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> Porn is cheap gratification without deeper emotional connection. I don't think that people can grow without being challenged by others and AI cannot be progra
by jstarfish 3y ago
> Porn is cheap gratification without deeper emotional connection. I don't think that people can grow without being challenged by others and AI cannot be programmed to challenge us.
I disagree. The potential is there, it just takes someone willing to do it. The incentives all align with making sexbots since they provide instant gratification.
In reality, it's surrogacy-turned-dependence. There is a time and place for surrogacy, but the current gen of bots have no boundaries and are unfit for the job. AI can challenge us if we just ask it to. Take a generic "sexy sex teacher" bot and replace its title with "intimacy coach" and there are actual healthy, real-life-applicable lessons that can be practiced online and performed offline to everyone's benefit.
Ironically most of these lessons would come from feminist teachings (traditional woman-love-thyself feminism, not the 2017 BPD man-hating lesbian UwU Tumblrina version) which have been entirely overlooked by the men involved in the technology itself. I'm not surprised Replika is as popular as it is-- it was created by a woman.
Such bots could do a better job than actual therapists, but saying that would challenge the livelihood of an industry of charlatans. Human therapists won't challenge you and will always tell you what you want to hear (most people won't pay someone to tell you you're an asshole); AI can do that far cheaper and more effectively as long as you include a clause about not allowing the user to harm self or others.
- ThrowawayR2 3y agoSounds like the rosy predictions by past futurists that the invention of television would be used only for broadcast of educational programming and culturally uplifting material, resulting in a vastly more enlightened and knowledgeable public. Needless to say, that wasn't how things turned out.
- ntlk 3y agoHuman therapists certainly do challenge their clients, at least in my experience. Mine certainly did challenge me frequently, and many of my friends brought up being challenged by theirs.
- flangola7 3y agoAI or not, the baseless swipe at therapists is really immature and would be better left out. I'm sorry if you've had a bad therapist experience but that's not grounds to denigrate the entire discipline or those (like myself) who's lives have bettered immeasurably through consistent talk therapy.
- gostsamo 3y agoI actually agree with you. Technology could be a multiplier and an enabler if it is a medium for communication instead of an insulator from difficulties. I might be a bit cynical though because I suspect that people would use it the easier way. I hope that I'm wrong and the optimism which ruled the internet until the early 2010 would prevail at the end.
- jstarfish 3y agoI look at it from the "AI won't replace jobs, it will augment workers" angle. It can't and shouldn't replace meaningful human interaction. But it can be used to help facilitate them. If experience has taught me anything, it's that all tech optimizes for the worst possible application. Experience has also taught me that you can't save everyone, especially from an ideology. But we can try to leverage tech to save the ones that want saving. It's the best anyone can do.