I believe that AI can't ever replace direct human contact. But I'm not so sure if a good AI can't replace superficial online-only friendships. Looking at the bulk of my online interactions (outside forums like this one), they largely end in trivia (did you know...) or low effort agreement. An AI could play that role admirably.
I think the most beneficial thing AI did so far was exposing how worthless the 'marketing copywriting' is.
Then it will expose how worthless 'opinions from random people on the internet' are. Then how worthless 'parasocial relationships with streamers/influencers' are.
This seems like solipsism at its absolute worst. Do you care at all about the actual human being on the other end of that superficial online friendship? Or are they simply a source of content for you to ingest?
The real culprits are revealed. Despite its flaws, Hacker News does foster real discussion that sometimes leads to real connection. Big online social spaces tend to do the opposite.
It's because text seams to be a useful medium for deep arguments. Also the small text size increases discussion length. I recently pasted some comments in an office document and was surprised that it's a wall of text 3 pages long.
Does it? I think is worse in that respect. Instagram users meet up irl. Reddit has chats for connecting with people online. Hacker news has no way at all to make friends. The only worse place might be image boards that lack even a stable identifier.
It's all about the topic. "How are doing today johnecheck" "want to get shoot the shit over a beer?" said no one ever.
Hacker News has profiles in which people can and some do put information which can be used for an off-site connection; it doesn't have an easy channel for user-to-user harassment, but that just makes it easier to engage publicly without worrying about that.
You make a good point. It's quite odd that I often feel more connection to users here despite the lack of 'friend' features.
Nonetheless I do. I suspect it's due to the relatively high average comment quality. I'm looking for a strong taste of belonging in a digital community. That nibble from HN evokes the same tantalizing possibility as rare discord servers and subreddits once did. None satisfy.
Sure it can, look at what now few decades of online chats, porn and porn addictions have done to people. 10-100x that with rest of the advancements in technologies like VR and let's observe the psychological effects.
Isn't that more of a comment about the quality of weak-tie networks that exist on internet scale web platforms?
The rise of private group chats as the new lifeblood of social networking gives me hope that the state of the Web today isn't the end of the story. Authentic human connection across digital networks is still possible even if it isn't particularly common right now.
Private group chats do not tend to be encrypted. If my theory on what governments are most concerned about (disrupting alternative political organizing) holds true - they never will be allowed to be fully private.
But having actual people react is a barometer for how much your thoughts align with others, or not. Or you may know you emotionally benefited someone, showed support etc. I take satisfaction from that but would absolutely not take satisfaction from some automated system replying +1 or what have you
It is also one of the big reasons why Meta and Zuckerberg want to invest in AI. If AI companions are going to replace online friends, it makes total sense for Meta to invest in AI heavily.
Something The Anxious Generation specifically calls out as problematic about online relationships is how disposable they can be; if someone online offends or upsets you you can just block them and move on without giving it a second thought.
Real life relationships aren’t like this; you have to invest in repair and maintenance to keep them up. You have a limited number of times that you can “go no contact” with people before you find yourself alone. And people like this in the real world are usually pretty easy to identify and avoid — the embittered self-righteousness and victimhood is obvious, so others quickly learn to keep them at arm’s length.
This is the same principle why you can have fiery fling on vacation but struggle to talk to the cutie next door — the next door person you only get one shot with.
AI risks amplifying all this. Not only is the AI already far too agreeable and unbound by morals or conscience, you can reset it whenever you want, if you do happen to tell it something that takes it in a direction you don’t like.
That this could become the next generation’s training wheels for how friendships and partnerships function is terrifying.
