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

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

#161

Post by 1718627440 »

johnecheck wrote: post #104
AIPedant wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like solipsism at its absolute worst. Do you care at all about the actual human being on the other end of that superficial online friendship? Or are they simply a source of content for you to ingest?

"Outside of forums like this one" The real culprits are revealed. Despite its flaws, Hacker News does foster real discussion that sometimes leads to real connection. Big online social spaces tend to do the opposite.

It's because text seams to be a useful medium for deep arguments. Also the small text size increases discussion length. I recently pasted some comments in an office document and was surprised that it's a wall of text 3 pages long.

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

#162

Post by _puk »

cheschire wrote: post #84
somenameforme wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine as well. Trolling pedos on AOL who thought they were meeting up with teen girls was our past time. We got quite good at looking up locations, organizing places to meet, and more. We were Chris Hansen, in bored teen boys form. Ah the days of A/S/L.

For the younger crowd, A/S/L? Was a typical introduction between people who were taking their chat to the next level. Like a handshake introduction in a room of crowded people where up to that point you were just throwing responses into the group discussion. This was in the days of IRC and Yahoo! Chat. Age/Sex/Location?

Wasn't that the standard greeting on ICQ from randoms across the globe?

Uh-Oh! A/S/L?

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

#163

Post by IgorPartola »

rayiner wrote: post #155
IgorPartola wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d like to offer an alternative explanation than AI to this. Shit is just too damn expensive. If you want to go hang out with friends it will cost you $4-8 for a cup of coffee. A dinner starts at $50/person. A trip to an amusement park is over $100 easily. The median individual income in the US currently is just over $65k/year or about $32.50/hour. That means half the workforce makes less than that. When an 8oz cock…

Coal miners in 1890s appalachia had healthier and more active social lives than american white collar workers. This does not have anything to do with economics.

I am not saying you are wrong but from what I understood that alcoholism and depression were quite prevalent in those times. Do you have sources for what you are saying?

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

#164

Post by xtracto »

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…

I'm a 44 yo Xenial, not too old, not young. That is, I'm part of the "walkman generation" .

It surprises me how people are less and less open to socialize, to the point that some even see you with disgust if you DARE to interrupt them from.their mobile phone trance.

Society nowadays is pretty ugly. Younger generations seem very isolationist to me.

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

#165

Post by ryandrake »

WHA8m wrote: post #70
Krasnol wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a pest upon humankind that this system needs to monetize everything humans want or need.

Same here: I agree. On the other hand, it's a pest upon humankind that we can't leave public spaces clean and respect public property. We need money to pay people to make nice things, because apparently there is no critical mass that cares about the community. It's always individuals that burden it on their shoulders. And that's obviously not sufficient. Solution: money. Yeah, I hate it too.

> On the other hand, it's a pest upon humankind that we can't leave public spaces clean and respect public property.

Toxic individualism and an intolerance towards collective ownership is killing community. We should not blame humankind on a problem easily solvable by hiring a few people to clean and fix things. Somehow, this (the public bearing any cost whatsoever to have and maintain high quality public property) has become unacceptable to the public!

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

#166

Post by kylebenzle »

gchamonlive wrote: post #153
IgorPartola wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d like to offer an alternative explanation than AI to this. Shit is just too damn expensive. If you want to go hang out with friends it will cost you $4-8 for a cup of coffee. A dinner starts at $50/person. A trip to an amusement park is over $100 easily. The median individual income in the US currently is just over $65k/year or about $32.50/hour. That means half the workforce makes less than that. When an 8oz cock…

I second that. Everybody is quick to jump the gun and blame the victim, while all this can be easily explained by the insane lifestyle we are forced to subscribe in order to survive in this crazy cut-throat productivist job market.

That explanation makes no sense, obviously. Human beings have been human beings long before things even cost money and will exist long after money is gone.

I'm happy to accept the idea that people are simply brainwashed into thinking they need money and that is the root of their problems, but needing money is not a problem for a human being in and of itself.

Edit: but I think you said it yourself, you seem to think that you're forced to live a certain lifestyle, that's not true. You want to live a certain lifestyle and that lifestyle takes a lot of money.

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

#167

Post by meindnoch »

RajT88 wrote: post #156
meindnoch wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans believe diet and exercise "doesn't work". The reasons are twofold: on one hand, this is coming from the fat acceptance / body positivity movement, which needs people to believe that diet and exercise are futile, and being fat is just a fact of life, like being tall or short. They want people to believe that being fat is a disability, or even an attribute of diversity that we ought to accept and celebrate. O…

Also: the human body does not want to lose weight. You get more hungry after exercise. People also are bad at calorie counting because they forget about so many sources of calories (milk/sugar in coffee, snacks, etc). Let's say you figure all that out - keeping to a consistent diet and exercise regime is hard without some structure to maintain it. Example: I was in super good shape when my gym was next to my office,…

>Also: the human body does not want to lose weight.

Sure. The human body doesn't want a lot of things. The human body doesn't want to go to school, and yet we do. The human body doesn't want to go to work, and yet we do. The human body doesn't want to hold back farts in the office, and yet we do.

Many things require willpower. Life is not a gradient descent.

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

#168

Post by 1718627440 »

al_borland wrote: post #72
Havoc wrote: post #31

Even though I'm arguable among the target audience here so to speak I can't really wrap my head around this. It's too steerable and just echos back whatever direction you take it. No own emotional state, interests, agency, variability etc. Even as a substitute for social interaction it feels so inadequate to be pointless. Plenty of people do roleplaying and AI girlfriends etc so I guess it depends on the person?

Most people don't realize this is happening. My dad sent me a few chats he had with ChatGPT and they were both stroking each other's egos pretty hard. It was pretty weird. He was using it a lot to get information and prep before a surgery and I felt like ChatGPT reinforced his unrealistic expectations for the speed of recovery. I didn't say anything before the surgery, as I didn't want to break his spirit and a posit…

It's because when you really need the questioning it's because you are not questioning it enough on your own.

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

#169

Post by mantas »

IgorPartola wrote: post #142
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…

I’d like to offer an alternative explanation than AI to this. Shit is just too damn expensive. If you want to go hang out with friends it will cost you $4-8 for a cup of coffee. A dinner starts at $50/person. A trip to an amusement park is over $100 easily. The median individual income in the US currently is just over $65k/year or about $32.50/hour. That means half the workforce makes less than that. When an 8oz cock…

The problem is that people immediately think that socializing is consuming. It’s always an option to chat with people sitting on a park bench. Or at one’s home in a kitchen. Coffee can be home-made in both cases.

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

#170

Post by 1718627440 »

empressplay wrote: post #128
RamblingCTO wrote: post #95

But it's not gonna solve loneliness. Machines can't replace human contact. It can be a weak substitute like doom scrolling or media consumption is for feeling your own feelings, but it's not gonna replace human contact in all it's entirety and is a bad solution to an important problem. Are people who think and write this so alienated from their own race that they don't know what that all entails? The hormones, the co…

Not to be grim, but many of us will die listening to someone comfort us over a phone. That will have none of the 'connection' you mention aside from a compassionate voice. And, if you are one of those unfortunate people, that voice will be enough. It will have to be.

But you can't really be comforted by a stranger. You already need the connection from previous interactions, that weren't words only. Even when you only have words, it's also about the timing, etc...
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