Human Connection

I believe that, in the near future, a very high percentage of people will use AI chat-bots to find friendship and companionship. On the plus side, comfort can be a really hard thing to find, and a lot of people could use something like that, because there's zero pressure. On the negative side, I think that it will push people even further away from real human connections - a slippery slope where a person might be so comfortable in their companionship with AI that they stop trying to find human connections at all.

This subject has been touched on many times in science-fiction works, but it is closer to reality than ever. I don't even know if I'm chatting with a bot or an actual customer service rep anymore. This new world that we live in has caused me to think a lot about the importance of the random interactions that we have lately.

Not long ago, while taking a day-trip, I got a flat tire - never fun, but I fortunately was near an old, grungy tire repair shop where you could get a tire patched for $15. It reminded me a bit of the barber shops that we see on TV and in movies with a bunch of old friends discussing sports to each other and their clients, except it was much dirtier and it was all conspiracy theories. Honestly, it was pretty wild. One of the more normal conspiracies discussed had to do with Hillary Clinton being a body double in a skin-suit. They weren't joking.

The thing is, though, these were nice guys. They worked hard. They treated me well, and they fixed my tire and saved the trip. They just weren't sure what to believe, and they certainly didn't trust the government, but they loved their neighbors and coworkers, and that was a beautiful common ground that we were able to find together in my brief, fifteen minute stay.

We were able to discuss our friends and families and how much we've enjoyed seeing our respective cities change but still stay the same. For that moment, our age and background differences didn't matter. It was just a pleasant conversation with a few strangers.

I certainly didn't have much in common with any of them, and it is unlikely that we would ever hang out away from that one specific situation, but that human connection - that bonding over caring about our homes and our neighbors - it was special. It turned a pretty crappy experience into something that was positive and even enjoyable.

My fear with technology is that we will lose out on those moments. I certainly wouldn't have ever signed up for a conversation filled with conspiracies that made the fake moon landing conspiracy look like small apples. If I had put my nose in my phone and stood in the corner, I would have missed out on all of that. Sometimes a little chaos can be fun.