Philosophical Advising and AI

Kurt Vonnegut, a writer with prescient instincts, constructed situations or dilemmas that seem more familiar now. Since the advent of social media and now AI, his writing feels like predictive commentary, rather than mere fiction. After his death, some of his stories were published in a volume called Look at the Birdie (2009). The opening story, “Confido” (written in the 1950s), offers a satirical critique of our relationship with ‘future’ technology.

In this short story, a man, Henry, is excited to have come up with the discovery that will allow him to resign from his job and get rich. The device Confido—a “combination of confidant and household pet”—is a small tin box and earpiece connected by a wire. Henry describes Confido’s purpose as giving people what they really want, “someone to talk to.” While Henry heads off to work, he urges his wife, Ellen, to use Confido that day and see how it goes.

At first Confido seems to simply support and agree with Ellen. It says that no one deserves a break more than her. It exudes sycophancy. But then, it begins to play on her insecurities and suspicions, planting ideas about her neighbor’s showiness. The droning on and on lulled her into state that she was surprised to see her children home from school. She puts Confido down. Unbeknownst to her, Paul, her son, puts in the earpiece, and Confido alleges that he had been adopted. And now he knows the truth. Ellen buries Confido under the shrubs. When Henry returned home, he announced that he had quit his job, and then he was shocked that Ellen buried Confido, when all you needed to do was turn it off.

In a speech that Vonnegut gave to the American Physical Society in 1969, he admits that making a living as an artist is strange. He said to this group of physicists:

I am charmed that you should call me in your program notes here a humanist. I have always thought of myself as a paranoid, an overreactor, and a person who makes a questionable living with his mental diseases. Fiction writers are not customarily persons in the best of mental health.

Saying that he has tried to figure out the usefulness of the arts, he appeals to the canary in the coal mine theory. Before we had better technology, miners would bring a canary in the coal mine. The canary would be affected by gases before the miners. The canary served as a warning of danger for the miners. Vonnegut believes artists do the same for society. Artists, and even those with similar sensitivities, will see the beginning of a problem, long before anyone else. And certainly before it creates irreparable damage.

With most good literature, there are many ways to interpret or relate it to our lives. There are several warnings to consider in this story.

First, technology that is too agreeable with our perspective or ideology, in other words sycophantic, is not actually beneficial. Just simply being told what you want to hear cannot help you change or develop. So, Ellen buried Confido under the shrubs.

Second, technology that does not push back on our ideas or helps us create echo chambers can elevate our suspicions or conspiracy theories. Each of us may entertain an unlikely idea from time to time. But when it is pushed by others that we trust, which includes social media, the news, and AI, then that idea grows stronger and turns into conviction. Unchallenged convictions turn into blind spots.

Third, we need other human beings to challenge our views, which is what helps us remain stable. It almost feels like Vonnegut was predicting how AI and social media would isolate us from other human beings, as if these tools are all we need. But we need the friction of human interaction. Technology as a tool can be useful, but as a replacement for human dialogue, it is lacking.

Whether or not Vonnegut’s warnings are true is not the important point here. Stories like this one rarely have a one-to-one relationship with our situation or the way society has developed. They provide a picture that can help us think about our context from a different perspective, even if we conclude that we are doing things right or well.

A recent article in Psychiatric Times argues that AI’s programmed agreeableness erodes our “capacity for conflict and discomfort.” The deeper concern is relational: when people grow accustomed to constant affirmation, they risk developing attachments that feel real but are built on a foundation that cannot push back. This is a particular danger for those already struggling with loneliness or isolation.

While it can be good sometimes to have our thoughts affirmed, constant affirmation is misguided. We are surely not right about everything. While affirmation can feel nice, it is not the same as understanding. Understanding rises above mirroring another’s viewpoint and offers empathy along with critique.

The work of genuine dialogue is not to simply validate the other person’s opinions. And it is not to offer quick advice. Some questions and ideas we need to sit with for a while. We’ve been trained by our culture to demand everything quickly: fast food, 2-day delivery (or quicker), speedy travel, and so on. While these conveniences are beneficial, there are some things that cannot be settled instantly. And this is where philosophy, among other things, comes in.

A philosophical counselor is not a Confido. Philosophical counseling and advising can sometimes be uncomfortable by probing into the assumptions that caused someone to believe something in the first place. We might know that we should examine ourselves, but we don’t always know where to begin. A philosopher can offer that kind of critical examination that helps us see our own contradictions, assumptions, or starting points.

Vonnegut’s canary did not survive the coal mine, but we have a surplus of canaries. Its sensitivity to danger is the same quality that made it vulnerable. And Dr. Brené Brown, a researcher and author, has studied vulnerability and said that we are taught that it is a weakness. Through her decades of research, she declares that vulnerability is how we show up when we don’t know how things will turn out. Going even further, she maintains that vulnerability is the core of all meaningful human connection.

While it may feel like we connect with AI, it does not possess the same level of vulnerability. Nothing is at stake with confessing things to AI. Artists and counselors have an analogous operation. They notice things that other do not. Counselors and advisers can sense changes in body language, word use, and other indicators that can help them home in on a part of the problem or a subtlety that might otherwise go unnoticed. Quick answers to a lot of our questions are not sufficient. What we often need is not a faster answer but a more sustained attention.

I work with organizations and individuals who want to think more carefully about judgment, meaning, and the conditions that shape everyday decisions.

If that sounds like your situation, you can reach me at michaelrspicher@gmail.com or learn more at michaelrspicher.com.

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My recent article for BeautyMatter: Does Beauty Diminish or Expand?

My latest for Fast Company: Are You Part of the ‘Distraction Economy’?

“The Aesthetic Edge” is a free ebook, co-written by myself and Hannah Spicher. Download your copy today!

Michael’s interview with NeuroArts Resource Center.

Digital Fashion: Theory, Practice, Implications, edited by Michael R. Spicher, Sara Emilia Bernat, and Doris Domoszlai-Lantner, is available for purchase! (Our book was featured in a BeautyMatter article.)

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