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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

#281

Post by svachalek »

kenjackson wrote: post #227
miraks wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you gave me a model released two years ago and today and let me do some programming with both, I would have no problems telling you which one was released two years ago; progress on this front is very noticeable. But if you let me chat with each one for an hour, I'm honestly not sure I would be able to tell the difference.

You could definitely tell the difference. The persistence and context windows make a world of difference in just casual usage.

Also the massive inflation in sycophancy.

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

#283

Post by soulofmischief »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #223
soulofmischief wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my state is the federal minimum of $7.25/hr. You're looking at two hours of work for one cocktail. And my state is addicted to alcohol. The overwhelming majority of people I know in this state won't even meet up with you if there's not a beer waiting for them. People work all week and then spend half their paycheck in one night, then rinse, wash, repeat. I consider the state of affairs here to be nothing short of…

This idea of pretending that your only option is $15 cocktails really makes this argument look lame. Not to mention that the federal minimum wage is basically irrelevant in most places - where I live starting entry level pay at McDonald's is $17/hr. Cocktails were expensive when I was young, too. We just hardly ever drank them. We went to the liquor store and bought the cheapest shit we could that probably had a 50/5…

The beers here are $5-12 per beer if you go out. All I did was describe factual information: my local minimum wage, how things to do that don't cost money and are accessible to the average youth here are becoming increasingly rare, how much it costs to drink vs. minimum wage. None of this is an argument, it's a fact.

And yes I know, people could and should be more frugal: I only even drink more than single cocktail at a time 0-3 times a year on average, so my personal financial frustrations lie elsewhere. I guess it's just important because we're comparing lifestyles from different points in history, and in the old days, going out drinking with your pals was a cheaper affair, and it still is the usual activity chosen for socializing where I live.

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

#284

Post by gchamonlive »

monktastic1 wrote: post #195
gchamonlive wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wouldn't be so quick to divide the world so neatly into victims and perpetrators. Every FAANG engineer I know, for example, could easily retire by mid-40s by keeping consumption in check. Instead, nearly every single one chose instead to "improve their lifestyles." Not blaming them, either, because it's cultural programming -- but until we all learn to slow down a bit and reflect, the madness isn't going to stop.

Even if you knew every FAANG in existence that would account for a very small fraction of the population. It might be true for this class, but you can't expect everyone to be a able to retire by 40.

Even if everybody could, they wouldn't because they are immersed in a culture that celebrated consumerism at every instance. You can't just turn a switch and now you live self-sustainably.

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

#285

Post by bearl »

DoneWithAllThat wrote: post #201
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…

This excuse is so tiresome. Generations before you lived through far worse than whatever supposed hell you doom scrolled your way into believing. The world is literally better than it’s ever been. Go experience it instead of complaining about vibes.

Directionally correct. But not better in terms of security or privacy. Life expectancy has decreased for American born persons. Housing is now impossibly unaffordable, and to find a mate you need to use tech products that increasingly only serve to hurt users (tea) and sow discord between those either differing views (x/facebook). Yes, glorious times for some, but not for the average American born person.

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

#286

Post by OKRainbowKid »

gitremote wrote: post #107
lotsofpulp wrote: post #38

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 but I’m not sure on what magnitude. Sex is decoupled from birth rates, due to access to 100% effective birth control (IUD/morning after pill/abortion). Hence there is no reason to think it would have any positive effect. I would be surprised if even a single person I know had had an unplanned k…

> Sex is decoupled from birth rates, due to access to 100% effective birth control (IUD/morning after pill/abortion). In 2022, the US overturned the constitutional right to abortion. Abortion is now outlawed in 17 US states, restricted in 8. Politicians in some of these states are also trying to ban IUDs and the morning after pill.

Moving towards "The Handmaid's Tale".

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

#287

Post by Swizec »

bluecalm wrote: post #233
Swizec wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For years, i tried to lose weight with gym and dieting. I failed, and now i know i probably never had a chance to, it was a scam all along. > lost all weight i wanted with Wegovy It’s not a scam. The trick is that you probably weren’t dieting aggressively enough before Wegovy. All diets and GLP inhibitors work on the same principle: Caloric restriction. It is simply impossible to stay fat without eating enough calo…

Idk man, I find it pretty easy to eat any amount of calories. I actually gained weight when burning around 1500kcal/day on a bike during one month - way more than running 10mi/day would burn. That you find it difficult to eat enough during marathon training means your body is at least decent at regulating itself. For some people it's very easy (my gf stays at her very lean weight even when injured and doing 0 sports…

Yeah totally. Eating less than you feel like is hard and GLP is great for that.

I was fat as a kid and then lost it all in high school (and got too skinny). Maybe as a result of that it’s easy for me to not eat. I kinda don’t even realize I’m hungry. Had to start tracking calories to ensure I eat enough.

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

#288

Post by IgorPartola »

jjulius wrote: post #272
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…

> 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 su…

And that’s my second point. Even if you do things that don’t cost money, the stress of living paycheck to paycheck is going to sap any will to live from most people experiencing it.

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

#289

Post by mattlutze »

Web 2.0/the Social Web vacuumed the novelty and Unique Selling Proposition out of our physical 3rd spaces, leading to their decline, and to the decline of related activities like the serendipitous chance of running into friends and meeting someone new.

The social web in a lot of ways led to our isolation and the amplification of the loneliness epidemic.

Now, these Web 2.0 / Social Web companies are the leaders in building the AI that may artificially treat the epidemic they created.

There's something quite cynically sad about that, and I would love it if we'd move away from these services and back into the "real world."

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

#290

Post by mensetmanusman »

miki123211 wrote: post #204
kylecazar wrote: post #159

AI is incapable of solving loneliness. It's a biological signal we have (thanks to evolution) to seek social connections with other humans , for things like reproduction and survival. Mentally healthy people will never be less lonely as long as they know they are talking to a model. All it can offer is a distraction and an illusion, because it has no humanity. Note: I don't even think dogs solve loneliness. They can…

> as long as they know they are talking to a model Any evidence for this? It's obvious that a sufficiently advanced AI could solve loneliness if it was allowed to present as human, you just wouldn't know it isn't one. I'm entirely unconvinced that something which seems human in all respects couldn't replace one, even if your brain knows that it's actually AI.

A sufficiently advanced ai that tricks humans would be a human life itself…
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