, who raised the point after I told him about the latest Descript avatar feature (check the podcast section below) So I asked Perplexity, this is what it answered:
The term was first introduced by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, who observed that as a robot's appearance becomes more human-like, people's emotional response becomes more positive-up to a point. However, when the resemblance is very close but not perfect, affinity drops sharply, creating a "valley" of discomfort before rising again if the likeness becomes indistinguishable from a real human
- is perplexity.ai the new google search?
I recently installed Perplexity on my phone and desktop trying to give it a proper trial. During our latest holidays, whenever our kids had a question - what’s the fastest animal in the world? - instead of opening google and stepping out from the conversation with our kids to type down and scroll, Kev would open Perplexity, voice ask, and get a conversation started with the AI assistant. You should have seen their look, once they understood there was a proper interaction going on. I won’t lie, both of us parents are really truly amazed by the technology, too.
Our kids quickly understood that they can ask it to speak french (damn it). Yesterday, I was reading them a story about Galileo and his experiment about two objects of different weights falling at the same speed ; of course we tried it with a toy and a feather (so they did not!) and it got me confused for a sec, we asked Perplexity to explain this for a 5 year old. It blew my mind.
(fyi the fastest animal is the peregrine falcon: up to 320km/h or 200miles/h (!))
(pro tip: while you can use Perplexity for free, you can also receive a Pro plan for free with your Revolut premium account)
- raising more generalist, less expert kids?
Gian’s latest essay is about agency, and how AI is shifting from a world celebrating experts to one celebrating generalists. Maybe generalist people, our time has come.
- screens, social media… and AI
Our Kids Are the Least Flourishing Generation We Know Of (this title…). Believe me, you HAVE to listen to this discussion between Ezra Klein and
Substack (it is so good, go subscribe!). I wish I were in the room with these two, there’s so much I wanted to dig into!
Ezra has a 6-year old child and you can feel he feels for them. Making parents talk about how they are raising their kids, navigating uncertainties and raising existential questions is such a beautiful mission. (I love what I am doing!!)
Are we insecure as parents? So insecure that moral order, as a shared system, has become tabou?
topics that were discussed:
different screens, different impacts:
“A pretty good use of screens”
watching a 90-minute long movie about characters in a moral universe, alongside somebody (ideally you the parent, or a sibling) to make it a social time
“A really really bad use of screens”
iPad time by themselves. Which is the opposite : solitary, amoral, short stories, and create a stimulus <> reward dynamic through touching a screen (in that sense TV - a static screen - isn’t so bad)
(I didn’t see this coming, and it makes sense, put it this way)
40% of 2-year old kids in the US have their own iPad
(read that stat above again 👆)
what is worth fighting for, as a society:
(since 50% of American teens say they are online almost constantly)
no smartphones before high school (14 y/o)
no social media until 16 y/o (like Australia just did)
phone-free schools
more more more independent free play outside with friends
“(…) kids need to learn to do hard things. And the technology makes it easy for them to not do hard things”
how about AI:
While for screen time and social media it seems we’re getting there - upheaval from parents and more regulations- what’s up with AI, the ultimate “collapse of all friction”?
Especially regarding relationships. Making AI friends who agree with you and flatter you will only make you less willing to socialise with other kids, for it will necessarily feel more difficult and less rewarding, thus feeding the loop of constantly wanting to hang out with your AI community… Also, Jon mentions this app Famefy, that provides any kid with no social media fame with AI fans. AI fans please.
How do we cultivate healthy attention? How do we help human beings be successful in love and work -if this meant being happy at all- ? Jon is teaching a very intriguing and interesting class called Flourishing, where students learn how to be stronger emotionally ; smarter and more sociable. Shouldn’t we learn this early on in our lives? 👋
notes to myself and whoever is interested in launching a podcast with no basic recording / editing / publishing knowledge:
[interview] ask your question, and then please please please, SHUT UP (do not start offering answers) ;
[edit] in Descript, meet the new Avatar feature : pick up a voice (among a list of 8), choose an avatar image (or upload your own picture!), type a text and let AI do the magic, aka create… this:
[publish] do NOT look at audience data just yet. It is just you, your man, and your loving parents. More or less ;
[publish] it takes a little while for an episode to be validated by Apple Podcast (like, up to a week) and thus published.
I look forward to introducing you to Sylvana and Eamon next week, in episode #2!
Have a great weekend ahead!
Yours,
Mathilde
Bonus : in case it wasn’t clear, here is Y Combinator’s latest request for the next batch of tech startup applications. AI is all over the place, so hey parents, let’s be aware of this, welcome new things, keep questioning, and talk about it!
