This is all a huge self-own. We’ve built more and more complex versions of the cocaine-filled lab rat feeder, and we do so while deliberately looking away so as to not witness our own demise.
By the way, are you going to cover the (yet another) ridiculous demonstration of how futile our current alignment and safety systems and measures are with the OpenAI / HuggingFace debacle? Or are we still trusting the alchemists who say we’re all good?
Not that I am a big fan of social media or synthetic friends, but there's a sizable omission on the big "substitution vs cause" debate that's been going on within the research.
There is actually substantial evidence that social media often functions as a compensatory or adaptive tool rather than simply a disruptive force. Research shows that decreases in in-person social interaction often *precede* increases in online social engagement, suggesting that teens frequently turn to social media to fill social voids rather than the other way around.
Recent longitudinal studies tracking adolescents found that social media usage often spikes after drops in face-to-face social time, particularly during transitional periods like moving to a new school or during disruptions like the pandemic. I don't know if similar studies have been done on chatbot friends, but it wouldn't be a cognitive stretch.
Thus it's a bit careless to presume causality without sufficient proof. A parent's hunch that "it must be those damned phones" is weak anecdotal evidence at best.
And as with all things human and technology, we're likely to find that one-size-fits-all policy is reductively easy to believe and implement but wholly suboptimal for diverse populations. There are a lot of children experiencing social anxiety, bullying, and exclusion - marginalized groups - where prescriptive in-person interaction and sexual mingling in lieu of other digital outlets will do more harm than good.
This is all a huge self-own. We’ve built more and more complex versions of the cocaine-filled lab rat feeder, and we do so while deliberately looking away so as to not witness our own demise.
By the way, are you going to cover the (yet another) ridiculous demonstration of how futile our current alignment and safety systems and measures are with the OpenAI / HuggingFace debacle? Or are we still trusting the alchemists who say we’re all good?
Social capital is gone; tech may be a red herring https://x.com/johannkurtz/status/2077113148524417439?s=46&t=oIdjuaSzPzASBPX7LKwvJw
Not that I am a big fan of social media or synthetic friends, but there's a sizable omission on the big "substitution vs cause" debate that's been going on within the research.
There is actually substantial evidence that social media often functions as a compensatory or adaptive tool rather than simply a disruptive force. Research shows that decreases in in-person social interaction often *precede* increases in online social engagement, suggesting that teens frequently turn to social media to fill social voids rather than the other way around.
Recent longitudinal studies tracking adolescents found that social media usage often spikes after drops in face-to-face social time, particularly during transitional periods like moving to a new school or during disruptions like the pandemic. I don't know if similar studies have been done on chatbot friends, but it wouldn't be a cognitive stretch.
Thus it's a bit careless to presume causality without sufficient proof. A parent's hunch that "it must be those damned phones" is weak anecdotal evidence at best.
And as with all things human and technology, we're likely to find that one-size-fits-all policy is reductively easy to believe and implement but wholly suboptimal for diverse populations. There are a lot of children experiencing social anxiety, bullying, and exclusion - marginalized groups - where prescriptive in-person interaction and sexual mingling in lieu of other digital outlets will do more harm than good.
Thanks Swag. Yes I'm aware of that debate. I think, most likely, it's a bit of both.