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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsToday’s Apps Are Turning Us Into Sociopaths
Wired:While I am far from a Luddite who fetishizes a life without tech, we need to consider the consequences of this latest batch of apps and tools that remind us to contact significant others, boost our willpower, provide us with moral guidance, and encourage us to be civil. Taken together, were observing the emergence of tech that doesnt just augment our intellect and lives but is now beginning to automate and outsource our humanity.
But lets take a concrete example. Instead of doing the professorial pontification thing we tech philosophers are sometimes wont to do, I talked to the makers of BroApp, a clever relationship wingman (their words) that sends automated daily text messages to your significant other. It offers the promise of maximizing romantic connection through seamless relationship outsourcing.
...snip...
First, some quick background on how BroApp works: It not only sends scheduled texts, but comes preloaded with 12 messages to help users get started. The developers also took steps to conceal the automation going on behind the scenes; in places designated no bro zones, the app is automatically disabled. (After all, the jig is up if your girlfriend received an automatic text from you while youre at her place.) The app even has a rating system that lowers the risk of the same message being sent too frequently.
But lets take a concrete example. Instead of doing the professorial pontification thing we tech philosophers are sometimes wont to do, I talked to the makers of BroApp, a clever relationship wingman (their words) that sends automated daily text messages to your significant other. It offers the promise of maximizing romantic connection through seamless relationship outsourcing.
...snip...
First, some quick background on how BroApp works: It not only sends scheduled texts, but comes preloaded with 12 messages to help users get started. The developers also took steps to conceal the automation going on behind the scenes; in places designated no bro zones, the app is automatically disabled. (After all, the jig is up if your girlfriend received an automatic text from you while youre at her place.) The app even has a rating system that lowers the risk of the same message being sent too frequently.
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Today’s Apps Are Turning Us Into Sociopaths (Original Post)
brooklynite
Feb 2014
OP
Laelth
(32,017 posts)1. Interesting. k&r for exposure. n/t
-Laelth
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)2. Most people don't need the help of an app to be a sociopath
jsr
(7,712 posts)3. Is there an app to detect the use of these apps?
sendero
(28,552 posts)4. I have another word for what BroApp users will be...
..... "single".
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)5. I believe the sociopaths self-select into such apps.
the average thinking/feeling/empathetic human being is not going to be inspired to use such an app. a sociopath will.