Wow. This was a very shocking read. I've been off Facebook since June, never wanted to be there in the first place although I may stop in and say hello from time to time. And, I'm no luddite. I started working at one of the first ISPs in the country as a UNIX operator in 1996. But, all this AI stuff not to my liking.
Back then, we thought the internet was the great uniter and leveler, and well. I no longer have ChatGPT or Claude although I use Alexa plus to help me keep a health log of a medical condition I have. But, the AI chatbots are so annoying! If you actually take time to learn a craft, there is no comparison. There are ads for friend.com on the subway and that makes me very sad.
And, my phone is off right now.
I read the Non-Zero Blog and now this blog and that is it. I live in Manhattan, a cultural mecca and there is plenty to experience as well as humans to enjoy - and dancing!
I look forward to seeing how this all unfolds (do I have a choice?). Thank you for taking the time to share what you know. Whenever I do pop back onto FB to say hi I'm sharing this blog.
David, I cannot tell you how much your post resonates.
Someone recently told me ... "I talk to ChatGPT on my commute back, and when I get home and my wife asks, 'how was your day?' I think, what is she talking about? I already processed it. I'm empty now. I've nothing to tell her."
This guy has a good marriage. He's an engineer and so he knows exactly how the sausage is made, and what happens when you eat it. Yet here he is, outsourcing his inner life to a chatbot and wondering why he's got nothing left for his wife. It's not a knowledge problem. It's just that we've collectively forgotten how to connect with other humans.
We were never taught skills to build or sustain relationships. Not in school, not in college and definitely NOT at work. Human connection is messy and full of friction, which is exactly why we are terrible at it and why AI feels like such sweet relief.
We keep saying human connection is valuable while doing absolutely nothing to help people actually experience that value in their daily lives (except forcing people to come into office post covid). So of course we're going to take the path of least resistance. Because hey, we're lazy! We optimise for easy, not virtue. Unless of course we need to post about it.
Telling people "AI is scary, human connection is good" is as effective as my parents warning the teenage-me in 2000 about the perils of Yahoo chat. ;)
So what are we going to do? Make people "aware"? Ask them to use AI responsibly? or do we also need to teach people how to connect with each other, and more importantly, why it's worth the effort before they end up sleeping with ChatGPT?!
Wow. This was a very shocking read. I've been off Facebook since June, never wanted to be there in the first place although I may stop in and say hello from time to time. And, I'm no luddite. I started working at one of the first ISPs in the country as a UNIX operator in 1996. But, all this AI stuff not to my liking.
Back then, we thought the internet was the great uniter and leveler, and well. I no longer have ChatGPT or Claude although I use Alexa plus to help me keep a health log of a medical condition I have. But, the AI chatbots are so annoying! If you actually take time to learn a craft, there is no comparison. There are ads for friend.com on the subway and that makes me very sad.
And, my phone is off right now.
I read the Non-Zero Blog and now this blog and that is it. I live in Manhattan, a cultural mecca and there is plenty to experience as well as humans to enjoy - and dancing!
I look forward to seeing how this all unfolds (do I have a choice?). Thank you for taking the time to share what you know. Whenever I do pop back onto FB to say hi I'm sharing this blog.
Wonderful piece, well said!
David, I cannot tell you how much your post resonates.
Someone recently told me ... "I talk to ChatGPT on my commute back, and when I get home and my wife asks, 'how was your day?' I think, what is she talking about? I already processed it. I'm empty now. I've nothing to tell her."
This guy has a good marriage. He's an engineer and so he knows exactly how the sausage is made, and what happens when you eat it. Yet here he is, outsourcing his inner life to a chatbot and wondering why he's got nothing left for his wife. It's not a knowledge problem. It's just that we've collectively forgotten how to connect with other humans.
We were never taught skills to build or sustain relationships. Not in school, not in college and definitely NOT at work. Human connection is messy and full of friction, which is exactly why we are terrible at it and why AI feels like such sweet relief.
We keep saying human connection is valuable while doing absolutely nothing to help people actually experience that value in their daily lives (except forcing people to come into office post covid). So of course we're going to take the path of least resistance. Because hey, we're lazy! We optimise for easy, not virtue. Unless of course we need to post about it.
Telling people "AI is scary, human connection is good" is as effective as my parents warning the teenage-me in 2000 about the perils of Yahoo chat. ;)
So what are we going to do? Make people "aware"? Ask them to use AI responsibly? or do we also need to teach people how to connect with each other, and more importantly, why it's worth the effort before they end up sleeping with ChatGPT?!