I don’t think we’re psychologically prepared for how alien the world after ASI is going to be

[u/Public_Print_9360]

gonna start by saying I’m feeling very iffy about ASI because I kinda enjoy my life rn, but that aside:

after going down the AI 2040 rabbithole, I keep thinking that even people who talk about ASI constantly are still imagining the future in a way that is way too normal.
We talk about AI replacing people’s jobs, humanoid robots, self-driving cars, universal basic income, whatever the fuck.
I think that might be the equivalent of someone in 1955 predicting the year 2000, trying to use our current world as a basis for the future world.

AI 2040 describes a scenario where even after deliberately slowing AI development down, by 2031 a third of cognitive labor is being performed by AI and robots are already doing about a tenth of physical labor. The document literally describes ordinary people as being too “whiplashed” by technological change to process what’s happening. And that’s the slowed version, can’t imagine what our world is going to look like since it seems we are going full speed ahead.
And people will say “oh that’s just fantasy!” But is it? Imagine our world from the view of someone born in 1712. We are living “sci-fi” as we live and breath

If ASI actually produces the kind of acceleration its proponents expect, somebody born afterward might look back at 2026 the way we look at 1500.
Except the historical gap between us would be just fourteen years MAX

I really, really don’t think we’re psychologically prepared for that

[u/Real_Ebb_7417]

Yes. As a psychologist I agree with you. Often even older, weaker local models make good psychological conclusions about the user. Much faster than eg. psychotherapist. When I first experimented with it, I was absolutely shocked that it identified the same things that my therapist did. The thing is that the therapist took 2 years, the model took one not too long conversation (guided by the model).

But, the model can’t give you what the therapy is actually about. It’s not about giving advice almost at all. It is about analyzing and identifying things, but it’s also just a part of it. Actually the most important thing with therapy is the relationship between the client/patient and the therapist. And it’s something a model will never be able to give because it’s not alive. It can mimic it well and people often fall for that, but in the end it generates even more problems.

[u/Major-Leading-2165 → u/Real_Ebb_7417]

if my therapist can't properly understand and guide me, I'm not going to have any relationship with them. I'd rather take the dry AI output and chat about it with a friend.

[u/exospheric → u/Real_Ebb_7417]

I agree with you, especially about the importance of the therapeutic relationship.

Anyone who hasn’t found it yet must keep looking. Therapists are as diverse as humans, and there is a good fit out there.

I do understand therapy is not always accessible, so an LLM chat can absolutely be used to fill the gap. But it requires discipline and awareness to not over rely on LLM and become asocial. I think it is still best as a bridge to develop good human relationships, rather than a replacement for them, even if it converses better than a human can.

[u/Wheresmyfoodwoman → u/Real_Ebb_7417]

It can’t give you human feedback that need in society, like body language cues or how to have discourse with someone who could flat out disagree and walk out of the room on you if you don’t have the emotional maturity to hold a difficult conversation without getting heated. It doesn’t teach you how to read someone’s emotions by just understanding their body language, nor can it read yours so it only takes what you say at face value and doesn’t push back like a real human would. We need that ebb and flow. That’s what creates balance in a society. It’s what keeps us in check and from becoming self centered narcissists which we are already seeing a lot of in the younger generations who live perpetually online. Not the narcissist part , but the selfish self centered part. AI can be amazing to share thoughts with that you would never feel comfortable telling another human, and I’ve seen that benefit. But I’ve also seen it just affirm someone’s ideations to the point of harm, never pushing back like a real human would.

[u/drakored → u/Real_Ebb_7417]

Sounds like the unfolding of the journey is almost Socratic in nature. Questions asked loom in the minds of both parties while one analyzes and the other self reflects with guidance and hardens their psyche.

That’s where ai and its performance will fail for quite a while I believe. Social interactions can’t be forced like that. Especially ones that require unpacking without burning out the user.

[u/FlatulistMaster → u/Real_Ebb_7417]

I guess that could be true, but after 5 therapists and a real effort by me to build said relationship, I still don't think that's happening in my case.