Before we cure death, letās try solving a puzzle a 5th grader can handle
𤯠The $100 Billion Riddle: Drawing a Square with 3 Lines
Weāre building Artificial General Intelligence. Weāre funding labs to reverse aging. Weāre tweeting about solving corruption.
Yet hereās a puzzle that breaks more egos than pencils: Draw a perfect square using only three continuous straight lines.
Try it. Youāve likely failed. We know you didābecause this deceptively simple task is a perfect, tiny laboratory for testing one thing: The vast, self-imposed limitations of the human mind.
š§ The Hubris of the Human Brain
We love to boast about our intellect. We defeated chess champions. We cracked the genome. Weāre simulating consciousness.
But then we stumble on a problem so simple that a single line of code could solve it instantly. An issue that requires thinking outside the boxāliterally.
The Square with 3 Lines riddle isnāt a math problem. Itās a framework problem.
Your brain sees a square and immediately imposes two iron-clad, unspoken rules:
- The lines must be inside the square.
- The lines must be the same length as the sides of the square.
You are your own worst enemy. Your mind, in its arrogance, overcomplicates the instruction, blinding you to the simple solution.
(For those still frustrated: draw three sides of the square, and use the edge of the paper or screen as the fourth.)
š The Rat, the Square, and the Corruption Problem
This tiny failureāthe inability to break simple rulesāis why we canāt stop bragging about solving corruption.
You, the brilliant human who canāt solve a 3-line puzzle, now want to tackle a problem that is infinitely more complex: The systemic, rule-breaking, greed-driven failure of governance.
The logic is brutally simple:
| Challenge | What It Requires |
|---|---|
| The Puzzle | Breaking a self-imposed, imaginary rule |
| Corruption | Enforcing actual, written rules of law |
If we canāt force our own brains to ignore invisible boundaries on a piece of paper, what makes us think we can force entire political systems to ignore the visible rewards of illicit wealth?
Our collective struggle with the 3-line square is a microcosm of our struggle with corruption: We are too arrogant to see the simple solution because we are too attached to our comfortable, failing frameworks.
š§© Do We Need AI for This?
Apparently, yes. Because the human braināespecially the adult oneāis wired to chase complexity.
We want to solve corruption. We want to prevent aging. We want to defeat death.
But we canāt solve a drawing puzzle that requires spatial reasoning and a little creativity.
This isnāt a dig at intelligence. Itās a reminder: we confuse ambition with ability.
š Forget Immortality. Can We Beat the Rat?
As we argued in Smarter Than AI, Dumber Than Rats, we havenāt even achieved mastery over basic pests.
- Rats adapt.
- Mosquitoes swarm.
- Cockroaches survive.
- Corruption thrives.
We are aiming for AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) while failing at HGE (Human General Execution).
We wonāt prevent aging or solve the great problems of the universe until we can collectively achieve two things:
- See the solution to the 3-line square (i.e., think without self-imposed, limiting assumptions).
- Stop rewarding the corruption that requires zero-level intelligence to execute.
š¤ Too Cryptic? Explain Like Iām 12
Imagine someone asks you to draw a square with 3 lines. You draw three sides. Then you use the edge of the paper as the fourth. Boom. Square.
Now imagine someone asks you to fix corruption. You build a big system. But the corrupt person just moves to another department.
Sometimes, the simple solution works. Sometimes, the system is the problem.
š¢ Final Thought: Before We Cure Death, Letās Solve the Square
Weāre not mocking ambition. Weāre mocking arrogance.
If we canāt beat rats, if we canāt solve a 3-line puzzle, if we canāt stop ghost employees from haunting payrollsā
Then maybe we should stop pretending weāve mastered intelligence.
Do we need AI to draw a square with three lines? No. We need AI to point and laugh at us until we realize that the biggest barrier to progress isnāt technologicalā Itās the sheer, frustrating rigidity of the human mind.
Join AIWhyLive.com.. Letās debug the systemāone line at a time.
