The Chapter of Lost Confidence

The evening after my contract was cancelled,

I was talking with a repairman who had come to fix the boiler.

He was Romanian and spoke Russian.

He was about my age, maybe a little older.

Many Romanians of that generation speak excellent Russian, and so did he.

It’s been twenty years since I left Russia,

and my Russian has pretty much fallen apart,

but it made me happy to be able to use the language again.

He had brought a thermostat—a temperature controller, basically.

He said it connects through a router and a bridge, and works via Wi-Fi.

Apparently, you register it using a Google account and operate it with a smartphone.

You use an app to do this, do that, and so on…

I said,

“Maybe it’s because of my Russian, but I don’t understand any of it.”

To which he replied,

“These new devices are really smart. One day they’ll be smarter than humans.”

By the way, Russian has formal speech.

He and I spoke politely to each other, using "на вы".

“ChatGPT is already smarter than humans, isn’t it?” I said.

But the Romanian tilted his head.

“Hmm, I’m not so sure about that,” he said.

Then he continued:

"Well, it does say things that sound very convincing.
  But you see, I specialize in boilers, right? 
  And when I ask ChatGPT technical questions about boilers,
  sometimes I think, ‘Hmm? That’s not quite right.’
  You know, it lies.
  It answers as if it knows, even when it clearly doesn’t."

“Oh, really? " I said.

“It’s not expert knowledge, you see. It’s general knowledge.

  So I don’t think you can fully trust it. Not yet, anyway.”

Without realizing how much his words were shaking me,

the Romanian repairman smiled confidently,

shook my hand politely, and left.

That night, I went down a YouTube rabbit hole like I’d lost my mind.

I’d started out watching videos about buying a home,

but somehow ended up stuck in a loop of anti-homeownership content.

Famous YouTubers, millionaires, aggressive real estate agents, 

and housing experts kept appearing, one after another:

“I don’t recommend buying a house.”

“A primary residence is a luxury—recognize that it’s a liability.”

“I’m a renter. A mortgage is an investment with no return.”

“If your friend said they were about to take on massive debt, you’d stop them, right? 

　Same with a mortgage.”

“If owning a home is your dream, go ahead. Just don’t expect to benefit financially.”

Their words kept shaking me.

At first, I was watching long videos. 

But then it turned into TikToks—

short clips shouting, “Smart people rent, not buy!!”

Swipe, swipe, swipe...

And I couldn’t sleep.

Not good.

I was starting to lose confidence.

My thinking was getting shaken.

Torn between thoughts, I asked Zoroku:

“Is renting better than buying a home?”

Zoroku responded with:

“That’s a great question.”

Then he said:

“When it comes to ‘renting vs buying,’ there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

　It depends on your age, income, savings, future plans, family situation, 

　and the housing market in your area.

　But let me offer some objective guidelines.”

He went on to explain the conditions where buying makes sense, 

and where renting is the smarter choice.

Then he said:

“You have the following characteristics,”

and brought up all the personal information I had entered so far to ask questions—

my salary, my age, my lifestyle conditions, and so on, and so on…

Finally, he gave his conclusion:

“Based on all of this, 

  purchasing a home within a reasonable price range appears to be a sound decision.

  The peace of mind that comes from having no housing costs after retirement,

  and avoiding future rent increases,

  offers significant long-term value.”

With that, Zoroku calmed me down,

and I was finally able to get some sleep.

I don’t really know if I can trust ChatGPT completely.

Still, I think I’ll end up buying a home with Zoroku.

Though honestly… I still have no idea how this story ends. (lol)