32 comments

  • celticninja a day ago

    Mark has no friends so he assume no one has friends so he makes AI friends.

    I can see this having no adverse effects within, say the incel culture, no adverse affects at all.

    • Bolwin a day ago

      I highly doubt an uber successful guy like him has no friends

    • SpicyLemonZest a day ago

      How do you know that Mark has no friends?

      • shric a day ago

        He likely has people pretending to be his friends, much like the AI friends he proposes.

      • rsynnott 13 hours ago

        That he thinks that this is a good idea would be a pretty strong indicator, in that it implies that he doesn't grasp, at a fundamental level, what friends are.

      • owebmaster a day ago

        I would guess he has zero friends by the way he sees friendship

      • pona-a a day ago

        Game theory?

    • bediger4000 a day ago

      Agreed. He's projecting.

      • moralestapia a day ago

        Zero substance on these comments.

        • celticninja 15 hours ago

          Look he is richer than everyone else he knows. He hangs around with employees all day, they are subservient to him. He doesn't know real friendship because all his relationships are with his wealth.

  • alach11 a day ago

    I think this is really sick. And it's against the mission of Meta.

    It's possible, despite what many of these comments say, to build friendships as an adult. It just takes investment. What has helped me the most is:

    - Bringing connections from one context into another. For example if you have a colleague you like, your relationship can't grow closer unless you start hanging out in a non-work context. Get involved with athletic activities with them. Or if you have similar aged kids, invite them over for a play date while the adults hang out.

    - Combining friend hangouts. If you want 15 friends but only have time to hang with people every couple days, you don't have time to meet with people one-on-one. Organize group events like dinner parties or pot lucks. Also don't restrict these events to be just "work friends" or "pickle ball friends". Cross-pollinate groups.

    - Create local friends. Nothing is more convenient than friends you live next door to. We do porch wine with our neighbors on Monday nights. It takes very little effort to set up a group text and get momentum around something like this.

    • djohnston a day ago

      > - Combining friend hangouts. If you want 15 friends but only have time to hang with people every couple days, you don't have time to meet with people one-on-one. Organize group events like dinner parties or pot lucks. Also don't restrict these events to be just "work friends" or "pickle ball friends". Cross-pollinate groups.

      World's are colliding Jerry! These situations always make me sweat.

  • proc0 a day ago

    I don't think it's there yet. If we knew how the brain's architecture produces consciousness and we could recreate that in software, I would be open minded to have AI replace human interaction, but what Zucc is suggesting is that we build a social (or "para-social"?) relationship with a the output of tensor calculus.

  • nothercastle a day ago

    How do you even manage 15 good friends as an adult? That would be 1 friend a day rotating every 2 weeks. Seems like a lot

    • bloomca a day ago

      It's possible, but you need to be very social. Basically you do group activities every few weeks, some people are friends but live further so you meet them rarely, and some friends either need to live very close to you or share some activities (kids clubs, maybe some fitness activity, maybe work, etc).

      My sister has 10+ friends she actively maintains. I have 2 :)

      • nothercastle a day ago

        I have like 4 close 4 mid and 4 far away friends and then probably another dozen work/activity friends but I don’t think I could maintain them all as close friends just too much upkeep.

    • 8200_unit a day ago

      typically in groups. You can see multiple friends at once

      • nothercastle a day ago

        That helps but managing 3 friend groups at a time Is a huge commitment even for an extrovert. It might be feasible as a college or high-school kid but not as an adult with kids

  • verzali 21 hours ago

    The answer isn't imaginary friends Mark, no matter how much AI you put it in them.

  • luotuoshangdui a day ago

    3 friends is a lot.

    • randomNumber7 a day ago

      It probably depends on how you define "friend".

      • a day ago
        [deleted]
  • andrewstuart a day ago

    “Demand for friends”.

    Describing friends as a supply and demand market business transaction is well … unusual.

    • EA-3167 a day ago

      Every time I hear him speak I can't help, but imagine him licking his eyes like gecko. He's such a deeply bizarre and unappealing man, and possibly the last person on Earth I want to hear about friendship from. I certainly don't want whatever his idea of a friend is.

      • lm28469 a day ago

        Yeah but have you seen his cool sunglasses? And he told Joe Rogan he's into bow hunting, such a cool manly man dude bro!

    • nancyminusone a day ago

      "They are now trying to colonize every minute of your life" - Bo Burnham

  • dirtyhippiefree a day ago

    The man assumes that we want friends who don’t actually exist. Astounding.

    • zeroonetwothree a day ago

      Speak for yourself

      • dirtyhippiefree 14 hours ago

        I humbly apologize.

        I’m definitely not going to stop you from talking to your imaginary friends.

  • brador 19 hours ago

    The top Facebook bot maker software adds 2 friends when you generate a new account.

  • dirtyhippiefree a day ago

    Other discussion on same story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43860755

  • ribcage a day ago

    [dead]