The Ontological Scars of Creation • Yu Tokunaga

Abstract

This thesis interrogates the contemporary crisis of “originality” in an era dominated by generative algorithms. It posits that true creative agency does not reside in the mythical ex nihilo (creation from nothing), but rather in the ontological friction generated when a creator’s radical subjectivity—their “private curse”—collides with the “public orthodoxy” of market-driven likelihood. While generative AI operates through the recursive optimization of probabilistic sequences (the Markovian logic of tokens and pixels), it remains inherently void of axiological assessment—the capacity to assign value or emotional weight to a construct. This study argues that the human “artifact” achieves originality precisely through a “productive failure” of translation: the deliberate introduction of idiosyncratic “noise” into the streamlined frequency of the collective average.

I. The Genealogy of Structural Invention: Beyond the “Zero to One” Myth

Historically, the perceived “originality” of classical masters (e.g., Sophocles, Dante) was not the result of an evidentiary vacuum. Instead, their labor was an act of Primary Ontological Grounding.

Morphological Innovation: Ancient creators did not merely rearrange existing tropes; they invented the “Operating System” of narrative itself by synthesizing raw, un-linguistified phenomena—nature, mortality, and the numinous—into coherent structures.
The Resolution of Absence: In an age of low informational resolution, the “voids” in the collective data were filled not by statistical probability, but by the “aggressive exegesis” of the individual. What we now revere as “originality” is often the residual trace of a creator filling the unknown with the sheer force of their own conviction.

II. The Dialectics of the Artifact: Public Language vs. Private Obsession

The core of this research identifies the “Artifact of Reconstruction” as a byproduct of a dualistic struggle. Originality is the scars of an impossible reconciliation.

Conceptual Axis	Ontological Nature	Creative Function
Market Orthodoxy (Publicity)	Collective Likelihood, Normative Logic, Commensurability	Provides the “Syntax” or vessel for socio-cultural transmission.
Private Idiosyncrasy (Obsession)	Market Incongruity, Radical Subjectivity, “The Incurable Itch”	Acts as the “Foreign Body” that disrupts and distorts the vessel.

The act of creation is thus a “failed translation”: an attempt to articulate a profoundly private interiority using the blunt, public instrument of “known techniques.” The resulting artifact is unique not because it is perfect, but because its distortions reflect a specific, non-replicable internal conflict.

III. The Aesthetics of Probabilistic Transgression

In contrast to the AI’s trajectory toward the “shortest path” of maximum likelihood, human creativity thrives within Aporia (the state of being at a loss).

Intentional Divergence: The “Aha!” moment is frequently a desperate, last-resort resolution born from a cul-de-sac where market logic fails to satisfy the creator’s inner aesthetic demand.
The Value of the Deviation: True originality manifests as “Probabilistic Transgression”—the moment a creator knowingly rejects the “correct” (most likely) path in favor of a “sublime error” that resonates with the visceral quiddity of human experience.

Conclusion: Originality as the Residue of Struggle

Originality is ultimately the materialized evidence of a creator’s refusal to be optimized. We must acknowledge our nature as biological “statistical machines” shaped by ancestral and cultural data. However, our singular value—our “Zero to One”—resides in our capacity for **“Active Misinterpretation.” ** To create is to subject the “1” of inherited knowledge to the “negative-1” of one’s own irrational obsession. The resulting “infinite” remainder, characterized by its resistance to commoditization, stands as the only true hallmark of the human spirit in the age of algorithmic synthesis. This content was authored with the assistance of generative AI.