The "AI" Can [Now] Talk -- How Much of Meaning Have We Outsourced [Already]?

How do you convey you care [online]?

It's a quick and simple question. But the hope is it's an entry point to a deeper train of thought behind the answer. The saying, "be quick, but do no hurry" could be aptly applied here.

Can you give an answer that provides someone the mechanics for the target ask? How do you say something that isn't merely "easy optics" that anyone, even "the ai" can come up with? Is "the ai" the new bar for quality?

Where Are We Going? Where Have We Been?

In an age where communication is less and less "person-to-person" due to technology I find the ability to show I care is greatly diminished. Other than my photo online -- which can be changed or even copied -- someone else or even "the ai" can literally copy past and type the same exact thing I say without any forethought whatsoever, all on demand. All that differs is the timestamp. That doesn't seem like it will bode well for Hallmark...

It's not all doom and gloom! There are tradeoffs to everything. With the advent of new technologies we are able to rachet up the interactions but we also may have fewer and fewer direct IRL person-to-person interactions or at least proportionally so. We have the increased viability and availability of finding people more like us, but those interactions are often more [or almost exclusively] online than in person. To wit, I have had many "online friends" over the years that I have found to be very meaningful to me. But, there is something different about them. Even if we can't articulate it our bodies (our brains) might [also] interpret them differently in terms of attachment and processing. If I had to guess, I'd wager 90% of the volume of communication is through machines, LCD interfaces, without the "surround sound" or the smells or spacing of waiting without non-stimulating content prior to that message/communication. We may not be aware of it (by design) but our bodies are sensory machines and have multiple senses. So each "interaction" will have different metadata based on the available senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste). You may have even heard that taste (or smell) is the strongest ties to memory (CNIII). Could be some survivorship bias of who didn't eat the wrong thing (e.g. the poisonous plant).

Presently: Where Have You Been?

So in summation, interactions are up (yay!), but our arrival at finding those people and those interactions might be much different path than those just a few decades ago. The “meeting place(s)” are much different. The cranial nerves that were once involved before are now fewer. For instance, a Zoom Call or a LinkedIn post might involve sight, but won't include touch, smell, or hearing in the case of a online [written] correspondence.

Does what we did prior to an interaction matter?

Ask someone who just came from a funeral or someone who just came from a car accident and you will probably find rather strong resounding and emphatic "Yes!" answers. So let's dig into that, but a bit more subtle, with less hyperbole or extreme situations.

Using myself as an example... prior to me posting this post on Linkedin, I will have largely chosen all of the things I wanted to see, listen, engage in for a few hours prior to this post and even more so than most.

A little context... I have been a remote worker since 2016. Prior to 2016 I would have spent the prior 120 minutes doing a multitude of tasks. Such as trying to find clean clothes, aka "dry cleaning" my jeans (or slacks) with my fingernails -- don't judge, I know I'm not the only one -- to then finding matching socks or rather "non-color conflicting" socks, then picking a shirt that doesn't have buttons that encourage people to play "peak-a-boo" with my semi exposed belly button, and finally shoving some sort of edible crap or "breakfast" down my face. A breakfast that is almost purely chosen based on convenience because the sleep vs preparation time tradeoff is a thing. Hello American diet. All of which is then followed by getting on the road to play road rage Tetris for the next hour to arrive at work in a heightened state of agitation as I scream directly towards the coffee station to amp up my adrenals for some work.

So that said, I get to avoid a lot of that 120 minute experience above and a huge reason I’m thankful for remote work! Again, a big positive for technology.

But... I can’t help but wonder what the effects are of getting our way on demand all the time is having on our reward systems. Being able to dial in every event into a "dopamine" releasing event on demand for all content prior to our interactions with other people with fewer sensory experiences available to our brains is perhaps, dare I say, making our brains less attentive and or at least less able to "stamp" the memory to our brains due to the limited sensory available (e.g. no touch, smell, perhaps sound).

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder?

There is very or time lapse (and hence build-up) in between "want" and "reward" today. "Want" is almost always provided by "Hey Siri..." or another on demand retrieval. So there is very little "strength" to the wait. Compounding that is that our reward system is the same for all things. That is research shows/says that "work hard play hard" hits the SAME receptors of the brain. So our brain down-regulates the dopamine hits no matter their source of origin. For those needing a visual, metaphorically you need to snort an extra line of cocaine for the same effect you had last time.

So meeting up with your buddy isn't quite as sweet after you've had 8-10 hours of constant dopamine hits daily for weeks. And to be clear, dopamine is “the want” hormone. Ever notice how your favorite meal is so much better if you haven't had it in awhile?

Technology Given and Technology Taketh Away

We have the best technology we've ever had any point in time. Pick your category and you can almost assuredly say that. I'll pick one that I feel is related to my original question of meaning.

Music.

We better music than ever. We have better instruments, better sound systems, and we have all the knowledge of prior eras at our fingertips to better inform us to make it a purer, better, more exact. Yet, things seem to mean less. In an interview with The Doors (musicians) one of them said something to the effect,

“Back then we didn’t realize it was just music.”

Despite “better” music today… It just doesn't feel the same. Have you noticed this too? If yes, why? The music is better. So maybe it's something else? Have we have lost the plot? (meaning)

Well, let's revisit that line above...

“Back then we didn’t realize it was just music.”

That is, it [the music] for that first time was so transcendent. BECAUSE it was unlike what they had heard or seen prior and perhaps, aiding that experience, that moment was the absence of other "stimulating" content prior. Releasing that hit album, making the "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40" (IYKYK) often were proceeded by long periods of time in obscurity putting together a hidden voice, a lyric, a chord, a note. Then, it was birthed. Can you imagine the dopamine hit of having a longing for 20+ years to get? Many times it's tears of joy...

Parting Shot

Back to the original question. How do we show we care [online]? How can we attach meaning to communication?

The "ai" is here. But where are we? Where you were immediately before you came here might be more limiting your experience now than you think and also how effectively you can [presently] communicate you care.