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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

#271

Post by Aurornis »

taormina wrote: post #208
johnfn wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this explanation. There are plenty of things you can do together that don't cost very much - or anything at all. You can go take a hike. You can go to the park and hang out, or play a board game. You can go to a court and play pickleball. Heck, go to the library! All these things are free and many people do them.

Gas costs money. The car costs money. You can only do the same hike that's an hour away so many times, before you're traveling to go to new places, and hotels cost money at that point. Pickleball courts cost money. The pickleball equipment costs money. People do go to the library, and then they go home and don't interact with other people.

Then go for a walk in the closest park instead of a hike an hour away.

Play volleyball on the free net at the local park instead of signing up for pickleball and buying great.

The people who want to avoid activities and socialization will always pick the more expensive activities so they can dismiss them. Yet go into the real world and people have no problem finding ways to socialize and have fun without spending much money.

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

#272

Post by jjulius »

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…

> A dinner starts at $50/person.

I went to dinner with a friend last night and my meal was $22. I go to lunch with coworkers and often only spend ~$15-ish.

One also doesn't need to do activities that cost money in order to hang out with people one knows. Get together and play board games or cards. I hung out with my friends last weekend - we brought our records over and DJ'd, someone brought some frozen burgers, I supplied some THC tincture I've had for months, another person brought a cheap bottle of wine they also already had. We had a blast for like seven hours.

Hiking is also fantastic, and free!

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

#273

Post by aunty_helen »

Aurornis wrote: post #269
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…

> 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 cocktail costs you an hour of your life because you work for minimum wage, you’d rather stay home…

I agree with this wholeheartedly, but those 100$ amusement parks have a lot of budget to advertise and make it seem like they’re the only place to go on your free time.

No body is putting up billboards for silent reading clubs so they get drowned out making it appear as if those options aren’t there. Advertising works.

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

#274

Post by gchamonlive »

bowsamic wrote: post #148
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 honestly just think it’s that before there was so little to do at home that you were just bored as hell if you didn’t go out. Now there’s just infinite entertainment of all kinds

We just have to be very careful with this line of thinking. One could misunderstand that you are blaming information access for these problems.

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

#275

Post by SoftTalker »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #96
AlecSchueler wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’ve been wondering recently what impact banning social media would have on birth rates. I’m confident it would be positive The obsession with their birth rates is one of the creepy reasons why young people don't want to go out.

It’s my perception that’s there’s been a negative reaction to pressure on younger people to have kids for a while now. As a mid 30s millennial, it sure did feel weird back in my early 20s when older people from my rural hometown asked why I hadn’t found someone to marry and started a family yet. I had yet to even figure out who I was and how to be responsible, upstanding adult but somehow I’m supposed to take on a pa…

Because early 20s is biologically the best age to have kids. You are at your most fertile, best chance for no complications and having healthy offspring, you still have pretty boundless energy to take care of them.

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

#276

Post by anal_reactor »

dv_dt wrote: post #257
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…

Though it's popularized to blame social media and phones, economics should not be overlooked. Pay for young generations is lagging and restaurants and bar prices are super high. Public spaces for informal gatherings has shrunk - eg fewer malls

Bullshit. Most people can afford grabbing a beer in a supermarket and going to the park. They just choose not to.

I think the real change is that nowadays it's just easier and more practical NOT to maintain friendships. Yes, it's lonely, but it's more efficient.

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

#277

Post by Aurornis »

newsclues wrote: post #244
johnfn wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this explanation. There are plenty of things you can do together that don't cost very much - or anything at all. You can go take a hike. You can go to the park and hang out, or play a board game. You can go to a court and play pickleball. Heck, go to the library! All these things are free and many people do them.

The library has become a place for drugs addicts and homeless people who use the free computers to look at porn. It’s no longer a nice or safe place to go.

Your city sounds depressing. Mine (US) is not like this at all.

The libraries near me are not like this at all.

One library has some homeless people but anyone being disruptive is quickly removed.

We take the kids to the libraries all the time and it’s fine.

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

#278

Post by sdsd »

handwarmers wrote: post #115
ashoeafoot wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Replication crisis citation needed to be taken serious ]

yeah i get the if monkeySee(psychology) then monkeyDo(replicationCrisis); monkeyFeelSmart() algo. it's still a good article :)

git diff your_argument my_response - monkeyFeelSmart(); + monkeyFeelSafe();

People feel hurt and lied to after decades of diligently studying a curriculum who's foundations turned out to be completely fake. Our mental garden must be protected from pests. Some pests even imitate benign bugs like ladybugs, in order to get in.

Imagine if tomorrow, it was announced that atoms and gravity don't exist, the motion of heavenly bodies don't even come close to Newton's laws, and physicists have just been lying so they can live off our tax dollars (but hey, we have a plan to one day start doing real physics experiments! Any day now, you'll see!).

I hope I'm not too dramatic, just felt defensive for some reason. If only there were a real science that could help me understand those feelings. Oh well, gotta keep the aphids out somehow.

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

#279

Post by roncesvalles »

anal_reactor wrote: post #276
dv_dt wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though it's popularized to blame social media and phones, economics should not be overlooked. Pay for young generations is lagging and restaurants and bar prices are super high. Public spaces for informal gatherings has shrunk - eg fewer malls

Bullshit. Most people can afford grabbing a beer in a supermarket and going to the park. They just choose not to. I think the real change is that nowadays it's just easier and more practical NOT to maintain friendships. Yes, it's lonely, but it's more efficient.

Drinking outdoors (let alone at a public park) is just not a thing outside Europe.

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

#280

Post by nottorp »

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…

> When an 8oz cocktail costs you an hour of your life

I don't know about that, we meet with a group of friends at someone's house, we all pitch in for the ingredients and make the cocktails ourselves.

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