, people claiming to do stuff but not really having a clue what they’re doing, nor able to fix or change it. But what if you always weighed the earring’s advice along with all the other choices and then made the choice that made sense to you? Knowing that the earring isn’t wrong in a certain context, but maybe taking other paths that are worse now will lead to better choices later.
I know the warning is that people tend to take the easier route, and at some point it becomes an addiction to just follow the suggestion “just once more”.