This does not just apply to AI. Uber, AirBNB, Facebook, etc. all basically serve as paid surrogates for what once was done by community.

Sometimes it feels like all digital technology is simply an enterprise to replace human to human contact.

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cpt_sobel 28 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> Sometimes it feels like all digital technology is simply an enterprise to replace human to human contact.

Hasn't it always been the case that technology reduces the contact with other people? Now with cars we don't need to sit next to others on trains, we don't need to ask pedestrians for directions thanks to GPS etc.

	▲	datakan 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Not always no and to your example with cars we've seen the results as upticks in roadrage. The car is treated as a safe little bubble and the other cars aren't people, they are just cars and what you do and say to them doesn't matter. Just like the internet where they aren't people you're talking to, its just text on a screen. Technology has drawbacks, the question is are the drawbacks greater than it's benefits. Part of the answer is personal, some people can handle them better than others. Other parts are societal, what's the impact on society of the people that's can't handle it (mass shooters, roadrage, suicides etc). It's a tough nut to crack.

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antonyt 32 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Facebook, sure, but Uber and AirBNB? I don't see how Uber has displaced some community function. AirBNB is arguably destructive to communities, but again how was community fulfilling the need it attempts to address?

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causal 29 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Before Uber it was totally normal to ask someone, even an acquaintance, for a ride to the airport.

	▲	ilikecakeandpie 7 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You can still ask friends or acquaintances for rides to the airport. The taxi service where I live is absolutely miserable and there's not really any viable public transport options. Pre-Uber and early smartphones, they'd require you to have the exact address of where you were and they'd be there "between 30 minutes and two hours" which is unreasonable and had folks judging if they were actually "good enough" to drive. If they actually showed and picked you up, somehow the credit card machine wouldn't be working and then they'd aggressively insist they'd drive you to an ATM to get cash. It would magically start working if you told them that cash was not an option The taxi service got what was coming to them, at least here they did. They had decades to make their service at least non-hostile to the consumer and instead it just got worse. I'll gladly pay for a rideshare where I can just put in my destination address vs have to deal with that nonsense

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randoments 26 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

with classified ads? or calling the local tourist office? Like people didnt rent a house for their holiday before airbnb

	▲	caymanjim 21 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Short-term home rentals were basically non-existent before Airbnb. A tiny, tiny market for them in some vacation hotspots.
	▲	sumeno 22 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Most people did not rent houses on trips before airbnb