Can We Alleviate Loneliness with Technologies?

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, Skype, Gmail, iMessage, text message, phone call – a billion ways to connect with fellow humans in the digital world. Why is it then that loneliness levels are rising? Can technologies alleviate feeling alone? Samantha, the technological female self to feel better In the brilliant movie, Her, somewhere in the near future Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, a letter writer going through an emotionally burdensome divorce and spending his time mostly with video games and only occasionally in human company, decides to try the OS1, an operating system with artificial intelligence. He decided for a female voice and the OS names herself Samantha. Through their interactions, the A.I. learns everything about Theodore, pays attention to his every need and reacts as sensitively and lifelike as a human being – or even more so. The man falls in love. It seems to be a tale about the relationship between humans and technology. Some might have even been shocked that a man attaches himself to an unreal creature so quickly and so profoundly, but in reality, it’s a story about processing loss and how the man finds in himself his female self, and how he makes peace with it. Through the entire movie, in the majority of the scenes, he’s alone. If you turn off the voice, he will remain strikingly by himself. However, the humanized OS, Samantha helps him out of loneliness and in the last scene, leads him back to his friend, to human company, and he arrives a...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Bioethics AI alienation artificial intelligence chatbot connected digital future loneliness modern social companion social companion robot social media society solitude technology Source Type: blogs