#08: artificial intimacy
what's worth reading
Dear reader,
Lately I’ve been thinking about how much of ourselves we’ve started outsourcing — our memories, our attention, even our need for companionship. This week’s essays trace that uneasy hand-off: from the illusion of friendship offered by AI to the ways technology may be dulling our collective thought. But there’s also solace in the art of forgetting, in the freedom of giving up, and in the reminder that beauty still answers back when the world grows dark.
Warmly,
Lou Blaser
Resident Curator
Companionship Without Companions
Rob Horning | Internal Exile | August 4, 2024
An unsettling look at what happens when machines learn to mimic care. From Meta’s customizable chatbots to OnlyFans proxies and “emotional toys,” the writer explores how responsiveness itself becomes the new currency of intimacy — friendship without friends, attention without anyone attending. (1672 words)
Are we living in a stupidogenic society?
Daisy Christodoulou | No More Marking | August 24, 2025
What if every shortcut we take — GPS, calculators, even autocomplete — chips away at something essential in us? Starting from a grandmother’s quick market-stall arithmetic, this essay unfolds into a sharp, sobering reflection on how progress might be dulling the very minds that made it possible. “Every solution contains within it the seed of a new problem.” (1980 words)
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