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Zermelane t1_j291pkq wrote

Oh hey, for once, a topic I have a strong opinion about:

I think we already fucked up, hard. Friendlessness is already growing at a fast pace. Why, I'm not sure. Social media probably has something to do with it. Personally, I think the growth of obesity and the way it messes with your sense of self-worth might have a bigger effect than people consider.

What that does to you is, it means you just get no positive experiences of friendship at all. You don't get to have people be present with you, and pay attention to you, and laugh with you, etc.. And my view of human psychology is, that makes it way, way harder to have the energy and confidence to seek out friendship or companionship at all, especially as an adult when you tend have to be intentional and even strategic about it if you really want it to work.

I don't see friendship with AI chatbots as humankind's coming savior or anything, but I do think that the order of effects it has in terms of size is:

  1. People get more positive experiences from interacting with their AI friends
  2. People seek out more friendship with other humans, to get more of the good stuff and to seek out some of the friction
  3. A few people seek out less of it, because they get enough from the AI

... and even if you disagree, I think the first effect is just overwhelmingly larger than the other two, and the thing you might quibble about is switching 2 and 3's places.

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Ohigetjokes OP t1_j29n95m wrote

When a chat AI offers a positive friend experience, that helps a person through tough times.

But does it encourage them to seek out human companionship, or does it do exactly the opposite?

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Agreeable_Bid7037 t1_j2a8x4q wrote

for me, it made me at first seek out more human interaction, then I was reminded people are not like the AI, they can sometimes be rude, or tiresome to talk to. And I went straight back to the AI.

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nblack88 t1_j2azbfl wrote

I think that's part of the point OP is making with their post: That people should have relationships with AI and humans, not AI instead of humans. Human relationships are messy, and interacting with people who are rude or tiresome is difficult. But having these interactions and maintaining a healthy mindset despite them is necessary for personal growth. Using AI as a crutch to substitute for human relationships, instead of as a tool to learn and grow, is where we get into trouble. Failure and suffering are a part of growth. I think that's the point OP is making here.

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pre-DrChad t1_j2bw1ip wrote

Human relationships might not exist in the future, atleast not in the way you think.

I mean think about it, a decent amount of people will be uploaded into the cloud living in their own world. Very few people will remain human the way we are today. And to be fair why would you want to? It’s an inferior experience

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nblack88 t1_j2c3gld wrote

Valid point. I stopped short of changing the baseline of the human experience, because it's too far beyond what we can fathom with any degree of reliability. We have theoretical guideposts in most artistic mediums about FDVR, anchored in a human experience we can understand. Moving beyond that enters the realm of something akin to Transcendence.

Inevitably, what it means to be human will change, and we may manipulate and augment our cortex and neocortex to the point where we cast away the need for a human relationship, or they move beyond any basis we experience now.

I disagree that it's an inferior experience. We won't know that until we reach the next level, and by then, words like "inferior" and "superior" may have lost any meaning. I quite like being human, with all the mess and the animal impulses. There are some things I would change, add, or tweak. One day, should I live long enough, I'll likely decide to shed our current understanding of humanity to go on the next adventure of existence, but here today, I see no benefit in categorizing the whole experience as inferior. Only the bits and pieces I'm looking to change.

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pre-DrChad t1_j2c6jqb wrote

Inferior as in there are so many negatives to the human experience, while in the future we may experience an existence without any negatives whatsoever.

Like sleeping and pooping as a simple (and not super negative) example. It’s unnecessary in a post human future.

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