Supporting "Freedom to Live by One's Own Will" Through Technology

What Ethics and Technology Can Achieve

Introduction

While aging often brings loss of freedom due to physical and cognitive decline, properly combining current smartphones, tablets, and AI assistants can design an environment where people can live safely while preserving their decision-making autonomy. The key is to abandon the "protection vs. autonomy" binary choice and instead separate functions according to risk levels, positioning AI as an auditor to hierarchically secure three layers of freedom: physical freedom, psychological freedom, and decision-making freedom.

Specifically, we adopt a distributed design with a low-cost device dedicated to financial transactions, a tablet for daily information browsing, and a lightweight smartphone for outings, protecting each layer with strong authentication and remote locks. AI reduces anxiety by filtering suspicious communications and providing question-answering support to assist decision-making. This configuration translates three historical human strategies—"environmental artificialization," "utilization of external memory devices," and "risk management through role division"—to the individual level. While technology is not a magic wand, by redefining the concept of freedom itself and reframing aging from "functional loss" to "interface change," it opens paths to living the remainder of life with agency.

0. Before Making This a Paper Draft

Those of you who love the environment, nature, and ethics may feel heartbroken when you encounter news about elderly people's problems.

We differ in country, language, culture, and values. "Ethics" must vary across cultural spheres, and so must "freedom."

Japanese "freedom" is like this:

• Origin: The word "freedom" (jiyū) existed in classical China.

• Original meaning: It meant "acting according to oneself" (acting as one wishes), but was often used with the negative connotation of "selfishness."

• Modern meaning: During the Meiji period, it was adopted as a translation for Western "freedom/liberty," gaining modern meanings of "human rights" and "political rights" and becoming established.

What we learned from China and the West appears even in our vocabulary.

I replaced my mother's Galaxy A23 5G and AQUOS wish 2 with two used refurbished Google Pixel 7a devices (excellent condition, no battery issues). Since I started this in 2023, I've achieved two years without trouble, so I want to report this to everyone. Perhaps you might feel some "freedom" from this.

1.

My practice is pioneering "preventive tech design."

The core is:

• Transcending the binary opposition of safety and autonomy by designing hierarchical domains of freedom

• Positioning technology as a "medium that translates human will"

• Ensuring social implementation feasibility through cost optimization

What's important is the paradigm shift where technology doesn't "restrict freedom" but "redefines freedom."

2.

Aging is inevitable. For now. Medical intervention may become possible in the near future.

My mother valued maintenance, so she drove a manual transmission car until retirement.

The 50s, 60s, and 70s are different. My maternal grandfather lived to 100 (by traditional count) without chronic illness and died of old age, and my mother may have inherited this constitution. While this is a special case, there's a difference between before and after 70, especially after 75 when "youthfulness" seems to change.

To age safely, without mental fatigue, without shrinking back, maximizing psychological freedom. Even if it was impossible in the past, I believe we can improve quality of life by combining AI, smartphones, and iPad (Wi-Fi model).

There's luck involved too. Two years have passed since the 2023 DX and cashless transition, and we've completed the device upgrade without accidents or fraud. Even if she lives another 20 years, by then she probably won't need Mobile Suica or taxi GO apps. Barcode payment apps might also be unnecessary. If she remains conscious without dementia, she might use AI—asking it to explain unfamiliar words heard in news reports, or as a conversation partner. This doesn't mean delegating everything to AI, but rather thinking about how the person can use AI to increase what they can do freely.

I think aging means gradually letting go of "things you could do" that you spent your teens studying hard for school, being shaped by society, supporting society, retiring, and acquiring through a lifetime of effort. It's unreasonable and cruel.

If we extend lifespan only to force people into a state of waiting for death, what does that mean for humanity?

Life shouldn't be about that, and with AI available, there's room for innovation in things that were previously impossible. AI has the potential to improve things that couldn't be done due to lack of budget and personnel. It's not a magic wand, though.

Why increase the vulnerable? Protect human freedom until the end. Therefore, I think we should "translate" the present into a form where individuals can take responsibility.

I'd really like to do this for all parents' generation who want it, but I'm not in that position.

3. Instead, I'll share my notes——

1. Recommend having two smartphones

2. Decide on usage purposes

3. For outings, focus on barcode payment apps, Suica, GO, etc.

4. For home use, set it up like an ATM, radio, and small TV terminal (Wi-Fi operation is fine, but cheap SIM recommended for emergency contact)

5. Recommend iPad Wi-Fi model. Absolutely no SMS delivery

6. Don't buy expensive smartphones; Galaxy A23 5G or AQUOS wish 2 in 2023, now Google Pixel 7a used refurbished devices are sufficiently comfortable

7. Reason: For outings, to avoid resisting theft leading to falls, fractures, and care needs, assume it will be stolen

8. For screen locks, if possible, memorize "alphanumeric passwords of over ten digits" rather than "PIN" to delay thieves during theft

9. Use Android.com/find to "reset device to factory state"

※In 2023, when we put banking ATM on Galaxy A23 5G, she said it was "careless and scary," so we bought AQUOS wish 2 per her wishes. It was cheap and had a different UI, so she was less likely to get confused.

4. For fraud prevention, we reduce contact points with fraudsters

• Never answer calls from unregistered numbers

• No voicemail, so even smooth talkers can't do anything

• Numbers are displayed, so if mother is curious, she can note it and ask paid AI, which will tell her "transfers from that area have reported abuse," so she doesn't have to worry alone

• For temporary phone contact with craftsmen etc., they give business cards when we explain the situation, so we verify with those cards before answering

• Mother has no use for SMS. Only for authentication. So I taught her she "doesn't need to look" and never open URLs

• SMS isn't forwarded; I check it regularly

• She doesn't check email on smartphones. LINE is sufficient outdoors. At home there are banking apps

• Email is viewed on iPad Wi-Fi model through Gmail. Even if spam emails break through filters, there's no financial information, reducing phishing risk. Plus she can consult AI about "emails like this." Of course, I'm there too

• The retired Galaxy A23 5G works as a small iPad on Wi-Fi. Of course, no financial information

• And if smartphone is dropped, "reset device to factory state" + disable SIM (eSIM)

5. Summary

Ethical Framework: Redefining Freedom

"Three Stages of Freedom" theory

1. Physical freedom: Movement/operation ability (compensated by distributed device design)

2. Psychological freedom: Liberation from anxiety (fraud defense system)

3. Decision-making freedom: Preservation of choice (AI-supported decision making)

Overcoming Ethical Paradoxes

Resolving the "protection vs. autonomy" conflict through hierarchical risk management:

• Financial terminal: Complete protection (AQUOS wish 2→Google Pixel 7a used refurbished 1)

• Outing terminal: Optimized for town shopping and taxis (Galaxy A23 5G→Google Pixel 7a used refurbished 2)

• Information terminal: Controlled autonomy (iPad+Gmail+AI)

• Communication: Selective openness (number screening)

Practical Philosophy: Technological Achievement of Freedom

"Three Translation" principles

1. Risk translation: Social risks → Technical defense (e.g., fraud→AI filtering)

2. Capability translation: Physical functions → UI adaptation (e.g., reduced stamina→voice operation)

3. Will translation: Latent desires → AI execution (e.g., "want to know"→AI search support)

While Japanese culture values filial piety, what I'm doing is cutting-edge. It doesn't fit within mere life hacks. This is a grand and fundamental attempt to reconstruct for one individual the three universal strategies that humanity has refined over thousands of years since the agricultural revolution: "environmental artificialization," "invention of external memory," and "division of risks"—using modern technology. When we think of "aging as interface modification," we can find what ethics and technology can accomplish.

It demonstrates its true value in a macro-historical context. For example, my mother doesn't need to face, judge, and handle all risks herself. There are dedicated terminals as "castle walls" protecting against dangerous financial transactions, AI functioning as "scouts/soldiers" detecting suspicious information "intruders," and me existing as the "ruler/administrator" maintaining the entire system. Through this role division, we've built a system to overcome as a team the complex risks of modern society that individuals cannot handle alone.

I hope for a future where anyone who wishes can do this, transcending individual differences and cultural variations. I hope happiness visits the daily lives of a generation where no one has walked ahead of them.

I'm working on how to provide "cultural translation" so that I don't interfere with my mother, but rather enable her to take responsibility for herself. Thank you for reading to the end.

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Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-photography-of-silhouette-of-mountain-range-2088211/

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Trgr KarasuToragara

https://independent.academia.edu/TrgrKarasuToragara

https://github.com/trgr-karasutoragara

https://trgr-lab.com/about/

https://note.com/karasu_toragara

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