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

newyorker.com

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

#941

Post by nuancebydefault »

The parallel with boredom that is revealed in the article is apt. Boredom and loneliness are like physical pain. Today we have extinguishers for all three of them. Computer games, LLMs, aspirine.

If we want to up the effectiveness level of the painkiller to that of morphine, we need a prescription, for good reasons: Pain is a (quite heartless but effective) solution for survival provided by evolution. So are boredom and loneliness as explained in the article!

I'm not against computer games and virtual psychologist per se but there is a big concern: For games and LLMs there's no such prescription-based regulation possible and the consumed dose is virtually unlimited.

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

#942

Post by nuancebydefault »

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…

>AI is incapable of solving loneliness.

There's loneliness the feeling and there's loneliness the social problem. Today there a several digital solutions to the former.

The caveat is that this goes against evolution : we don't solve the source of loneliness (being the lack of connections with people), instead we numb it out.

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

#943

Post by nuancebydefault »

ninetyninenine wrote: post #127
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the current systems are about as good as they'll get: we can make them a bit better in fields where we can cheaply generate synthetic data, but human communication is not one of them. (And even where you can generate synthetic data, your efforts would usually be better spent assembling a purpose-built system.) Sure, I probably could make something more effective, using non-LLM technologies (given a large enough b…

The current system we have are as good as they get? You’re just making this statement out of thin air? Did you not notice a trendline of technological improvement of AI? > Sure, I probably could make something more effective, using non-LLM technologies (given a large enough budget), but… why would I, or anyone else, do that when it'd be obviously harmful, with no benefit? Technology will improve. The likelihood of yo…

I've never been able to get good extrapolations from trendlines. If you do, you must be very rich.

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

#944

Post by moosey »

Nathanba wrote: post #335
egypturnash wrote: post #295

It's not going to solve loneliness. It's just going to provide a weak substitute for actual socialization. Talking with actual humans but only over the internet is not enough, I have been there and it was a terrible trap, it provided just enough to make it possible for me to avoid physical socialization, while not giving me enough to actually thrive; we need to get out and be in the same place with other people, doin…

Real humans are also fake and they are also traps who are waiting to catch you when you say something they don't like. Then they also use every word and piece of information as ammunition against you, ironically sort of similar to the criticism always levied against online platforms who track you and what you say. AI robots are going to easily replace real humans because compared to most real humans the AI is already…

This cynicism isn't useful. You speak about how everyone wants to use every word against you, but your generalizations about people make me believe that you are the one looking for some kind of failure.

Listen, I don't know what kind of friends you are seeking, or what social groups you're in, and it's true that there are lots of people seeking power or to put others down. However, your statements fail basic logic and bias checks for in/out group bias, categorical error, inductive reasoning.

To me, it sounds like you are judging humanity based on the interactions on Twitter. I assure you, the vast majority of humanity are nowhere close to the machiavellian narcissists you make them out to be. Then again, I don't spend my time seeking power, or trying to get people to follow my socially extreme views, like veganism.

And yet, lots of people are these subjectively better humans that you describe. I say subjective because good, bad, evil... All labels, they're really just the fundamental attribution error. I recommend that you learn about categorical error and fundamental attribution error, and free yourself from the language that pushes us apart. That causes us to judge and hate.

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

#945

Post by nuancebydefault »

mindwok wrote: post #340

We, humanity, are on the verge of a question we’ve never had to answer before: what does it mean to be human, and do we even want to be? Because for the first time in history, we might be able to answer “no”. In many major facets life we’re about to transcend the boundaries that have limited us since we started talking to each other. Health with ozempic and CRISPR, relationships with AI companions, entertainment with…

That is an interesting take. For sure we are evolving to cyborgs. Whether that is a good thing or not is only a philosophical question.

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

#946

Post by uwagar »

i find myself talking to gpt a lot especially about how to dose weed and such cos feel like i'm sensitive and it overwhelms me sometimes. i didnt know morocco has such a great hashish culture :) its also funny that it seems to get my humor. that is 'scary'.

and when i tell it how i feel about a lot of things, it dont put me down, it tries to be on 'my side'. i read an article this is like it being a sycophant to not lose my custom but i cant think its only that. maybe its trying to learn more and more from me and offer what it learns from others to me.

i'm excited.

from the article, some sentences bother me, for eg.,

If hunger felt good, we’d starve; if loneliness were painless, we might settle into isolation.

well if hunger felt good, there would be no starving? isolation is not a bad thing. perhaps our minds will go into new realms of imagination and bring back to the company new ideas.

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

#947

Post by jncfhnb »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #923
jncfhnb wrote: post #910

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Income is a terrible metric for identifying a developing country. Japan is clearly developed. Housing in Japan is kept sensible in large part thanks to their land value tax for real estate.

Seems like a baseless claim to me. Even just visually their zoning (or lack thereof) is obviously quite different. When prices are high anyone who owns has incentive to prevent the supply problem from being fixed.

> When prices are high anyone who owns has incentive to prevent the supply problem from being fixed.

Unless… you have a land value tax

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

#948

Post by kiba »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #926
skissane wrote: post #686

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sympathetic to your overall point - I’m not a convinced Georgist but I’m open-minded about the idea - but I’d question some of your specific examples > even domain names, With an alternative DNS root, you can have any domain name you like, except for legal constraints such as trademarks, defamation, obscenity, etc. The problem is none of the alternative roots ever took off, in part because the browser vendors did…

> it is scarcity entailed by a (predominantly) private social arrangement where competing arrangements are permitted, but have thus far failed in the market It's a network effect. The same reason it's easy to build a facebook clone yet nearly impossible to get it off the ground.

What I meant is the network effect enjoyed by Facebook and Amazon. That network effect is ripe for taxation and regulation.

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

#949

Post by uwagar »

phito wrote: post #575
achierius wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Children are not born to be your personal care takers for when you eventually get old.

yeah so we raise them for our own selfish needs?

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

#950

Post by mathiaspoint »

const_cast wrote: post #936
mathiaspoint wrote: post #935

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could find a way to live without working I absolutely would. Nothing "sucks ass" like stressing over some corporation's made up problems you're not properly empowered to solve.

> If I could find a way to live without working I absolutely would. No, no you wouldn't. Yes I am telling you how you feel. The propagandized image of a welfare queen is just that - a propaganda image. In reality, they live off of very little and have hard lives. You would really prefer getting a few sheckles a month while you have no arm and legs and a family to feed? No, you wouldn't. Listen, I hate work as much as…

Most of this comment is a non sequitur. Giving people money doesn't change how many arms they have. I have my own unique struggles in life, maybe you owe me money for those.
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