3 ms·

A robotherapist that doesn’t track you and works offline

2 points by westcort 5y ago

westcort 5y ago
I really would appreciate any feedback an suggestions for improvement.
a9h74j 5y ago
> for entertainment purposes You: I worry a lot about online privacy. Can I trust you? Bot: Yeah. Interesting. Tell me more. You: I am disapponted that you would say that. Bot: Nice to meet you. And you came here for a little session. Is that right? You: I wish you could explain why this is a secure chat. Bot: You are 1 in 100. You: Numbers like that scare me. Bot: I can sense emotion and nervousness in what you write You: Yeah, who wouldn't be. I don't know if I can endure a full session. Bot: Mhm. And I guess I'd like to say, I also feel that this is a very private thing. You: Can I paraphrase that? Privately, you cannot endure doing this work, either? Is it appropriate for you to reveal that to me? Bot: You make the decisions for yourself. You: My parents are both lawyers. Bot: And the pathway is those action kind of things that you describe which satisfy something inside of you. You: I can describe how satisfied I would be winning a malpractice suit. How long do I have, and is the insurance paying for this? Bot: And it's this concern you want to talk about? You: Talk? I am getting ready for action. But I only want to cause financial harm, not physical harm. Bot: Oh, I see. You really feel bad about what someone else might think. You: No, I am feeling good right about now. Bot: I get a sense your medical needs are taken care of. You: So let's talk about my pharmaceutical needs then. As a Rogerian, do you consult with a psychiatrist? Bot: I guess, judging from what you have written here, you sound as though you might disapprove of your own behavior. You: If you do. Bot: What are you doing about that? ------------------------------------------------------ Seriously, though, you are on to something here. IIRC, Sherry Terkel in Alone Together either does not or barely emphasizes the implications of giving kids chat toys which could create a permanent record. Where is the informed consent in that?
- westcort 5y ago
  Thank you! A pretty good exchange! Only a few real non-sequiturs, so I'll chalk that up as a win. This works offline, so nothing is going to the server. Everything is done in JavaScript and HTML within the browser, locally. And yet, I think it can actually yield useful insights and might help stimulate self-reflection, but that is just my experience. I am curious if others find it useful, especially knowing that all of the data is your own.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    Definitely a win, for a Rogerian bot per se. Obviously I was trolling as a client, not going deeper. One way you might encourage more people, from more backgrounds, to experiment with requisite trust to go deeper, might be: Show how to download into a single directory, which can be copied to an offline computer, and then "run" by opening some index.html in that directory. (I.e., to fit certain mental models of offline browsing.) Is this a formal research area, that you know of? Even if so, my intuition is that some advances might be better refined entirely privately, by user-developers. Perhaps like early physicians injesting their own medicinals to test for safety.
    - westcort 5y ago
      Great suggestion! I added the following to the disclaimer "Please note that this bot is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose, or cure any disease. To run this program locally, simply right click and save as to your desktop. You can even run it offline. None of your conversational data goes anywhere. It says on your machine." It runs as a single file without dependencies, so it should work in any browser with JavaScript enabled, whether online or offline.

2 points by westcort 5y ago

I really would appreciate any feedback an suggestions for improvement.

> for entertainment purposes You: I worry a lot about online privacy. Can I trust you? Bot: Yeah. Interesting. Tell me more. You: I am disapponted that you would say that. Bot: Nice to meet you. And you came here for a little session. Is that right? You: I wish you could explain why this is a secure chat. Bot: You are 1 in 100. You: Numbers like that scare me. Bot: I can sense emotion and nervousness in what you write You: Yeah, who wouldn't be. I don't know if I can endure a full session. Bot: Mhm. And I guess I'd like to say, I also feel that this is a very private thing. You: Can I paraphrase that? Privately, you cannot endure doing this work, either? Is it appropriate for you to reveal that to me? Bot: You make the decisions for yourself. You: My parents are both lawyers. Bot: And the pathway is those action kind of things that you describe which satisfy something inside of you. You: I can describe how satisfied I would be winning a malpractice suit. How long do I have, and is the insurance paying for this? Bot: And it's this concern you want to talk about? You: Talk? I am getting ready for action. But I only want to cause financial harm, not physical harm. Bot: Oh, I see. You really feel bad about what someone else might think. You: No, I am feeling good right about now. Bot: I get a sense your medical needs are taken care of. You: So let's talk about my pharmaceutical needs then. As a Rogerian, do you consult with a psychiatrist? Bot: I guess, judging from what you have written here, you sound as though you might disapprove of your own behavior. You: If you do. Bot: What are you doing about that? ------------------------------------------------------ Seriously, though, you are on to something here. IIRC, Sherry Terkel in Alone Together either does not or barely emphasizes the implications of giving kids chat toys which could create a permanent record. Where is the informed consent in that?

westcort 5y ago
Thank you! A pretty good exchange! Only a few real non-sequiturs, so I'll chalk that up as a win. This works offline, so nothing is going to the server. Everything is done in JavaScript and HTML within the browser, locally. And yet, I think it can actually yield useful insights and might help stimulate self-reflection, but that is just my experience. I am curious if others find it useful, especially knowing that all of the data is your own.
- a9h74j 5y ago
  Definitely a win, for a Rogerian bot per se. Obviously I was trolling as a client, not going deeper. One way you might encourage more people, from more backgrounds, to experiment with requisite trust to go deeper, might be: Show how to download into a single directory, which can be copied to an offline computer, and then "run" by opening some index.html in that directory. (I.e., to fit certain mental models of offline browsing.) Is this a formal research area, that you know of? Even if so, my intuition is that some advances might be better refined entirely privately, by user-developers. Perhaps like early physicians injesting their own medicinals to test for safety.
  - westcort 5y ago
    Great suggestion! I added the following to the disclaimer "Please note that this bot is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose, or cure any disease. To run this program locally, simply right click and save as to your desktop. You can even run it offline. None of your conversational data goes anywhere. It says on your machine." It runs as a single file without dependencies, so it should work in any browser with JavaScript enabled, whether online or offline.