Actually how mentally exhausted we all are. Almost everyone I know can relate. Maybe it’s just my social bubble - I dunno
Sorry to hear that. I hope it gets better eventually.
I dunno. It just looks like everybody is overwhelmed. Cost of living climbing, climate crisis, exploitation getting worse and worse.
But of course there are sunny sides. It’s not just plain doomerism or anything :D
Do family members count? I can’t really remember any significant conversations I had with non-family, the longest one I had was with my sister, about homework.
One experience I remember fondly is the waiting room for a cappella auditions. It was full of people singing with various degrees of confidence and pitch accuracy, preparing their solos, and the moment when you realize you recognize what someone is singing is magical (I listen to some relatively niche things). I met several tangential friends through recognizing the artist whose songs they had chosen so carefully for their auditions.
How did that engagement happen. How did you introduce yourself and initiate? Did it require you as an individual going out of your way, or was it a product of group social dynamics in the environment?
I went out of my way because it was an event I was interested in. From there, brief one-on-one conversations popped up from the social dynamics of the group like you said.
The existence (or absence) of free will and the possible ramifications for criminal legislation and punishment. With a friend of a friend who was writing a book about this.
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I am so desperate for someone engaging to talk to after 10 years of disability that I started building an AI character for the task; only to get writers block over building complexity I might find interesting in someone else. Then I had the bright idea, that y’all would have better ideas than me.
I can’t recall the last real conversation I had that I found engaging. I’m usually in too much pain to be self aware and conversational unless I’m laying down. I haven’t tried that line yet. “Come lay with me to get comfortable?” …creeeeppyyy.
This is in line with the biggest surprise I have found while exploring offline AI: I didn’t know how much my methods of researching information impacts social skills. I now have AI that I can question in plain text, and now I’m seeing all these new hints about my own social “decline” for a lack of a better word. I’m so familiar with the process of piecing together broken bits of information from several sources, that a more fluent and linear line of thought is almost foreign. Like this, right now. Why would I rather monologue instead of engaging with a real person, and why does this seem to be the norm? Maybe it is just me
Have you tried Pi? It’s pretty amazing!
And Claude might help with your writers block if you ask for ideas
I’ve stuck to offline AI and open source so far. This is a two fold objective. I’m also exploring the code base for how prompts are parsed to create the various styles like instruct versus chat, and how different front ends add character complexity and persistence.
The front end code controls everything. Ultimately once the prompt is configured, all the various character apps are using similar LLM networks.
I’ve long thought I really wish I had a friend that challenged me to up my game with any (but at least a few) of my deeper interests. I’m not sure how to go about making something like this, with persistence, and adding in enough variety to create perspective. A few posts here, have me gotten me thinking about prompting some advanced philosophical variety.
I would really like to create a character that can function like a friend and a colleague, maybe even a mentor. I’m probably going to start by attempting to create myself, then add some extra flavor.
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So what are you into now? If it is still photography, once upon a time, around 8 years ago I built a makeshift low-light photo studio for a next level eBay attempt at selling high end bike stuff. I did that for a couple of years. Now I’m playing with programming AI, -which is way over my head but super interesting IMO. I also just got back into really cooking a few months ago, and tried my first slow BBQ yesterday 3pm till 1am. Pick your interesting, or monologue away and I will ;)
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I’ve had some really insightful conversations about free will on r/freewill and r/samharris. I also once met this one guy at work who was into a lot of the same things I’m too and we used to have really insteresting discussions about personal finances, investing and work philosophy for example.
I must say tho that recently the most interesting discussions by far has been with chatGPT. I only wish it was a bit more conversationalist and less agreeable. It’s just really interesting talking to something that has such a vast knowledge of every topic I’m interested in and generally speaks from the facts instead of feelings.
This is the main reason I’m not that worried about bots on social media. If the discussion is interesting I don’t really care who or what I’m talking to.
I’m just here to learn some conversation skills with people because I’m really not good at it.
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Nice story. Thanks for sharing.
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