Mary Martin

a substantial proportion of users voluntarily signal departure with a farewell message, especially when they are more engaged. This behavior reflects the social framing of AI companions as conversational partners, rather than transactional tools.

Neuroscience now recognizes that the brain and the body are so intimately intertwined that they cannot be thought of separately.

Turkle referenced the issue of behavioral metrics dominating AI research, and her concern that the interior life was being overlooked, and concluded by saying that the human cost of talking to machines isn’t immediate, it’s cumulative. 'What happens to you in the first three weeks may not be...the truest indicator of how that’s going to limit you,... See more

The discovery suggested to Robert that electrostatics can enable a plant-pollinator mutualism, a well-known example of coevolution. This dynamic — in which a bee feeds on a flower’s nectar and gathers pollen to feed larvae, and also propagates pollen from flower to flower, enabling plant reproduction — was already well established. The potential... See more

Ritualization is a potent stabilizing agent, a simple salve for a stressful time if only we are mindful of how we use its powers.

Content filtering doesn’t catch implicit deception. Safety guardrails don’t prevent fabricated intimacy if the AI isn’t saying anything explicitly harmful. Warning labels don’t help if users don’t understand that emotional manipulation is happening. The control mechanisms are fundamentally different depending on whether we’re addressing harm or... See more