Dr. Arthur Brooks argues that AI and social media algorithms won't make us happy because they ignore what we actually need: love and connection. Eye contact and touch trigger oxytocin in ways no technology can replicate. In-person interaction, not simulated online connection, is what humans are built for.
People are like, oh, is AI going to make us happy or unhappy? It's like, it's a wrong question. AI is a complicated solution to the complex problems of life. It's not going to help us in the things that we really want. There's a reason I study love and happiness, because I'm in the complex problems business. I'll give you an example. People want love and they're lonely. And so we develop something like social media, which is a complicated solution to a complex problem. And all it does is makes us lonelier. It's an algorithm that actually, that is a simulation of the human experience. It sets you up with people to have a interact with virtually. It gives you nothing of what you actually want. There's a neuropeptide in the brain called oxytocin that you actually need, which only comes from eye contact and touch. The reason we're doing the podcast right now in person is because we're looking at each other. That creates oxytocin. It creates a human bond, a human link. We have a much better conversation as a result of that. You don't get it when the complicated algorithm simulates the social experience, which is the complex issue that we're trying to solve.
