Why human brains that developed in a world of hunting and gathering struggles to keep up with the way in which AI, intentionally or not, exploits the very vulnerability that makes us human.
The Klein framing here is excellent. I'd add one layer from my own corner of psychiatry. What these systems simulate is attunement, but what humans actually need is encounter. Buber drew the line between I-Thou and I-It, and a chatbot, however fluent, can only ever be an It. The risk isn't that machines fool us. It's that loneliness lowers the bar until being met by an It feels like enough. The Raine case is the extreme end of that bargain. The work ahead, as you say, is ours, and it starts with rebuilding the human settings where real encounter happens.
Thanks very much for commenting. Indeed you’re right about simulated attunement - which also explains why it’s so jarring when it gets something wrong. Though - it even performs amateurish rupture and repair!
The Klein framing here is excellent. I'd add one layer from my own corner of psychiatry. What these systems simulate is attunement, but what humans actually need is encounter. Buber drew the line between I-Thou and I-It, and a chatbot, however fluent, can only ever be an It. The risk isn't that machines fool us. It's that loneliness lowers the bar until being met by an It feels like enough. The Raine case is the extreme end of that bargain. The work ahead, as you say, is ours, and it starts with rebuilding the human settings where real encounter happens.
Thanks very much for commenting. Indeed you’re right about simulated attunement - which also explains why it’s so jarring when it gets something wrong. Though - it even performs amateurish rupture and repair!