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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

#471

Post by fHr »

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…

dating biggest oof, dating has become a second job if you still try to as a man

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

#472

Post by dv_dt »

socalgal2 wrote: post #353
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

This doesn't match my experience. In fact one thing I noticed living in Japan is how much more willing people are to spend money to meet up. Lots of events costs 3000-7000 yen. Clubs and bar have a cover charge. People will organize parties where they rent a bar and tell their friends it's 4000 yen each (about $27 currently but was closer to $40) in the past. They'll even have house parties and tell everyone to pitch…

Japan averages shorter working hours than the US though - so they literally have more time to go out.

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

#473

Post by Aurornis »

esseph wrote: post #453
Aurornis wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have more bars than ever before. Existing bars have expanded a lot. Bars are crowded and some even have lines now.

This is very unique to the locale you are at, and the economic conditions of that area. I am in a "top 20" US city and all of these things are in extreme decline.

I don’t which city you’re in where everything is in “extreme decline” but that’s not my experience traveling for work or to visit friends either.

I think it’s more likely that your experience is the unique one. Or you’re not experiencing the activities you’re not attending.

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

#474

Post by SoftTalker »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #307
newsclues wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does working at McDonalds for $17 pay the rent/bills and still give you enough spending money to live a decent lifestyle? I make $20/h as a cleaner but after bills etc, I don’t have the money for fun events, dining out or socializing beyond hanging out on discord and playing games.

Thank you so much for this comment, because it perfectly highlights the point I was trying to make. When I was a young person in the mid 90s, I (and most of my friends) made the equivalent or less of what you make now. But we also didn't have discord or Internet multiplayer games, so we were basically forced to go hang out in person and find other cheap stuff to do.

We also lived with roommates in small shitbox apartments. Very basic, old appliances. Cheap shag carpet. No other real amenities. We'd still have friends over to just hang out, drink some beer, play card games, listen to music, stuff like that. Didn't have to be anything fancy, in fact it almost never was. Just being together was the point.

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

#475

Post by Barrin92 »

bapak wrote: post #369
socalgal2 wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't match my experience. In fact one thing I noticed living in Japan is how much more willing people are to spend money to meet up. Lots of events costs 3000-7000 yen. Clubs and bar have a cover charge. People will organize parties where they rent a bar and tell their friends it's 4000 yen each (about $27 currently but was closer to $40) in the past. They'll even have house parties and tell everyone to pitch…

> they still go out It's vastly cheaper to go out in Japan, even if there are more expensive options. Not many cheap hangout options in a lot of places.

>Not many cheap hangout options in a lot of places.

When I stayed in the US for a while, I'm from Germany, what I noticed was is that there's an extreme "upward striverism" when it comes to going out. In most places I stayed you could find dirt cheap bars and clubs (although maybe clubbing overall in the US is worse), but people in their 20s and 30s just seemed to be reluctant to go in a way they're not in Europe or Japan.

I noticed it more with Gen Z than with American millennials, there seems to be an extreme Great Gatsby-ish fake richness.

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

#476

Post by dv_dt »

mgraczyk wrote: post #434
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

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 adver…

How much is paid to go out is different than the amount of time spent out though

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

#477

Post by Aurornis »

abeppu wrote: post #374
Aurornis wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're seeing people being social because you're going to those situations. No, I’m saying the same social activities are more popular now than they were 10-20 years ago. I’ve been doing some of the same activities and going on some of the same hikes, bikes, runs, trails, and parks on and off for two decades. The popularity of these activities has exploded. Even previously hidden trails and hikes are now very busy…

> I’ve been doing some of the same activities and going on some of the same hikes, bikes, runs, trails, and parks on and off for two decades. The popularity of these activities has exploded. Ok, interpreting "everything ... is in decline" literally by pointing to specific deviations from the broader trend is pointlessly correct. Lots of activities experience transient surges in popularity. But also regarding the popu…

You’re missing the biggest problem with the statistic you quoted: Discussing percentage changes in free time spent seems misleading without also explaining how overall free time has changed. Do people have more free time now? With the rise of remote and hybrid work it’s expected that less time on average would be spent commuting. A percentage change in free time use seems intentionally misleading.

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

#478

Post by waaaaaaaaahhhh »

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

(Scene: People meeting on an "internetscreen" and bs'ing around)

So if any type in just some big names... like that with the madonna true blue CD selling 1986 for US$40,- per CD, how do you think her and the studio label became richier, and specially founding a Copyright-war just after the ridigious pricedrops (around 2001/-2)?

+++

Ask: Do you made the populous take from you? Mark?

> You virtually starve them doing so.

Oh.

> Muahahaha!

+++

Now let me disturb You,

1st:) You consumed content, you have created content, now the machine kicks in creating content consuming you.

2nd:) Machines programming kicks in while consuming you - just a random guy on the internet said: "App deals are the way to go if you are 'cheap' and wanting to die fast."

Conclusion: Many can't pay for anything anymore, cos no work left via been consumed by AI (-absorbing), so even changed in-app-advertising for "better products" will result in prices no one in the masses may be able to pay anymore. And quality of "food" ('stuff for thought' you may think) needed for experience so (tough capitalistic view, as before in the scene told above) may sank more and more, to meet ends, prices...

And no, it wasn't my intention to write something that damned mixed up dark-and-ugly-thinking...but ...yet i did, or consumed it, hey there it was... and sure, "via easy distractions!" ^^

Regards...

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

#479

Post by Gud »

dfxm12 wrote: post #395
bapak wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they still go out It's vastly cheaper to go out in Japan, even if there are more expensive options. Not many cheap hangout options in a lot of places.

This is more a function of dense population centers. Having lived in many places, I went out more in the denser areas. There are more options and they are all up and down the price spectrum. In sparse areas, going to the same few options over and over again isn't fun, and they tend to be more expensive, maybe due to lack of competition.

Don't underestimate the lack of functioning public transport. I always considered trains, tram slow teleporters.

A functional rail network allow the public to move with much less restraint. Think about it. A highly car dependent society which much of the world unfortunately still is, will make going to 3rd places much less attractive. Easier to sit at home, doom scroll and watch Netflix.

Inter city trains should run at least every half hour, reliably.

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

#480

Post by fragmede »

achierius wrote: post #422
dclowd9901 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On your last point, I've noticed an uptick in folks treating their dogs in ways most people might treat their children. So while I think on paper what you say makes sense, at some point, I think people are in fact personifying their pets to a degree that they recognize them as adjacent to human beings.

But in the end, the chickens always come home to roost. Dogs cannot support you in your old age; they cannot give you the pride of seeing a child go off to college; they cannot captivate you with conversations as they grow into full adults; and of course, they die far, far earlier than you. Similarly, the AI companions we create will be simulacra of the real thing. It's hard to say what exactly the differences will b…

And if your kid has downs or gets hit by a car or is an addict or a fuck up, they're not going to be able to support you into old age either. And then you're responsible for them as well, until you're too old and senile yourself, and then what?

That's not to say don't have kids, but go into it with your eyes open, don't assume they're your lifeline to the future.

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