this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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Source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Soulmate

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Someday the machine will give you everything you want, and the pretenses will be dropped so rapidly it'll be heartbreaking.

Bonus panel

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Both can be true.

When you're cultivating a relationship with a real person their wants and desires also factor into your choices, assuming you aren't a psychopath. They will want different things from you, and keeping that to themselves and never pushing back just makes them miserable and builds resentment. Similarly, you don't want to impose unreasonable expectations on them. Whether that's related to their behaviour or their appearance, no one can reasonably expect to get exactly what they want 100% of the time, and that's part of a healthy relationship.

...but if you're constructing an artificial partner from a blank slate that's completely bespoke to you, to choose anything other than an idealized match for all your desires is frankly insane, and to pretend otherwise is simply disingenuous.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I got sooooo lucky and just found a copy of me. That’s not what everyone wants, but they’re exactly the perfect match for me. We’re together 24/7 and have been for over a decade. No fights. I wish the same success for everyone who deserves it (everyone who isn’t a piece of shit)!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If you think about it, the pieces of shit deserve exactly that copy of themselves too!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

Shit, good point. Just hope they don’t reproduce.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 6 months ago

Please share this diagram.

[–] WayTooDank 20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Haha yes! I also think that public praise of healthy, stable personalities and realistic body standards is insincere grandstanding.

[–] riodoro1 10 points 6 months ago

Everything said by a person when other people are around is a lie to some extent

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

can i have cuter laptop

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I predict that once robotics and AI advanced beyond some particular threshold, human-on-human relationships will be seen as strange and needlessly fetishistic. Who would want some grimey partner with their own needs when you can generate an infinitely moldable soulmate?

[–] kromem 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Have you ever used cheat codes in games?

Sometimes dealing with imperfections and adversity is vastly more enjoyable than getting everything you think you want.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 6 months ago

You say that and yet almost any competitive online game is rife with cheaters, while single player games have tons of easily available trainers and god mode mods.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I already know people who would marry their cell phone if it had a wet hole.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

A wet hole does not make a phone better. Don't bother trying.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

forget about wet hole sentience better

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Sentience or sapience?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

There are many people (mostly in Japan where that's legal) who literally have.

[–] surewhynotlem 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It's like cheat codes in games. That sounds fantastic, but people were very quickly get bored of it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You would think so, wouldn't you? But how is it any different than fast food, porn, or trash tv?

[–] adrian783 -1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

you don't make your own fastfood, porn or trash tv. so it's like, completely different. being able to mold your partner doesn't assume a quick process and shallow results.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You don't make your own robot lover either. You do select it, same as you select your fast food order, porn video, and TV channel.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Imagine a Nexus Mods for AI personalities and bodyshapes.

[–] pennomi 0 points 6 months ago

I strongly disagree. Cheat codes provided infinite possibilities in an otherwise static game. The only reason don’t use cheat codes today is because they evolved into sandbox mode, console commands, and mods. And trust me, Skyrim would be long dead without those.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That sounds like a dystopia, why even have humans at that point

[–] pennomi 1 points 6 months ago

Heck, why even have humans at this point?