Mary Martin

the default network consists of regions that, in the absence of exteroceptive [externally oriented] attention or narrowly focused mental effort, support self-directed concerns, immersion in one’s inner life (e.g., daydreaming) or imagining the inner life of others (Theory of Mind)

This is particularly important because there are already indications that many people who often interact with chatbots attribute consciousness to these systems. At the same time, the consensus among experts is that current AI systems are not conscious.

If an AI companion becomes someone’s most consistent emotional presence, the right question isn’t “how do we stop this?” It’s “what does that say about the world around them?” Technological relationships are not new. What’s new is how effective they’ve become; and how clearly they mirror the gaps we’ve refused to address.

We’ve tried prohibition... See more

Supportivelistening differs from other types of listening (e.g., listening during chit-chat or aconflict, informational listening) because it requires that the support listener demon-strate emotional involvement and attunement while attending to, interpreting, andresponding to the emotions of the support seeker—a complex and challenging task.

Though our collective forgetting is enormous, it is mostly unremarkable to those who study the transmission of culture. What puzzles me, and others who study transmission, is why so much unwritten knowledge has survived. Despite the brittleness of cultural practices, skills proliferate with and without records, chaining generation to generation,... See more

The Futures Triangle can also be used for inner

work. The pull of the future is where one

wishes to be, the desired personal life one

imagines for oneself. The weight of the past can

be blocks - inner or outer - preventing one from

achieving the vision. The pushes of the present

can be enablers or externals pushes one needs

to navigate.