From "My Therapist, the Robot," about Woebot, an A.I. chatbot therapist, by the anthropologist Barclay Bram.
September 27, 2022
"As time passed, I began subtly trying Woebot’s exercises out on my parents, a captive audience during lockdown."
"Could I reframe my way to a better relationship with my dad? Woebot would get me to try to articulate my own feelings more clearly, and to recognize my own role in our conflicts. Easier said than done; still, I did try. One evening over dinner my dad was clearly agitated. He was barely speaking, and when he did it was to interrupt my mother. I started to cut him off in return, but then I remembered what Woebot had taught me. It was shortly after our family member had died. 'Dad, we’re both upset. I can tell something is up. I mean, you must be grieving. Are you OK?' He slammed his hands on the table and stormed out of the room. 'I don’t know how to be vulnerable!' he screamed on his way out the door. I looked at my mum and we burst out laughing. 'Is this … a breakthrough?'"
From "My Therapist, the Robot," about Woebot, an A.I. chatbot therapist, by the anthropologist Barclay Bram.
From "My Therapist, the Robot," about Woebot, an A.I. chatbot therapist, by the anthropologist Barclay Bram.
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21 comments:
"Woe-bot" seems dismissive of the patient's struggles.
Condescension is the novel relief.
Many mental health professionals might just as well be robots.
A Turing Test codicil: if I can tell that I am speaking with a computer, but prefer it to speaking with humans, well, good for me and ok then.
""Woe-bot" seems dismissive of the patient's struggles."
I know. I kept thinking this might be a satire of some sort. I looked up the word before putting the post up. It's a real AI device.
I tried Woebot out and also had my kid try it.
It is exactly like the CBT you get from a therapist. (Many therapists have minimal training and basically use workbooks/algorithms to deliver CBT for depression and anxiety)
The plus is that it's also free, convenient, and more frequent.
A lot of therapy is 'self help books delivered with a human interface for accountability.' Woebot works for the accountability and sense of another voice.
I totally recommend downloading it and putting it through its paces. It can be a useful tool.
"Bibliotherapy" is now a thing. Not that your therapist should be a machine, but if -- in keeping with today's scientistic, posthumanist trend -- you think of a favorite book as an algorithm that corresponds in some way to the algorithm that is you, then your therapist ought to have some familiarity with and appreciation of the book. Or you could write your own book, and your therapy could provide some starving lit major with remunerative work.
woe = a common exclamation of lament.
bot = Its modern use has curious affinities with earlier uses, such as "parasitical worm or maggot" (1520s), of unknown origin; and Australian-New Zealand slang "worthless, troublesome person" (World War I-era).
troll = supernatural being in Scandinavian mythology and folklore, 1610s (with an isolated use mid-14c.), from Old Norse troll "giant being not of the human race, evil spirit, monster." Some speculate that it originally meant "creature that walks clumsily," and derives from Proto-Germanic *truzlan, from *truzlanan (see troll (v.)). But it seems to have been a general supernatural word, such as Swedish trolla "to charm, bewitch;" Old Norse trolldomr "witchcraft."
"'I don’t know how to be vulnerable!' he screamed on his way out the door" is a shining example of narm.
From the website TVTropes:
"Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive melodrama, unneeded use of foul language, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost to the point of surpassing 'cheesy' and becoming unintentionally funny."
I don't buy the scenario as described. The dialogue does not ring true. No father would respond in that way given the words of the child, and the two people left at the dining table would not laugh given the issue at hand. My assessment is this is a made up story. (Or at least highly edited to drive the point.)
"Woe-bot" seems dismissive of the patient's struggles.
Or it could give those who are a little depressed a pleasant chuckle, even if it doesn't help them solve their problems. That's of no use if you are desperate, but a lot of people who try therapy aren't desperate, or at least are struggling not to be.
I wondered if "bot" was a word Shakespeare used, and found out that there is a Shakespeare-bot or Willbot, who/that/which turns your words into Shakesperean language.
I wond'r'd if 't be true "bot" w're a w'rd shakespeare hath used, and hath found out yond th're is a shakespeare-bot 'r willbot, who is't/that/which turns thy w'rds into shakesp'rean language
Maye it's all just thees, thous and a lot of apostrophes
"Woe-bot" seems dismissive of the patient's struggles.
Or it could give those who are a little depressed a pleasant chuckle, even if it doesn't help them solve their problems. That's of no use if you are desperate, but a lot of people who try therapy aren't desperate, or at least are struggling not to be.
I wondered if "bot" was a word Shakespeare used, and found out that there is a Shakespeare-bot or Willbot, who/that/which turns your words into Shakesperean language.
I wond'r'd if 't be true "bot" w're a w'rd shakespeare hath used, and hath found out yond th're is a shakespeare-bot 'r willbot, who is't/that/which turns thy w'rds into shakesp'rean language
Maye it's all just thees, thous and a lot of apostrophes
You upset your dad to the point he left the room, and then you laughed at him on his way out.
If this is what Woebot teaches you for coping, toss it.
"It's a real AI device."
Bit of an oxymoron, that.
Men used to have the club, and their bar.
Women had their hair salon, and clubs.
But then that was determined to be sexist. Because it is, and it needs to be.
Self help programs are all the rage for like situated people.
Twelve Step programs work as groups, but also one on one sponsorship.While not a rule, strongly suggested, the sponsor, sponsee be of the same sex. As the needed honesty, and revealing of details, most don't even share with a spouse, breeds an emotional intimacy, most seldom experience. So sexual relationships combust spontaneously.
But going the woke route has created talking to robots, rather than your barkeep.
I desperately want to tell it that "I have these nightmarish visions, that are the manifestation of pure evil" just to see what it does.
"I don’t know how to be vulnerable!"
This is the point where I start assuming that the writer is lying to me.
The episode with the father reminded me of a related experience I had, so I believe it is authentic.
I had been living at my parents' house for a brief period while I was going back to study fine arts. My car was parked in the driveway and one morning when I was on my way to school I discovered my father in my car trying to back it out and he was having a problem because it was difficult to back up on an incline. My problem was that my father had never asked for my keys or for me to make a copy of my keys so how was he even doing this? When I questioned him in all innocence he went ballistic and then proceeded to saw down a young tree I had planted in a location my mother had strategically chosen to provide shade. So there was quite a tumult, to say the least. I did not have the benefit of a robot or a therapist to handle this and attempted to ignore it and get on with my life. Amazingly one of my art professors picked up on my upset and inquired what had happened. And then he suggested that when I went home I should approach my father and tell him I loved him. Alright, I thought, that's out of our normal patterns but I'll just do it. So later I went into my father's office, he was a psychiatrist (lol), and told him I loved him. Oh God, the look on his face -- he just froze and his face went white like he had seen a monster f**king his mother. Kind of the equivalent of the guy having to leave the room and shouting I can't be vulnerable. The only big difference in the stories is I didn't have anyone to laugh with and I just went back to my life. At least not until now.
My future ex and I were staying with her parents at their house in suburban dc when young. Her dad was a B24 squadron navigator with 40 missions over the Ruhr and Berlin in ww2. He was a vp at an aircraft company. Her mother would delay dinner to get him mad then pick at him while he was eating. He would get upset and leave the room and they would both laugh.
That’s when I knew my wife would be an ex. And she was.
I think that someone should make a Jordan Peterson bot
Not sure if you’ve seen the movie “space station 76”
But I think you’d like it.
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