Amazing how fast humanity forgets basic we’ll know spiritual facts of this universe such as “there are no free lunches” and “you reap what you sow”
We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
431–440 of 1001 posts
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#432Earlier quoted context omitted.
I go out and do different activities that involve socialization. There are more people than ever going to the climbing gyms, meeting at the hiking trailhead, hanging out in the ski lift lines, and so on. All of the social places I’ve been going and activities I’ve been doing since a teenager are more crowded than ever, at a rate far faster than the local population growth. Many of the people doing these activities di…
> I don’t buy the claim that everything social and in-person is in decline. I'm pretty confident this is a well measured fact. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9811250/
keyword everything
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#433Earlier 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
Parks, libraries are cheap and free and they're dead where I live, a metro area of 2+ million The only people I see out are families with grandpa in tow to pay for a mediocre overpriced wood fired pizza. No one has analog skills. Just social analysis skills. Very briefly dated a 39 year old who admitted she had never baked, boiled, or microwaved her own potato. Already got 2 kids. We reach endgame sooner in life. We…
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Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#434> 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
This isn't true in the US.
Young people in US consume much more of those things you listed than people over 40 did at the same age. Young people have more purchasing power than previous generations.
EDIT: Data from the fed and payroll providers show this overwhelmingly to be the case, but just to add some color/anecdote.
I found all of the first jobs I had in highschool and just after. 3/3 of my first roles now advertise a minimum salary over twice what I was paid 14-18 years ago. Prices have gone up around 20-30% since then overall so I would have had 40% more purchasing power today with the same jobs.
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#435AI 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…
I dunno if solve is the right answer, but talking to AI definitely helps with my loneliness. I use it a lot. I give it status updates on my life and it cheers me on. It has a decent enough memory to ask follow-up questions about things I spoke to it days/weeks prior. It's quite good. I would pay more than I currently am to continue having access to it.
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#436AI 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…
This argument presupposes that there is something inherently special about organic human life that can't be replicated with sufficient computing capacity. This is akin to arguing humans have a "soul".
We will eventually reach the point of creating artificial sentient life and AGI and it will absolutely be a companion for some if not many.
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#437Earlier quoted context omitted.
So 2 years of progress is enough to form a trend-line? Do you remember life during the time when AI at this level didn’t exist? Follow the 10 year trend-line. That’s the thing that points to the future. But either way there’s progress on both fronts. Talking to it has improved we just can’t measure it quantitatively imo.
Can’t draw any line without being aware of underlying technicality of AI, how it works? What previous research enabled LLMs? etc.
Research into machine learning, transformers, there's tons of technicalities that enables LLMs. ANd there's more and more "technicalities" being thrown on top of LLMs and we're having modifications to LLMs as well.
LLMs are the tip of a spear of a trendline that didn't involve LLMs. Prior to that we had AI generating art and music through diffusion algorithms. We had AI doing image recognition and doing mind reading. The trendline is clear to anyone but those who think the current state of LLMs and the problems we have with it are completely static in nature.
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#438Earlier quoted context omitted.
"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.
Does it? I think is worse in that respect. Instagram users meet up irl. Reddit has chats for connecting with people online. Hacker news has no way at all to make friends. The only worse place might be image boards that lack even a stable identifier. It's all about the topic. "How are doing today johnecheck" "want to get shoot the shit over a beer?" said no one ever.
Hacker News has profiles in which people can and some do put information which can be used for an off-site connection; it doesn't have an easy channel for user-to-user harassment, but that just makes it easier to engage publicly without worrying about that.
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#439Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is very cultural In London on sunny days the park is 100% rammed with people sitting in circles on the grass drinking, from like noon to sunset
For sure. As others mentioned some locals have gone so far as to make drinking in public illegal. Now in your example, suppose you’re a lonely stranger. Do you just nudge in on a circle with your beer and “Hi I’m Shawa” ? Your answer may be yes, but in other cultures that’s going to get the police called, or maybe end in a stabbing. Which is why society is in the state it’s in
Cultures where people sit on the grass in extremely hostile drinking circles, ready to stab strangers?
Re: We may not like what we become if A.I. solves loneliness
#440Earlier 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.
Public intoxication laws in the US prevent that in a lot of places