I had no idea this was even happening. Wow.
The rise of virtual artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriends is enabling the silent epidemic of loneliness in an entire generation of young men. It is also having severe consequences for America’s future.
How is something that seems so ridiculous — a virtual AI girlfriend — causing a future crisis among Americans? Well, with millions of users, apps have created virtual girlfriends that talk to you, love you, allow you to live out your erotic fantasies, and learn, through data, exactly what you like and what you don’t like, creating the “perfect” relationship.
These virtual girlfriends can even be based on real people. One influencer created an AI bot of herself named Caryn, then gained over 1,000 users (i.e. real boyfriends) in less than a week and a waitlist of more than 15,000 people.
. . . Let’s look at the hard numbers. More than 60 percent of young men (ages 18-30) are single, compared to only 30 percent of women the same age. One in five men report not having a single close friend, a number that has quadrupled in the last 30 years. The amount of social engagement with friends dropped by 20 hours per month over the pandemic and is still decreasing.
These young men are lonely, and it is having real consequences. They are choosing AI girlfriends over real women, meaning they don’t have relationships with real women, don’t marry them and then don’t have and raise babies with them. America desperately needs people to have more babies, but all the signs are pointing toward fewer relationships, fewer marriages and fewer babies. There have been 600,000 fewer births in 2023 in the U.S. relative to 15 years ago. The number of children per woman has decreased by more than 50 percent in the last 60 years.
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I thought the large salary UPS drivers make (or will eventually make after completing a 5 year contract) was due to negotiations with Teamsters after a strike threat.
I don't think FedEx pays nearly the same, and UPS drivers have not always made such good money. All that came about this year.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-workers-comments-170k-ups-driver-deal-anger-admiration-2023-8
I just remember the article I read and what it said. Fine me for repeating after some random internet article (probably forbes or something). But the point still stands, if you take the average income for most major cities in 1930 ($5,000-$7,000 a year), you're still in the six figure range if you account for inflation ($110K-$130K).
Still way above what most "average incomes" are in the USA currently, and INFINTIELY more than a burger flipping 15 year old deserves.