Liam Huang WikiCommons

Great post by Joe Allen of Singularity Weekly!  Quote:  Chatbots are designed to trigger anthropomorphism.  Except for a few neuro-divergent types, our brains are wired to perceive these bots as people.  With the right stimulus, we’re like the little boy who’s certain his teddy bear gets lonesome, or that the shadows have eyes. Tech companies are well aware of this and use it to their advantage.  

In my view, the most important issue is what these machines are doing to us.  The potential to control others via human-machine interface is extraordinary. Modern society teems with lonely, unstable individuals, each one primed for artificial companionship and psychic manipulation.  With chatbots getting more sophisticated, even relatively stable people are vulnerable.  Young digital natives are most at risk.

Read full post here.