I don't think it's there yet. If we knew how the brain's architecture produces consciousness and we could recreate that in software, I would be open minded to have AI replace human interaction, but what Zucc is suggesting is that we build a social (or "para-social"?) relationship with a the output of tensor calculus.

Mark has no friends so he assume no one has friends so he makes AI friends.

I can see this having no adverse effects within, say the incel culture, no adverse affects at all.

How do you know that Mark has no friends?

I would guess he has zero friends by the way he sees friendship

Game theory?

He likely has people pretending to be his friends, much like the AI friends he proposes.

That he thinks that this is a good idea would be a pretty strong indicator, in that it implies that he doesn't grasp, at a fundamental level, what friends are.

Agreed. He's projecting.

Zero substance on these comments.

Look he is richer than everyone else he knows. He hangs around with employees all day, they are subservient to him. He doesn't know real friendship because all his relationships are with his wealth.

I highly doubt an uber successful guy like him has no friends

How do you even manage 15 good friends as an adult? That would be 1 friend a day rotating every 2 weeks. Seems like a lot

typically in groups. You can see multiple friends at once

That helps but managing 3 friend groups at a time Is a huge commitment even for an extrovert. It might be feasible as a college or high-school kid but not as an adult with kids

It's possible, but you need to be very social. Basically you do group activities every few weeks, some people are friends but live further so you meet them rarely, and some friends either need to live very close to you or share some activities (kids clubs, maybe some fitness activity, maybe work, etc).

My sister has 10+ friends she actively maintains. I have 2 :)

I have like 4 close 4 mid and 4 far away friends and then probably another dozen work/activity friends but I don’t think I could maintain them all as close friends just too much upkeep.

3 friends is a lot.

It probably depends on how you define "friend".

The man assumes that we want friends who don’t actually exist. Astounding.

Speak for yourself

I humbly apologize.

I’m definitely not going to stop you from talking to your imaginary friends.

“Demand for friends”.

Describing friends as a supply and demand market business transaction is well … unusual.

"They are now trying to colonize every minute of your life" - Bo Burnham

Every time I hear him speak I can't help, but imagine him licking his eyes like gecko. He's such a deeply bizarre and unappealing man, and possibly the last person on Earth I want to hear about friendship from. I certainly don't want whatever his idea of a friend is.

Yeah but have you seen his cool sunglasses? And he told Joe Rogan he's into bow hunting, such a cool manly man dude bro!

Other discussion on same story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43860755

I think this is really sick. And it's against the mission of Meta.

It's possible, despite what many of these comments say, to build friendships as an adult. It just takes investment. What has helped me the most is:

- Bringing connections from one context into another. For example if you have a colleague you like, your relationship can't grow closer unless you start hanging out in a non-work context. Get involved with athletic activities with them. Or if you have similar aged kids, invite them over for a play date while the adults hang out.

- Combining friend hangouts. If you want 15 friends but only have time to hang with people every couple days, you don't have time to meet with people one-on-one. Organize group events like dinner parties or pot lucks. Also don't restrict these events to be just "work friends" or "pickle ball friends". Cross-pollinate groups.

- Create local friends. Nothing is more convenient than friends you live next door to. We do porch wine with our neighbors on Monday nights. It takes very little effort to set up a group text and get momentum around something like this.

> - Combining friend hangouts. If you want 15 friends but only have time to hang with people every couple days, you don't have time to meet with people one-on-one. Organize group events like dinner parties or pot lucks. Also don't restrict these events to be just "work friends" or "pickle ball friends". Cross-pollinate groups.

World's are colliding Jerry! These situations always make me sweat.

The answer isn't imaginary friends Mark, no matter how much AI you put it in them.

The top Facebook bot maker software adds 2 friends when you generate a new account.