Pluralistic II 💫


"Now, let's stipulate for the moment to the idea that chatbots are substitutes for human therapists —that, at the very least, they're better than nothing. I don't think that's true, but let's say it is. Even so, this is a bad tradeoff.

"Here, try this thought-experiment: 
Someone figures out a great business-model for to pay for therapy for poor people:
We turned therapy into a livestreamed reality TV show. If you're too poor to afford a therapist, you can go to one of our partially trained livestreamer therapists, who will broadcast all of your secrets to anyone who watches. There's a permanent archive of these sessions, and the worst people in the world comb through it 24/7 looking for embarrassing stuff to repost and go viral with. What, you don't like that? Oh, I see: you just don't think poor people deserve mental health. I guess the perfect really is the enemy of the good. 

"This gambit is called predatory inclusion.
 
"Think of Spike Lee shilling cryptocurrency scams as a way to 'build Black wealth' or Mary Kay promising to 'empower women' by embroiling them in a bank-account-draining, multi-level marketing cult. 

"Having your personal, intimate secrets sold, leaked, published or otherwise exploited is worse for your mental health than not getting therapy in the first place, in the same way that having your money stolen by a Bitcoin grifter or Mary Kay is worse than not being able to access investment opportunities in the first place."

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