So, I’m back in Shenzhen after a North Carolina interlude. What’s the first thing I did with friends? I learned how to use DeepSeek to tell my fortune. Turns out its a thing…

The first things my friends gave me was the template (translated from the Chinese): My gender is X, my lunar calendar birthdate is XX, and my Gregorian calendar date of birth is XXX. Please use the blind technique to analyze my eight characters, my destiny, my physical characteristics, and each era. Cover everything, and be as detailed and specific as possible. Please focus how much wealth I am fated to make and my marriage situation, only producing a final reading after you have determined the model for this relationship. Please be honest in your evaluation and don’t be too gentle in your language. [original input: 我是X性，出生于XX，我的公历出生日期是XXX。请用盲派技巧逐步分析八字，请分析我的一生运势，以及体貌特征，时间节点，事件，涵盖各方面，尽可能详细具体。着重分析大运能赚多少钱，包括 婚姻，判断出准确的关系模型后输出最终结果，诚实一点评价，用语不用太温和.]

So what did I learn about my destiny from this strangely polite interaction with an AI fish? Well, the first thing I learned is that the language of my disembodied fortune-teller was strangely compelling. My friends commented that that DeepSeek speaks Chinese well, even if it crashes frequently. The second thing I learned is that if you don’t save your answer, it vanishes, so that you are always facing an empty space, ready for the next question. The third thing I learned is that 三岁起运 (luck cycles begin at age three). When I asked DeepSeek why three years old, it also mentioned that because Chinese children are one years old at birth, the third year in Chinese culture marks the transition from infancy to childhood, when a person becomes increasingly independent of their mother; their fate is thus increasingly in their own hands.

In an AI nutshell, my life has been a battle to deploy water, wood and fire to overcome the excess of earth and metal in my fate. My 用神 (direct translation “use god,” but refers to the five elements) is 喜水泄金、木疏土、火克金；忌土金, which seems to mean that of the five elements water, wood and fire are my friends; earth and metal are not. So DeepSeek’s extremely metaphoric advise is that I should use water and fire to overcome the unruly metals in my life and wood to loosen up the soil. It’s suggestions about wealth, marriage and health were simultaneously banal and uncannily on brand. First, because I have an empty wealth star, I need to thrifty and avoid greedy risks in order to get along. Second, because my ex-husband’s star (a metal) was buried deep beneath the earth, we had a shallow connection and experienced loneliness. Third, because an excess of earth and metal can lead to spleen, stomach and respiratory diseases as well as joint problems, I need to pay attention to what I eat and do breathing exercises.

Would this have been the fortune that a professional would have given my parents six decades ago? Should I test out the program again, tweaking my gender (because that seems to be the only variable)? I’m also wondering if the question and answers might be more useful as writing prompts in a life review?