Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

‘Better than a real man’: young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends::Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he’s kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

  • Ogmios@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    183·
    9 months ago

    Things like this make me wonder if the uncanny valley exists because we’ve previously developed computer technology in the past, and it destroyed civilization, taking with it everyone who couldn’t easily distinguish between humans and AI.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      9 months ago

      These headlines are more often just native ads for the apps being reported on. Don’t lose sleep over an eyeball-grabbing “techxplore.com” article based on a handful of testimonials from alpha users.

      • Ogmios@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        It’s hardly an idea that I only just formed from a headline. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, which only seems to collect more support as time goes on. One of the most prominent events I can recall was when TwitchCon built a foam pit for people to jump into, with a single layer of foam blocks over solid concrete, then even after a girl broke her back in it they still kept going. Computers are doing something very weird to people’s brains.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
          41·
          9 months ago

          You can find young people ready to do silly reckless shit easily enough. But that’s one reason why shit like OSHA exists. But instead of San Diego DAs and safety regulators wading into the mess, what we saw was a bunch of Silicon Valley lawyers waving boilerplate release forms in an effort to obscure their own liability.

          That’s a bit separate from a Computers issue. Its more a bullshit legalese issue that’s designed to keep working stiffs marginalized while tech companies do as they please.

        • iquanyin@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          not any dumber than things i’ve seen my whole 60 years, tbh. i do think everything we experience affects our brains, for sure. it’s what brains do, they respond to their environment. but not in lockstep. different brains react to the same things i varied ways.

    • AppaYipYip@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      I like to think uncanny valley exists because of other homo species we would have interacted with in pre-history. Obviously this is just a fun theory since we have evidence of mixing.

      • FooBarrington@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        9 months ago

        The simple explanation I’ve heard is that the uncanny valley protects us from diseases etc. by making us stay away from very sick or dead people. A bloated corpse is still human, so you need some part of your head to say “stay away from that thing”.

        • oatscoop@midwest.socialEnglish
          3·
          9 months ago

          Or genetic defects.

          “Something about that person is extremely off-putting. I do believe I’m not going have sex with them.”

      • oatscoop@midwest.socialEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Some of the modern recreations of neanderthals look like people I’ve seen in bars.

        On a cold night after a few handfuls of fermented berries … I probably would too.

      • Wogi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        9 months ago

        After a cursory glance I found a paper that suggests the effect might predate humans. Or at least that humans are experiencing the effect even when the faces are off other primates. They suggest it’s selection pressure but personally I believe that we were hunted by a super race of ape like aliens for sport at some point in our evolutionary background. Which lead directly to developing communication and higher intelligence