Live data from Hacker News

We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

freyaindia.co.uk

151–160 of 194 posts

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#151
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an important question the article doesn't even seen to try to answer. It does seem to rule out the "older men" theory as a complete explanation: > Young women are also dating and marrying slightly older men, carrying on a tradition that stretches back more than a century. The average age at first marriage is around 30 for men, 28 for women, according to census figures. If the average difference 8s only 2 year…

If 20% of the men are in "relationships" with 80% of the women, this would help to account for some of it.

Sure that would explain it, if that were true. It's not in the article however, and I'm unaware of any study that supports it. Without data backing it up the suggestion that (on average) 1 in 5 men is simultaneously in a relationship with 4 women just an assumption, no different than the many people in this thread assuming those women must be with older men.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#153
post #7

I don't know, maybe at worst it'll be good practice. Awkward guys can interact with someone friendly in a no-consequence way, and maybe gain some comfort. In any case, with the exception of a few weirdos, I don't think most people are going to be confused about whether AI girlfriends are real, just as almost no one thinks a sex doll is real.

Hm, I don't know. Sex dolls don't pass the Turing test with flying colors. More than that, even without speech or action they are emotional surrogates for some needy people - making the simulacra perfect will make it easier for more and more lonely people (let's be honest, mostly men) to take that leap of 'suspension of disbelief'. Even among those that don't engage it may become more socially acceptable. I imagine s…

"don't participate but accept others do" is pretty much what I already do for religion.

I would class this right in the same category, as another facet of being willing to accept an imaginary basis for validation and purpose if it's more satisfying than reality.

I think it's a failing, but one based on a weakness like any other infirmity, and an unavoidably overwhelmingly common one.

I accept that a person with a broken leg can not be relied on to carry bricks up a ladder. They may or may not be perfectly nice people who don't deserve to be miserable and starved of something they need as long as what they need can be supplied without hurting anyone.

So anyone who does not insist on driving their own bus simply can't be relied on to help drive mine or anyone else's. So if they are otherwise nice people I don't try to harass them with arguments about religion, I just don't respect them beyond being nice, or value their input about anything.

It's insulting and hurtful if expressed, but I see no other valid option but to make the value judgment as honestly as possible internally and just don't express it when there is no need to. I don't think it's valid to grant more than pretend legitimacy, but defensibly arguably valid TO grant that pretend legitimacy where it doesn't have any real consequences.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#154
post #5

I don't know why people are focusing on what men will do with AI girlfriends - the actual question is what women will do with AI boyfriends. On every single AI chat app like character.ai the majority of users are women, and the most popular characters are men. Women are people who read romance novels and are even more attracted by the "emotional validation". > Now we’re facing a future where guys could get addicted t…

Context for the article is important here. This article is written for "GIRLS" which is targeting specifically, young women. The tagline for the site is "Girlhood in the Modern World". I think it's valid to talk about it in that context, just as it's valid to talk about it in a BOYS context, or MENS context. It's a discussion piece, which is used to open a discussion on the subject, and does present opinions. That sa…

Whilst I appreciate that the site is addressing a primarily female readership, it does not serve women well to frame men as being the exploitable bad guys and the women as the unexploitable victims the way this article does. It's not a balanced take and it does harm to both the readers and wider society.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure the math on that works out. Sounds exhausting. Like, how do those men have time for anything else! Are women really okay with passing the same men around?

> Are women really okay with passing the same men around? Absolutely. There are women out there who will literally recommend men to their friends. I've seen them talk about this. Desirable men can literally end up being shared among a network of women. The more sex they have, the more sex they get to have.

There's a related phenomenon in women pursuing men who are already in marriages or relationships because they've essentially been pre-vetted and thus deemed desirable.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#156

All a woman has to do to compete with an AI is be fit, good at something, desire motherhood, and leave the house to do anything social at all after working hours. The secret to finding a great man is to learn to appreciate one. I've said before that social media is like a vibrator for narcisistic supply, and seriously, if you use instagram, you are entrained by a deeply insane narrative existence that keeps you suspe…

As a man, I just can’t understand your blanket claim there: “desire motherhood”. I personally think that children are insufferable. And not just me: my circle of friends is divided into men with children, and men who don’t have children and think that the first group’s lives are fucked now. This reminds me of the common claim on Reddit “manosphere” subs that for men, it doesn’t matter how much education a woman has.…

AI can't desire motherhood. It's one of the basic human advantages, gentlesir.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#157
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are women really okay with passing the same men around? Absolutely. There are women out there who will literally recommend men to their friends. I've seen them talk about this. Desirable men can literally end up being shared among a network of women. The more sex they have, the more sex they get to have.

There's a related phenomenon in women pursuing men who are already in marriages or relationships because they've essentially been pre-vetted and thus deemed desirable.

I guess that only works if the women don't mind being cheated on. If they get a man to cheat with them, they know exactly the kind of man they're getting.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you being downvoted? You're right.

Most of what he says is not real. "Men's sexuality is dangerous and unnecessary" - who is saying this? I understand powerful men abusing people is a hot topic right now, but male sexuality doesn't feel under attack to me. If you think of abuse and manipulation as male sexuality, I suppose I could see it. "The other side of it is that nobody cares about mens' problems" People do care. You can talk to them and share if…

> "Men's sexuality is dangerous and unnecessary" - who is saying this?

I just took the literal string used by the commenter—"Men's sexuality is dangerous and unnecessary"—and did a Google search with it. What comes up is a mix of pages where people say something to this effect, or else argue against it. My takeaway is that at the very least, it's something that's being said enough to require arguing against.

Re: We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends

#159

I guess I'm supposed to be sympathetic, but since I started dating in the early 90's I've gotten the distinct impression that women by and large want most men to leave them alone in general - isn't this what they've wanted for generations? Men who aren't the sort of men they're interested in to just go away?

It sounds like some women (a, unfortunately larger percentage than I'd like) simply want to men to suffer. I doubt the men who get AI girlfriends were the men most women wanted to date anyways.

Framing it this way implies that men are owed attention from women and a lack thereof is punishment.

When in reality women are people and nearly 100% of all people ever wish to not be harassed by a stranger that feels entitled to their time.

Women want to be able to go about their daily business without some dude trying to talk to them because he thinks he deserves something

Post reply on HN