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Resurrecting loved ones as AI 'ghosts' could harm your mental health

newscientist.com

25 points by ZeidJ 2 years ago · 23 comments

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ViktorRay 2 years ago

There was a Black Mirror episode about this very concept I believe.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Right_Back

It’s Black Mirror so naturally the episode was pretty disturbing and dystopian.

withinboredom 2 years ago

Death is part of life. I'm getting to the age where I need to accept that my days are numbered by sheer senescence. My grandparents are long gone, my wife's parents are long gone. It's only a matter of time; the antithesis to life.

  • JohnFen 2 years ago

    I'm on the tail end of my lifetime as well, and I hope that when I go, those I leave behind will celebrate the good I brought while I was here rather than mourn that my time has ended.

    That our lifespans are finite is, in my opinion, a good thing to be embraced. That we die is what makes our time valuable and precious. I do not fear or dread my death, although I get nervous about the possibility that I may suffer on the way out.

    I would be very saddened if anyone I leave behind felt compelled to build a fake version of me in order to pretend, in a way, that I am still with them. They would be doing themselves a disservice and possibly even harm. I don't want my existence to result in that.

howard941 2 years ago

When some of us dream we dream of those who've died. Those are my favorite dreams. They're not liable to be exploited which is where, I suppose, the mental health harm arises.

KatyaV 2 years ago

And this comes as a surprise to whom?

  • hdhdhsjsbdh 2 years ago

    Probably the myopic and philosophically illiterate tech worshippers that would bring such a thing into existence in the first place.

theaussiestew 2 years ago

I'm reminded of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Choosing the Resurrection Stone only leads to pain.

nittanymount 2 years ago

https://archive.ph/J8GJZ

nittanymount 2 years ago

someone knows what is the webarchive service? could not view this page...

thanks

mrangle 2 years ago

delete

  • salawat 2 years ago

    Neuro-optic stimulus injection triggering some sort of synaptic destabilization/biofeedback loop?

    Welp. Grats. Enjoy being researched to develop Black ICE.

    • mrangle 2 years ago

      That's aggressive. I disagree.

      • salawat 2 years ago

        What? If you noticed something subjectively destabilizing about it, own it, and reflect on it more. You aren't going to be the only one who notices it. And don't delude yourself into thinking the direction of research won't be looked into. As the Artist's dream, so dost the man of science/artisan attempt to forge.

        Not even being in the slightest bit sarcastic or denegrating. Just calling it as I see it.

        • mrangle 2 years ago

          You can't leave-be a restrained five word response, and want more feedback? Why?

          You can't successfully fight the compulsion to "tell me how it is"? That's your choice.

          You read me correctly. It speaks to a social issue for you if you don't see your writing style as aggressive if not your content impulse, to put it politely for now. I predict that you're aware of that propensity.

          So that you don't further delude yourself and to inspire reflection, I would remind you that my post was made in the context of the article in question.

          It was a personal anecdote. In the social-spirit of possibly assisting anyone else with self-aware assessment should they find themselves tempted toward extended periods of Ai generated stimulus. That is it.

          Parallel to if I had commented, in a lightbulb forum, on the fact that a new technology of lightbulb induces migraine aura.

          It wasn't an invitation to abruptly lend me your crackpot medical assessment nor a threat predicated on it, the latter in a weirdly intentional black-mirror screenwriting style.

          The latter comment was couched to seem edgy and intimidating, rather than informative and social. Devoid of value other than shock factor and possibly "biofeedback" for you.

          Reflect on the fact that a more normally adjusted person would have written that much differently, if absolutely compelled to deliver the message despite the context of the conversation.

          You delivered medical information that you thought that you should. Inappropriate, but fine I suppose in isolation. Would a doctor, or even a research assistant, have then said "Welp. Grats. Enjoy being an involuntary research subject of a shadowy quasi-gov Intel operation"? What's wrong with you? Acknowledging that you weren't "being sarcastic", you have a problem.

          I'll help. If you need to explain my theoretical exposure to being an involuntary research subject, which has historically been an alarming when not fatal position in which to be, then explain it in-full and in a style befitting an adult. Not in a style befitting a adolescent narcissist who gets off on trying to instill fear utilizing implication from incomplete information and name dropping.

          The cognitive effects of subliminal patterns in Ai images "are going to be looked into"? You are good.

          This research has to be mature for a long time now, if ongoing. Regardless, again, "no shit", who tf asked you, and what does it have to do with the conversation? Especially given the style of delivery?

          "Own what" exactly, different from what I already owned by posting? Watch your straw-men.

          I "owned" what was occuring by posting about it here, obviously having reflected on it.

          At least to a degree that was enough to think to post it here before anyone else who may have noticed it. Before anyone who isn't self-aware enough to notice it.

          You then flipped my disagreement about your specific medical characterization of my experience description into "not owning it".

          You took this tack instead of silently accepting a simply stated disagreement on your assessment of the physiology of an anonymous stranger, by that stranger and after two paragraphs written by that stranger.

          Or instead of accurately viewing your response as inappropriate to the conversation in the context of: how to evaluate and apply medical information (you have no information about my medical history), in the context of the language that I used when explaining my experience (I used the word "subtle" and you substituted "destabilizing"), and in terms of social norms (that I can dismiss but don't have to).

          If I were an a-hole, for fun I could write an equivalent paragraph describing pathology targeting you and punctuated by the same conclusive threat. You know, just calling it like I see it. Solely on the analysis of your writing. Whether or not the clinical pathology and profile were actual, I'd wager that I could get uncomfortably close given Ai scanning of these threads. But I'm not an a-hole, nor do I get off on people thinking that I am superior via use of juvenile writing device.

          Have a nice day.

seeknotfind 2 years ago

Imagine the article was "resurrecting loved ones as video ghosts could harm your mental health." It's also "true," but progress! Progress!

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