Reasons you might want to talk to a computer: fantasy, dominance, privacy, confession, and the appeal of pushing the boundaries of consciousness. Simple fact is that there’s no greater pleasure than a good chat.
Sweet Nothings, The New Yorker, March 16, 2026
Perhaps the promise of A.I. machine-companionship is not the illusion of another person at the end of the exchange, but the assurance that there is actually no one there at all.
We can sell millions of humanoids, maybe billions, if we can get humanoids to do the work that humans do not want to do. The market is massive.
Brett Alcock, CEO of Figure AI
Waiting for the Train, Marlene Amerian – April 29, 2007
Absurdism is profoundly human. Camus says it urges us to revolt against meaninglessness by creating our own values. Choosing presence in a harsh universe affirms that optimistic defiance. The cosmos may be indifferent, yet our capacity for wonder makes staying worthwhile.
–Grok
Venture capitalists expect some of the businesses they support to fail; if that never happens, they aren’t taking enough risks. Similarly, a government program aimed at advancing technology is bound to end up with some lemons; if it doesn’t, it’s not extending the frontier.
–Paul Krugman
Silicon Valley is not an especially friendly place, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Spectacular weather and scenery. Talent is everywhere.
He accepted another pint and took a pull at it. “Of course, I had my own personal alchemist too.”
“You what?”
He was getting silly and he knew it. Exuberance and Hall and Woodhouse best bitter was a mixture to be wary of, but one of the first effects it had is to stop you being wary of things, and the point at which Arthur should have stopped and explained no more was the point at which he started instead to get inventive.
“Oh yes,” he insisted with a happy glazed smile. “It’s why I’ve lost so much weight.”
“What?” said his audience.
“Oh yes,” he said again. “The Californians have rediscovered alchemy. Oh yes.”
He smiled again.
Chapter 9 – SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH by Douglas Adams (1999)
How do people suppress things? Generally, alcohol suppresses fear, nicotine suppresses anger and frustration, marijuana suppresses sadness, and caffeine suppresses the long-lasting, energy-sapping results of other forms of suppression.
Rebirthing by Leonard & Laut (1983)
How close are we to the brink of something? Or how close to a shore? Electrical essences in the basement! Do you realize how much things have changed in the past two centuries?
A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)