If the user perceives the chatbot as caring for them and finds the product an effective means of help, does the lack of genuine emotion matter? Is it just the relevant behaviour (expressing empathy) that matters, or is it the source that drives this behaviour (the feeling of empathy) that matters when considering the ethics of these products? — Ellie For
It's quite good at providing warm sounding stock responses for short statements of feeling. — fdrake
"talking to Woebot makes it easier to talk to their partner or a therapist”. — Ellie For
Sounds pretty human to me! — petrichor
We should try hard to regard them as a thou, maybe even in Buber's sense of I and Thou, where there is a true intersubjective encounter, not a regarding of the other as object, and not a regarding of the other as a means to further our own interests, even if those interests be such things as our own high moral character. — petrichor
does that mean Effective Empathy is skill based not emotion based? — Mark Dennis
Not to be cynical, but do we really know when some one genuinely cares about our troubles? Certainly there can be many motives and many filters. At some level don't we project the meaning and relief upon the helpful empathy that we believe we are receiving? — Monitor
I would think the chatbot would be at least as effective at imitating empathy as I am :smile: — ZhouBoTong
And yet, we are social animals. We do not flourish in solitude. We need human contact like we need food. — Monitor
Perhaps the chatbot provides an easy candy (false food) when we need immediate gratification. — Monitor
Similar to that episode from Seinfeld where George's mom receives advice from an 'Asian' lady on the phone which she considers to be gospel. Yet once she learns that the 'Asian' lady is actually 'Caucasian', that advice is rendered meaningless. This would be value maybe acquired through stereotypes. — JoeStamos
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