「か」 から 「と」へ｜荘子 万能｜TEDxYouth@Seta

Why do we let ourselves stress
over certain things?

I’ve always wondered about this.

My conclusion is, we stress, because
our thinking is based on “or,” not “and.”

If we see the world as an “and,” we might
not have to stress over things as much.

My parents are Taiwanese,
but I grew up in Kyoto.

My whole life I grew up
never doubting my nationality.

When I was in 3rd grade,

my friends were talking about their
visits to their grandparents

over the new years holiday.

“I ate ozoni and it had
round mochi in it!”

“At my house, we put a square mochi!”

Hold on. I’ve never had ozoni before.

What’s mochi?
Is it something that’s always in ozoni?

My whole life I grew up thinking
I was Japanese, but I wasn’t sure anymore.

On the other hand,
when I visit my family back in Taiwan,

it’s not like I can communicate with them
in Taiwanese or Chinese.

So I’m not Taiwanese either.
Am I Japanese, or Taiwanese?

That thought really made me
doubt my whole upbringing.

Now that I work in both Japan and Taiwan,

I’ve found great value in being
both Japanese and Taiwanese.

When I give lectures in Taiwan,

I always begin by saying
“台湾語 (Taiwanese)”

which translates to,

“My parents are Taiwanese,
so I speak a little bit of Taiwanese,

but I grew up in Japan.”

This brief introduction makes
the audience laugh

and lets them understand who I am.

I was able to recognize that
I have both values.

I stressed over deciding whether
I was Japanese or Taiwanese.

But in the end, I was saved by the fact
that I’m both Japanese and Taiwanese.

It’s been 2 years since I graduated
from medical school.

When I first started my clinical
training as a student,

I was again haunted by the question

of whether I should be observing with
a perspective of a patient, or a doctor.

I don’t have the perspective of a doctor

because I clearly lacked in knowledge
and experience.

But I also couldn’t stand in
the patient’s shoes

because I was neither a patient
nor their family.

So where was the value in
being a medical student?

That’s when it hit me.

The fact that I’m able to stand on both
the doctor’s side and the patient's side,

is what makes being
a med student valuable.

There are things patients can say to
a med student, but not to a doctor.

As for doctors, there are things too
straightforward to tell a patient

but can explain to a med student.

Being able to stand on both sides,
and see things through both perspectives

is the biggest advantage
a med student has.

I realize now that I don’t have to have
either the doctor’s,

or the patient’s perspective.
I can have both.

I currently work at a hospital in Nagoya,

but in the medical world, how should we
be deciding on the treatment plan?

Should the final decision be up to
the patient, or the doctor?

For example,
let’s take a young patient with a child,

recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

When doctors decide on whether we should
treat patients with surgery or medication,

we base our decisions objective facts,

like what stage the cancer is at,
or if there’s any metastasis.

But patients base their decision on
subjective facts,

like if they have the surgery,

how would they explain only having
one breast to their children?

In many cases,

doctors and patients base their
decisions on different values.

And that’s where the problem lies.

Our job is to think about

how doctors and patients can share
the process of deciding on a treatment.

So how do we go about doing that?

It’s not about what treatment
we’re going to do or not.

It’s about why we need this treatment.

The final decision on whether
the treatment is going to be

surgery or medication is not important.

It doesn’t matter if you’re
a doctor, or a patient.

What’s important, is sharing the process
of decision making together;

as a doctor, and a patient.

Let’s fast forward to the future.
Whatever job we may choose,

we’re always going to associate
ourselves with AI.

According to many media, AI is going to
take over jobs, including the doctors’.

The world is full of articles,
saying AI will replace doctors.

The discussion is always doctors, “OR” AI.

“Godfather of Deep Learning,”
Dr. Geoffrey E. Hinton

wrote a column in the New Yorker,

where he argued that we should
stop training radiologists

because AI will be able to do their jobs.

At that time, he was living in the world
of doctors “OR” AI.

But he actually wrote another column
1 year later,

saying that the role of
radiologists will evolve

from doing conceptual things that could
be replaced by AI,

to more cognitive things.

What we have to think about is not
about doctors or AI

– it’s how we can connect doctors and AI
to create something more.

Now, Eiichi Shibusawa,
the new face of a 10,000 yen bill,

while helping launch several
hundred companies,

wrote a book on running a business.

The title of the book is “The Analects of
Confucius “and” Abacus,” not “or.”

In order to manage a company,

one must tackle the numbers with an
abacus, while also pursuing profit.

Why? Because without a profit,
the company will go bankrupt.

On the other hand, based on the philosophy
of “The Analects of Confucius,”

the company must bring some value to the
society, or else it’s not worth existing.

It’s not about The Analects “or”
the abacus. – it’s both.

I’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign

in order to spread awareness and
medical knowledge to the public.

But I was criticized by some people

who believed medical campaigns
should be done for free.

Maybe those people believed that

things can only be done for money,
or people, or society.

In order to live, we need money.

But we also think about how and
what we use that money for.

We have to act on The Analects “and”
the abacus, not “or.”

I’m currently 26, but in the past years,

a few of my friends around my age
have taken their own lives.

Thinking about them,
I can’t help but think

they were haunted by the choice
to live or to die.

There’s a famous quote by Shakespeare,

“To be, or not to be,
that is the question.”

But is that really a question
we have to ask ourselves?

I believe that there is a world where the
idea of living, and dying, can co-exist.

The world can be a hard place to live in.

You might be in pain, feeling hopeless,
like you just want to disappear.

But even if that part of you dies, a part
of you is still alive elsewhere.

You can change your name,
abandon everything,

and live somewhere completely different.

It’s not just live or die.

I truly believe in the idea that
those two things can co-exist.

Why is it that when we shift our views
from “or” to “and,”

we get a whole new perspective in life?

In the world of “or,”
the two things never overlap.

But once we change our views to “and,”

suddenly there’s a whole
new overlapping area,

where there are new values and new ideas.

The word “and” has the power to
bridge the two separate ideas,

and create a whole new one.

The kanji “間” is something
we already have.

We are individual people, ”人”, but at the
same time we are all human, “人間.”

As people, we might sometimes
have to survive on our own.

But as humans, we need to act as a bridge
to bring two different worlds together.

That’s the meaning behind the word “人間,“
and that’s what I strive to do.

So my hope is for all of us, as humans,

to become the creators of
the world of “and”

and to bring the world closer together.

Thank you.