At first I thought it was something epic like a digital ‘dragonborn’

some episodes of Black Mirror struck terror into my heart like no other. They were grim warmings for the possible future masquerading as fiction, as grim warnings often do. Though what the show could not forsee was how fast it would come true. And it could not forsee how wide a scale would be affected, those were singular stories from those worlds, the effect of the technology showcased on the lives of a few, a pinhole view into the dystopia

if you haven't already, watch the episode Be Right Back. you better start believing in sci-fi dystopias, we're in one

I'm just gonna keep imagining it's a clan of Timberborn beavers that are born on the ziplines.

FWIW, this is why AI researchers have been screeching for decades not to create an AI that is anthropomorphized. It is already an issue we have with animals, now we are going to add a confabulation engine to the ass-end?

The worst thing about AI is the people.

I dunno. Stuff. And u?

I think it's also a symptom of our society overvaluing romantic relationships and the nuclear family, at the expense of friends, other family, and general community. When you combine that with the traumatic experiences some have in romantic relationships, they have nowhere to turn to for emotional connection and support.

Capitalism created it too, classic create problem and sell solution model. Fucking ghoulish

Badly written fan-fic sequel to Snow Crash

This reminds me of the people who genuinely fall for "romance scams", and the scammer has all the personality and vocabulary of a wet paper bag.

And yet somehow someone will believe they're some hot (barely literate) U.S soldier stuck in Kuwait until they can get a flight home to meet the victim for only $2000... Wait, $1000 more... But then there's a $500 fee... And then...

Blows my mind...

Yeah but it's nothing scary or new. Was I the only one who watched those documentaries about the people who were emotionally and sexually committed to objects like cars and rollercoasters? Someone married the Eiffel tower. Been extremely isolated at different points in my life watching that stuff changed the way I view people. Like it made me kinder I think.

Don't forget that in the US we also have built our towns and cities to be isolating. Most don't walk home from work, pop into their local bar/coffee shop/park to see their neighbors and then finish their walk home. We get in our car alone, drive home where then going out means getting back in a car, and stopping on the way home means figuring out drivers and parking and meetups.

We lost our third places and now we wonder why we don't know our neighborhood as well

It’s not loneliness, it’s rugged individualism! It’s not anti-union/anti-community propaganda to keep the masses weak; I mean have you seen union dues?! /s

But don’t worry, those same people who say shit like that are so desperate for community that they’ll never leave their hometown except for when their local far-right militia chapter goes out to harrass a protest or attack their country’s government for having a fair election.

I've found makerspaces to be a secular alternative. The makerspace has to specifically foster community, though. There's quite a few that are just techbros with a clique that you ain't in.

Covid also killed a lot of the social aspects of my makerspace, and it's been hard to build it back.

“OK, now let’s have some fun. Let’s talk about sex. Let’s talk about women. Freud said he didn’t know what women wanted. I know what women want. They want a whole lot of people to talk to. What do they want to talk about? They want to talk about everything.

What do men want? They want a lot of pals, and they wish people wouldn’t get so mad at them.

Why are so many people getting divorced today? It’s because most of us don’t have extended families anymore. It used to be that when a man and a woman got married, the bride got a lot more people to talk to about everything. The groom got a lot more pals to tell dumb jokes to.

A few Americans, but very few, still have extended families. The Navahos. The Kennedys.

But most of us, if we get married nowadays, are just one more person for the other person. The groom gets one more pal, but it’s a woman. The woman gets one more person to talk to about everything, but it’s a man.

When a couple has an argument, they may think it’s about money or power or sex, or how to raise the kids, or whatever. What they’re really saying to each other, though, without realizing it, is this: “You are not enough people!”

I met a man in Nigeria one time, an Ibo who has six hundred relatives he knew quite well. His wife had just had a baby, the best possible news in any extended family.

They were going to take it to meet all its relatives, Ibos of all ages and sizes and shapes. It would even meet other babies, cousins not much older than it was. Everybody who was big enough and steady enough was going to get to hold it, cuddle it, gurgle to it, and say how pretty it was, or handsome.

Wouldn't you have loved to be that baby?”

― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

The way it clicks for me is that it's a juiced up auto-complete tool.

People will do anything but put in a little work to establish healthy relationships with people.