alt Hacker NewsThis point of view is twisted and disturbing.
I'm sorry for those who don't have people in their lives, but machines aren't a substitute, and that lack shouldn't be used to justify a right to unbounded freedom to experiment without regard for the possible negative consequences.
The point of technology is to alleviate want. We wanted for food, therefore we created better technology to grow food. We wanted for shelter, therefore we created technologies to give us shelter...
For someone starving, it matters not that their fortified oatmeal ration is tasteless gruel. It's food. Is it the ideal apotheosis of food? Of course not. Nor is it a hearty meal of pot roast, stew and potatoes. But it is something.
There are a lot of people who are very vulnerable in this world, and providing them with an entity that will act in their ethical interest – helping to grow, and giving them paths to resources and human community – is an infinitely better outcome than them falling through the cracks and ending up in abusive relationships or cults and gangs.
I think it's the most humane application of technology possible. It ameliorates a fundamental want with a healthy stopgap, and it's something humans have longed fantasized about.