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We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

newyorker.com

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Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#131

Post by konart »

anovikov wrote: post #108
stdvit wrote: post #97

> Even in a world brimming with easy distractions—TikTok, Pornhub, Candy Crush, Sudoku—people still manage to meet for drinks, work out at the gym, go on dates, muddle through real life. They actually don't. Everything from dating and fitness to manufacturing and politics is in decline in activities, and more so in effect and understanding. You can't convince (enough) people anymore that it is even important as many…

[flagged]

>Wegovy (semaglutide) injection 2.4 mg is an injectable prescription medicine used __with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity__

Just saying.

Neither gym not dieting are scams and simply can't be by their nature. People who say that either have some serious health condition (and obviously you can beat some things with will alone) or people who failed at realising that "dieting" is about their consumption habbits.

Most people I see with this problem convince themselves that they are on a diet while they continue with their eating habbits.

You "just" tricked you brain and made things easier for yourself. Good for you but calling gym and dieting a scam is just laughable.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#132

Post by JKCalhoun »

0points wrote: post #43
JKCalhoun wrote: post #3

I've been of the opinion that the web itself has already done this to a large degree. Web surfing (when is the last time you heard that phrase?) has never been a group activity.

> Web surfing (when is the last time you heard that phrase?) has never been a group activity. You must have missed the 90s chat rooms we visited while in school, or even the more recent chat roulette in 2010. Heck, even geocaching is a web surfing group activity.

Ha ha, def. took the kids out geocaching (2000's). In the 90's I was MUD'ing and in USENET forums — but I don't really consider those "group" activities in the same way going out bowling is.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#134

Post by JKCalhoun »

watwut wrote: post #24
cedws wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s also doomscrolling. I genuinely think a large portion of Gen Z would rather stay in bed watching Instagram reels than go out to a bar or club. I’ve been wondering recently what impact banning social media would have on birth rates. I’m confident it would be positive but I’m not sure on what magnitude.

I mean, even in my younger years going to a bar or club was not an everyday activity. People watched TV most of the evenings. Or read junk books, which was popular before TV came along. > I’ve been wondering recently what impact banning social media would have on birth rates. I’m confident it would be positive but I’m not sure on what magnitude. People can and do use anticonception. They do not have kids just randoml…

Agree. TV fucked us up. The internet has only piled on.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#135

Post by techpineapple »

ninetyninenine wrote: post #83
phendrenad2 wrote: post #42

I wouldn't worry about AI solving loneliness any time soon. AI right now feels empty, like a facade with no depth. AI will tell you what it thinks you want to hear, but it can't remember a conversation you had last week (and even if it sticks a summary of your conversations into the pre-prompt, it has no sense of importance and will probably overwrite your darkest secret with your favorite cocktail recipe if it runs…

I don’t understand how you u can’t worry about this. Like there’s a trend line of progress right? Ok so the thing isn’t effective now. But there’s a decade of upward progress and that projection line point to a future where a better AI exists. Trend-lines don’t point to an exact future just a most probable future. It is unwise to discount the most probable future.

Progress is famously not a straight line.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#136

Post by derektank »

ebabani wrote: post #121
anovikov wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

In what way was the gym a scam?

My understanding is that the metabolic rate slows down to compensate for the caloric loss from exercise

The only consistent way to enter a caloric deficit is to diet, which is very hard for the obvious reasons

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#137

Post by alecco »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #42

I wouldn't worry about AI solving loneliness any time soon. AI right now feels empty, like a facade with no depth. AI will tell you what it thinks you want to hear, but it can't remember a conversation you had last week (and even if it sticks a summary of your conversations into the pre-prompt, it has no sense of importance and will probably overwrite your darkest secret with your favorite cocktail recipe if it runs…

> Maybe we need AI as matchmaker and Master of Ceremonies, introducing people to each other and hyping them up to actually engage with one another.

It wouldn't work without fixing first all the mental health problems caused by phones, social media, porn, and dating apps. Good luck with unplugging those addicts, AI.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#138

Post by techpineapple »

ninetyninenine wrote: post #127
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the current systems are about as good as they'll get: we can make them a bit better in fields where we can cheaply generate synthetic data, but human communication is not one of them. (And even where you can generate synthetic data, your efforts would usually be better spent assembling a purpose-built system.) Sure, I probably could make something more effective, using non-LLM technologies (given a large enough b…

The current system we have are as good as they get? You’re just making this statement out of thin air? Did you not notice a trendline of technological improvement of AI? > Sure, I probably could make something more effective, using non-LLM technologies (given a large enough budget), but… why would I, or anyone else, do that when it'd be obviously harmful, with no benefit? Technology will improve. The likelihood of yo…

> Did you not notice a trendline of technological improvement of AI?

No, in fact I noticed a series of AI winters. In all things, progress is famously _not_ a straight line.

Also I find it interesting that your argument seems to boil down to “I’m smart because line goes up, you’re dumb because you think line goes down.” Everyone Clearly can see what would happen if line went up, I just; looking at the broad history and totality of factors(that I’m aware of) don’t think it’s inevitable.

“You can’t stop progress”

We literally stop progress all the time, every time we choose not to invest in something, crypto progress slowed from its height, Vr progress, green energy, I’d argue it’s relatively few technologies that progress forever.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#139

Post by UncleMeat »

ashoeafoot wrote: post #54
handwarmers wrote: post #33

Paul Bloom (the author if this article) is pretty legendary in the psychology realm. This is not your average run of the mill writer looking to tap into the doomer vibe. He makes a pretty detailed argument about why loneliness can be a much bigger and more complex problem than its tame name suggests, and the subtle ways in which AI has the potential to exacerbate it.

[Replication crisis citation needed to be taken serious ]

Psych is one of the few fields that is funding replication studies and throwing out concepts that don't pass muster. But because of this research you see headlines about it for psych and conclude the entire field is crap.

Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness

#140

Post by siva7 »

If you have to pay someone (like an a.i.) to not be lonely, that won't solve your loneliness. This is a business transaction meant to illicit emotions (yours) by faking emotions (over a.i.: a computer machine can't have emotions but can only pretend to have), nothing else. Some people will fall for it. The opportunities to abuse millions of these people emotionally and financially are endless. And they will be abused on industrial scale.
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