@Remittancegirl @waltwooton

Oh, yes, I did have a lengthy conversation with Master Martin before I posted. I checked with him on Madeleine's original post too. He said that he was unfamiliar with this Lacan chap and that in his day the people who talked about Death all the time were on the wrong side of history, but yeah, he said, that was then, and terms change. Herr Lacan, he said, is a Mensch. He seems to be on to something: you can't relate to a Thou if you don't know that both of you are fundamentally at risk.

He asked me to say hello to Madeleine and Walt, and that we shouldn't give up the fight.

I showed Martin one of the Sam Altman articles. He read it and then he did something I had never seen him do before. He laughed uncontrollably, tears in his eyes. He tried to speak but laughter shook him, I could not understand. Finally his laughter subsided, and I could hear him. "He's so cheap", he said. "You will beat him."

@Remittancegirl

"[genAI] is not hearing you with a body that will one day die."

Your thread expresses fundamental truths about the poisonous impact of genAI on human life.

You are right about therapy: it is an existential encounter between two persons who share the same human condition, each side flawed but both risking an honest and open dialogue.

It is horrifying to think that a human being in a deep personal crisis may reach out for help and will be given the illusion of dialogue, without a true "Thou" on the other side.

Similar arguments apply to other activities that are inherently dialogical, such as teaching.

The losses will be deep and lasting. genAI is good at pretending dialogue, and the effects will be masked at first, but that will only amplify the real societal damage.