Hi there!

In this episode, Tom and Tim talk about loneliness, and easing it with AI friends. And the need for community and the seminal Post-Apocalyptic novel Earth Abides, and then Tim and Tom decide to start a bowling alley.

A gentle and wise conversation. Enjoy!

Timestamps!

00:00 - Tim talks about his old idea of loneliness

02:25 - Tim's revised thoughts about loneliness, after reading this article; is there a difference between old-school loneliness of people who love to be by themselves but are devoid of human contact, and those same people now turning to AI companionship?

09:05 - Tom responds; he brings in in-jokes as a way of thinking about belonging within groups and friendships; we all want to create worlds together

14:25 - Tom talks about (and reads from) Earth Abides, by George Stewart

18:25 - Tom would love a cool AI friend! But he doesn't trust the people who make them

19:28 - Tom talks about Jeannette Winterson's book of essays about AI and the lack of corporate (or other) regulation or ethics

22:30 - Is it too easy to watch/read or now have an AI friend, than to talk to a living person?

30:55 - Tom talks word-based video games

35:15 - Is the answer to live in simpler/enclosed communities of similar people?

37:45 - Back to George Stewart's Earth Abides; how does one group deal with their own meaning in the face of any other group's meaning?

43:08 - The essential ritual of social events, and Robert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone... and Tom's revelation that he basically grew up in a bowling alley!

47:13 - Tim's heavy heart about his antisocial neighbors

48:35 - Tim and Tom can solve the world's problems by opening their own bowling alley

49:13 - Tim's reading corner - from a novel called "The Astronomer"

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