How to Read “When wisdom emerges, great deception arises”
Chie idete oitsuwari ari
Meaning of “When wisdom emerges, great deception arises”
This proverb means that as knowledge and wisdom develop, clever deceptions that abuse them also emerge.
As people’s intellectual level rises and various technologies and information advance, sophisticated fraud and clever lies that exploit them increase at the same time.
It points out an ironic aspect of civilization.
This saying is used to explain situations where new forms of crime and fraud emerge alongside technological progress and the development of information society.
It’s also used to criticize cases where intellectuals and experts abuse their knowledge to deceive people.
In modern times, with the development of the internet and AI technology, new criminal methods requiring advanced knowledge keep appearing.
These include phishing scams and deepfakes.
Just as this proverb shows, the more human wisdom progresses, the more sophisticated the deceptions that abuse it become.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb is believed to originate from the ancient Chinese classic “Laozi” (Tao Te Ching).
Chapter 18 of “Laozi” contains the passage “When the great way is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness appear; when wisdom emerges, great deception arises.”
This was transmitted to Japan and became established there.
In Laozi’s philosophy, the development of artificial wisdom and morality itself was viewed as corruption away from the natural state.
When primitive simplicity is lost and people gain knowledge, those who use that knowledge to deceive others appear.
Moral teachings about benevolence and righteousness are preached precisely because they have been lost.
The paradox is that as wisdom develops, clever lies and fraud that abuse that wisdom are also born.
This teaching was also a fundamental question about the development of civilization.
The progress of knowledge and technology doesn’t necessarily make humans happy.
Rather, it sharply points out the ironic aspect of human society that it provides new means to abuse them.
In Japan too, from the Edo period onward, this became widely known as a moral lesson.
It has been quoted when considering the relationship between the development of knowledge and morality.
Usage Examples
- While medical technology has advanced and saved many lives, medical fraud that abuses it has also become more sophisticated—truly “When wisdom emerges, great deception arises”
- The more encryption technology develops, the more advanced hackers’ methods to break it become—this is exactly what “When wisdom emerges, great deception arises” means
Universal Wisdom
The truth this proverb reveals is the dual nature of human intelligence.
Wisdom was originally supposed to be a tool to make people happy and solve difficulties.
However, that same wisdom can also become a weapon to deceive others and steal their benefits.
This points to a fundamental contradiction in human existence.
Why does this phenomenon occur? It’s because wisdom itself has no good or evil—good and evil exist in the hearts of the people who use it.
Just as a kitchen knife can be used for cooking or as a weapon, knowledge and technology bring completely different results depending on the user’s intentions.
And unfortunately, selfishness and desire always lurk in the human heart.
What’s even more serious is that the more wisdom develops, the harder deception becomes to detect.
Simple lies are easy to see through, but fraud based on advanced knowledge cannot be detected without equal or greater knowledge.
This creates the paradox that the progress of wisdom actually makes people more vulnerable.
This proverb has been passed down for thousands of years because humanity cannot escape this contradiction as long as it develops civilization.
Progress and corruption are always two sides of the same coin.
When AI Hears This
The ability to transmit information and the ability to falsify information actually rest on the same technological foundation.
In information theory, the greater a communication channel’s capacity, the more information it can send.
But at the same time, noise (false signals) can also be sent more elaborately.
For example, in the black-and-white TV era, forged videos were crude and immediately detectable.
But as resolution increases to 4K and 8K, deepfake accuracy also increases.
In other words, if the technology to convey truth increases tenfold, the technology to convey lies also increases tenfold.
This is a multiplicative relationship.
What’s even more interesting is that as wisdom increases, manipulation of the “signal-to-noise ratio” becomes more sophisticated.
If you wrap a small lie in a large amount of truth, the receiver cannot detect the lie.
This is why scam emails consist of “99% authentic-looking information” and “1% trap.”
In cryptography research too, there’s an ongoing arms race where as encryption capability increases, decryption technology also increases.
What this proverb saw through is the double-edged nature of technology: improvement in information processing ability inevitably improves “disguise accuracy” as well.
Advanced communication infrastructure simultaneously becomes advanced fraud infrastructure.
Information channel capacity is equally open to both truth and falsehood.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches us today is the wisdom not to praise progress unconditionally, but to look at its shadow side as well.
When new technologies or services appear, it’s important to develop the habit of considering not only the benefits they bring but also the possibility of their abuse.
Especially in information society, as access to knowledge and information has become easier, sophisticated misinformation and fraud have also increased.
When you learn something and deepen your knowledge, don’t forget that people who try to abuse that knowledge also exist.
That’s why you need to cultivate critical thinking skills and maintain an attitude of always questioning rather than accepting information at face value.
However, this doesn’t mean we should fear the development of wisdom.
Rather, when more people have correct knowledge, society as a whole gains greater power to see through deception.
You yourself should continue learning and use that knowledge for good purposes.
That is what it means to stand on the side of good in the endless competition between wisdom and deception.
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