This is why boredom can feel so surprisingly, aggressively unpleasant: we tend to think of it merely as a matter of not being particularly interested in whatever it is we’re doing, but in fact it’s an intense reaction to the deeply uncomfortable experience of confronting your limited control. Boredom can strike in widely differing contexts—when... See more

Can an AI be bored?

Emotion is a human cognitive function, and it would, therefore, be very difficult to simulate in an AI or AI-controlled robot; boredom may probably be the most difficult emotion to simulate at all. It may become possible to implement “happy” or “sad” emotions in silico, by making an AI or robot learn from happy and sad examples.... See more

She thought about that for a moment. “But it’s so boring,” she said. “Yes, that’s true,” I said. “Boredom is not just boring. It can also be terrifying. It forces us to come face-to-face with bigger questions of meaning and purpose. But boredom is also an opportunity for discovery and invention. It creates the space necessary for a new thought to

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