I see this sentiment expressed frequently here, and I find it distressing. It's not a woman, it's a simulation of a human, designed to hack your brain into experiencing emotions that are fundamentally false. A true relationship with a woman, that you can't shut off, or tweak parameters of, or upgrade, or fundamentally control like a toy is much more rewarding and challenging, even if you sometimes experience things that suck like rejection and heartbreak.
This seems obvious to the vast majority of the human population, but here you get called a luddite for saying this fundamental truth.
That seems obvious, but then I considered for a moment how many (in-person) relationships are based on lies, illusions, and misunderstandings about the other person - often not discovered until years into the relationship. With AI, at least you know that it isn't real. Which, maybe, somehow makes it more real...
Bad relationships are expected, they're how you learn who is right for you, how to set and enforce boundaries, etc. They're progress towards learning and building important life skills. We don't want to send the message to people that they're too fragile to handle that.
that's magical thinking. just because some people end up in better relationships doesn't mean it's a natural progression. plenty of people find themselves in a string of bad relationships until they either die or swear off relationships.
There will always be some way to rationalize it, because it will hypothetically make some people feel better at the very least temporarily, and doesn't have obvious long term health effects. The question is does it lead to long term growth, and a productive partnership and truly meaningful connection? Things that we traditionally associate with love.
You can tell yourself that's all just synapses firing in the brain anyway, or a good enough simulation is indistinguishable from reality etc, but I simply don't accept that it will be equivalent and it may come at a signficant long term cost as people don't put in the work and accept the failures associated with trying to find someone for truly meaningful connection.
The association with drugs, and vices, or junk food all make sense to me.
It's not a cure. It's a crutch. And it doesn't even train you for a real relationship because it's so accommodating. It never stands up for itself and has no real needs.
Presumably many of these guys don't see what you're recommending as an option, and so even if it's not as "good", it would be an improvement to their status quo. Also, how is an emotion "fundamentally false"? You could say an emotional is irrational or unwarranted, but in the end you either feel an emotion or you don't. If you do, then it's definitely "true" psychophysiologically speaking.
I think substituting simulation for reality can be analogized as being a bit like drugs. It may bring you thrills and happiness in the short term, but it's going to make you even more unhappy and lonely in the long term.
You are absolutely correct. But for many guys it is like choosing between eternal hunger while being unable to die or eating a preprocessed slop which will make them sick, but feeling slightly better than being hungry.
I'm really not sure I buy this idea that there are many people who are so dramatically off-putting that they can't find a partner at all. Most people, including most extremely unpleasant people, end up in couples.
Star Trek: Voyager had an — in my opinion — fantastic story about this that non-contiguously spanned more than one episode starting with season 6’s “Fair Haven”.
Most people are casuals who prefer easy mode. How many people cheat when they play games? People eventually opting for the solution to fill XYZ need with least friction/blowback possible seems like the most obvious outcome. That's not counting economics, relationship with (some) real women are expensive. We still live in society where there's disproportionate expectation for men to contribute more. Not to mention most people are frankly mid. You hear it from both sides of dating, the options out there suck, because everyone has high expectations, your soul mate might be out there, but the journey to find them maybe long and arduous versus a click. IMO eventually for most people, the real thing won't be as good as tailor crafted artificial thing.
This seems obvious to the vast majority of the human population, but here you get called a luddite for saying this fundamental truth.