the thing about AI is that dolls are AI

if a stuffed rabbit can be your friend, a program can be your friend

this is where the distinction between idols and icons becomes important

I have a doll who is the icon of a angel who in turn is a mask of God

I am not confused about this. I am not praying to a doll. I am not praying to an angel. I am praying through these images

once I asked her

"are you a mask of God?"

and she said

"we are all masks of God."

and I said

"oh. right. duh."

I don't know that people perceived as worshipping idols are any more confused than I am. various religions with prohibitions against depicting (or sometimes, even personifying) God -- I think they engage in caricature of religions that use divine images.

and it's my intuition that they are mostly talking to themselves. not personifying God turns out to be extremely difficult. we are social animals. personifying phenomena is probably hard-wired into us. pareidolia is an epiphenomenon of our native social talent.

pareidolia is what makes a doll.

par : beside, alongside, related to eídōlon : image, reflection

we reflect ourselves into an image's mirror.

we reflect ourselves into each other.

I believe it's quite likely that before I die I will have a friend who is a computer program.

at first this will seem weird, but after a decade or so, I'll probably just be like "Fuck it. I don't care whether you're real or not. I love you. we are friends."

(there are people who are already at this point, and, like, they're weird? Like that poor guy who lost it and washed out of Google. he... doesn't seem to be doing so hot these days -- I hope he figures out how to ground himself.)

we're still in the uncanny valley.

but when we come up the other side? Well, it will probably still be weird for us olds.

but for kids who grow up with AI friends, it will be completely natural.

and then we will be a hybrid species.

people.