This is good stuff and fits nicely with your recent story, Fleeing the Emerald City. Maybe the personal A.I. will simply present some options to us that our "normal" thoughts wouldn't usually go to. Perhaps a voice of reason when we are angry, or that little voice saying, "This too shall pass."
Bob, thanks for reading and thanks again for the callback to "Fleeing the Emerald City" (https://bradberens.substack.com/p/fleeing-the-emerald-city-a-microfiction)! I actually hadn't made that connection. Yes, the optimistic case is that an AI will be able to help us manage the moods and behaviors that we dislike about ourselves, but then are you the same self at that moment? Kahneman's work on the lack of care the remembering self has for the experiencing self is applicable, here. Also, I like your idea of the little voice that says "this too shall pass," and where my mind went was the person standing behind Roman emperors parading in triumph who whispered "memento mori," which translates to "remember: you're gonna die someday." There's an even more dystopic version of this (like Huxley's "Brave New World" but with 21st century drug delivery technology), but that's more of a phone call kind of thing. Always great to hear from you.
This is good stuff and fits nicely with your recent story, Fleeing the Emerald City. Maybe the personal A.I. will simply present some options to us that our "normal" thoughts wouldn't usually go to. Perhaps a voice of reason when we are angry, or that little voice saying, "This too shall pass."
Bob, thanks for reading and thanks again for the callback to "Fleeing the Emerald City" (https://bradberens.substack.com/p/fleeing-the-emerald-city-a-microfiction)! I actually hadn't made that connection. Yes, the optimistic case is that an AI will be able to help us manage the moods and behaviors that we dislike about ourselves, but then are you the same self at that moment? Kahneman's work on the lack of care the remembering self has for the experiencing self is applicable, here. Also, I like your idea of the little voice that says "this too shall pass," and where my mind went was the person standing behind Roman emperors parading in triumph who whispered "memento mori," which translates to "remember: you're gonna die someday." There's an even more dystopic version of this (like Huxley's "Brave New World" but with 21st century drug delivery technology), but that's more of a phone call kind of thing. Always great to hear from you.