Loneliness is a benefit, not a curse. I need some degree of loneliness to keep sane.
But it would be very interesting if a beautiful AI companion can teach me Math and Physics. I wonder when they will be able to do that, and with what kind of cost?
I really love the concept of living in a cabin in some woodland close to river or lake or sea, and study deep topics such as Math/Physics/sys programming.
That’s part of what the article argues: there is a “corrective” nature to loneliness.
If you’re lonely because you’re insufferable, the author proposes, loneliness is the indicator that you should change to become more socially accepted.
Personally, I’m not sure how well that feedback loop works, in reality. Are we to believe that people in a lonely streak can just go, “oh, I must be the problem. Maybe I should stop being annoying by talking about CrossFit all the time, and that will help!”
It seems more likely to me that loneliness actually exaggerates the qualities about us that make us lonely. Too lazy to find the source right now, but I read that people are more likely to believe conspiracy theories after experiencing long term loneliness, and they are quicker to anger / irritability.
Well, when you take the phrase "intrinsically negative" literally its obviously tautologically false.
But what I mean is more like the following. Human beings aren't just detached rational creatures. In fact, we are strange embodied minds for which "happiness," if it is to be sustained at all, requires a variety of stimuli arranged in an appropriate way. Some of that stimuli is unpleasant: being rejected by a partner, failing a test, not being fast enough to win a race, whatever. But separated from all negative feedback the systems which maintain us in something like emotional homeostasis often seem to break down.
There is nothing deep here and philosophers have talked about this one way or another forever: seeking only pleasure and avoiding all non-pleasurable stimuli ends up being bad for us. Of course, that means those unpleasant stimuli are not "intrinsically bad," since they appear to be good for us. Maybe a better way to say it would have been "intrinsically unpleasant."
Arguably, that's why humans have to socialize - because socializing is hard and you often lose.
The reason ChatGPT as a friend works for people is because it never fights back and has zero mind of it's own. It's an ego-boosting machine, perfect for a narcissist on the fringes of society.
Having friends means doing work. It means compromising, it means doing stuff you don't want to do purely for other people's benefit. That's why it builds character - because it pushes you outside of your comfort zone.
ChatGPT is the opposite. It expands your comfort zone and entrenches you in it -by only feeding you comforting things while simultaneously deluding you into thinking you are pushing your boundaries. But, you're not, it's merely masquerading as socialization.
This makes it much more dangerous than, say, a TV. The TV is not trying to lie to you and convince you you're socializing. But ChatGPT does, and those that want to believe that very comforting lie, will.
Interacting with the social media zombies makes me depressed. I was always an enlightenment zealot and now all thats left of that vision is animal like herds in a constant emotional cloud, steered by whatever the lohas of zuck and thiel command. So sad
But it would be very interesting if a beautiful AI companion can teach me Math and Physics. I wonder when they will be able to do that, and with what kind of cost?