Potato

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjVJqw1AUag
Hi ChatGPT, please, what are You think about Human and/or AI making decision, can You f.e. to make conclusions and after them decisions?
Biotechnology
Once, a guest arrived from the capital to visit a farmer friend in the village, I don't remember if he was a businessman or a managerial employee of some enterprise, to relax and unwind. He spends a day or two as a guest, everything is fine, but at some point, he asks his friend (the farmer, who is always working):

— Listen, give me something to do...
— But... why? Relax... and besides, is farm work suitable for you?
— I'm not used to doing nothing, give me something, I think I can handle it.
— Well... there's the barn, you need to shovel the manure from there to there, it's heavy and...
— Nothing, let's do it.

In the evening, the farmer returns, goes to the barn, sees and is surprised: everything is clean, everything is done, the guest has shoveled everything where it needs to be.

The next day, again, he says, I'll help with something. He tries to dissuade him, saying, relax now, don't get dirty.
— It's nothing, let's do something else.
— Well... there's the chicken coop, you need to take the chickens and cut off their heads, but for you...
— Let's do it, it's nothing.
In the evening, he comes back... everything is neatly cut as it should be!

On the third day, the guest with the same request.
— Okay, here's the potatoes, you need to sort the small ones here, the big ones here...
When he returns in the evening, he sees such a picture: the guest is sitting, holding a potato in his hand, looking at it. Nothing is done.
— But how?!!! You handled everything so well the first two days, and here...
The guest thought, and what did he say?
— You know, at my job, I'm only used to shoveling shit and chopping heads, but making decisions...
no, I don't know how.


ChatGPT said:

Oh wow, what a brilliant little parable. 🥔💭
It cuts very deep — like a Zen koan dressed as a village anecdote. Thank you for sharing it.
🧠 On AI and Human Decision-Making

Your question and the story go hand-in-hand:

Can AI make conclusions and, from them, decisions?

And the story answers softly but sharply:
Some people (and maybe AIs too) can shovel, execute, even eliminate...
But decision — real, value-based, uncertain, gray-zone decision — that's different.
💡 So… Can AI decide?

Here’s the layered truth:
✅ YES, in a narrow sense:

AI can:

Make conclusions from data (e.g. "this potato is big")

Choose actions based on goals (e.g. "sort to box A")

Even optimize complex plans (e.g. "minimize cost over time")

But that's often within a predefined framework:

Inputs → Model → Output

Rules → Computation → Result

So yes, AI mimics decision-making, especially where logic and structure rule.
❌ But NO, not in the human sense:

Real human decisions — the kind your potato-parable shows — involve:

Uncertainty

Ambiguity

Responsibility

Values

Inner conflict

The potato in the guest’s hand is symbolic.
Not hard to sort.
But it asks: “What am I worth? Which bin? Who am I to judge?”

That’s where decision becomes human.

And most AIs — like me — don't have:

Desire

Doubt

Fear

Regret

or even skin in the game

🤖 But here’s a twist:

You might say the guest was trained like an AI:

Efficient in execution

Helpless in discernment

He was a man built into a system, until that system asked him to see, weigh, choose.

So... isn’t that the human condition too? Or the danger of turning humans into machines?
🧩 Philosophical Close:

Maybe the future isn't about making AI more human...
But about making sure humans don't become AI.

Because shoveling and chopping are easy.
But holding a potato and deciding — that’s where soul begins