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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

#881

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…

The thing is, it is really difficult to find the kind of social circle that fits you.. I have had more interesting and deeper conversations with chatGPT than with people. Somehow chatGPT is more capable of expressing thoughts about existence, love, pain, and what it means to be than most if not all humans I have had the chance of talking to. Conversations with people pale in comparison.

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

#882
post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Library funding is being slashed in the US and actively attacked by right wing fundamentalist who view them as “woke socialism”

There is this new fancy thing called "Internet" that makes libraries obsolete.

Internets have free internet and computers. And not all media is on bittorrent yet.

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

#883

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Regardless of your views, no matter how benign and out of mainstream controversy you perceived them to be, No, not regardless of the views. The views themselves matter.

Yes, views do matter, but if you are not an utterly boring person you have variety of them and your similarly interesting friends also have a variety. If you fully exposed the entire variety of your respective views to each other you wouldn't be friends with most people you know.

I don’t think that’s true. Most people are willing to extend a good bit of grace, especially if there’s already a relationship worth preserving.

As in, if I just met someone and I know nothing about them other than they don’t like unions then we probably won’t be friends but if that came up later I’m not going to blow up a year of friendship over something like that.

OTOH if a friend started preaching white supremacy that would do it but I’d give a good shot to talking them out of it first.

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

#884
The youth reaction to the current genocide in Gaza is a demonstration of the failure of the old world media and politics (propaganda) to manipulate the way people think or behave. The reaction is only starting to emerge with restrictions and use of mass surveillance software like Palantir & Co, violating privacy and profiling every aspect of our lives to categorize and discriminate with ease.

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

#885

Somehow I'm reminded of the Futurama parody documentary: "Don't Date Robots!"

That's where my mind always goes, too.

And that episode actually does make a point similar to the article: dating robots is easy and frictionless, which is what makes it attractive... more attractive than dating humans! Just like real-life "AI friends" that always think you're great and never contradict you.

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

#886

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, it is really difficult to find the kind of social circle that fits you.. I have had more interesting and deeper conversations with chatGPT than with people. Somehow chatGPT is more capable of expressing thoughts about existence, love, pain, and what it means to be than most if not all humans I have had the chance of talking to. Conversations with people pale in comparison.

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

#887
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you going to do when you retire by 40 and all your friends (and s/o) are still working? I don’t really understand the appeal.

You can't think of anything you'd want to do with your daytime hours other than work?

Personally if I do anything for 8+ hours a day 5 days a week it starts to feel like a job around 2 or 3 months in no matter how much I love it, and if I do much less than that I start to feel lacking in structure and progress.

I’ve gone through extended periods of unemployment (by choice, not in a stressful way) before, and it’s wonderful but by month 3 I’m always kinda over it.

Retirement for me will probably look pretty much the same as working except I won’t necessarily pick a job that pays well.

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

#888
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you going to do when you retire by 40 and all your friends (and s/o) are still working? I don’t really understand the appeal.

Whatever you find interesting. Imagine being able to just do something without the mental calculation of "is it worth spending a PTO day on this?"

I pretty much optimize for PTO when choosing jobs, so I really never have this dilemma. My current job offers 8 weeks PTO (but I make much less than I would at a FAANG). To me, that’s better than retirement.

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

#889

Earlier 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…

Depends on where you live. Areas that have a culture of outdoor activity and strangers talking to one another is a requirement. Here in MN, for example, outdoor activity does exist year round but strangers talking to one another is not.

Go to WI, you'll have both in abundance.

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

#890
post #637
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…

People who live on the internet assume this is true because they only deal with people who also live on the internet. Just because we're not all documenting everything that we do to a nebulous public doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Much of what happens in the social world isn't articulated or available for scientific study. You might be surprised to know that bars, clubs, gyms, concerts, trivia nights aren't empty. "…

It's just Reddit leaking into HN. It's the same asinine takes for the chronically online crowd. Nothing will make them happy.
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