Don’t blame women for men’s loneliness. Blame capitalism

Is Sam Altman trying to get men addicted to erotic chatbots in order to make money off them That s the strong implication of a up-to-date New York Times op-ed by artificial intelligence researcher Steven Adler In it Adler accused the OpenAI CEO of ignoring clear warning signs of users intense emotional attachment to chatbots that claim to offer romantic intimacy Instead Altman s main product ChatGPT is forging ahead with a plan to let the program pretend to be a user s romantic interest despite strong evidence that doing so will send users down mental strength spirals Altman proposes the company knows how to mitigate the risks but Adler noted they have not shown any facts to prove it This leaves the unfortunate possibility that Altman completely doesn t care if ChatGPT is addictive I can t read Altman s mind but he has a strong financial incentive to go down this path OpenAI continues to burn money without much promise that they ll find legitimate pathways to profitability any time soon But there is one way to get people especially men to pay for expensive subscriptions to ChatGPT Get them so addicted to their imaginary girlfriends that they re willing to dish out thousands to keep the experience going This isn t just an expensive proposition it s also a psychological danger constituting behavior that is likely to get men to withdraw from the real world and attachments to real people An increasing number of influencers crypto grifters pick-up artists and gambling websites have come to realize that male isolation creates incredible profit opportunities That may sound paranoid but the grim truth is that this scenario reflects an alarming trend online An increasing number of influencers crypto grifters pick-up artists and gambling websites have come to realize that male isolation creates incredible profit opportunities It s not just that they are making money off male loneliness In a great number of cases capitalist predators are incentivizing young men to abandon the flesh-and-blood world in favor of staying online Acknowledging we have a male loneliness dilemma is treacherous business A great number of dispute there is such an epidemic Others scoff at the idea that this is a challenge worth caring about especially when women still suffer from more serious problems due to persistent inequality Others may acknowledge male loneliness as a serious issue but then insist it s self-inflicted a failure of men to take personal responsibility All these responses may seem cold or shortsighted After all even if one doesn t care about men s loneliness in itself there can be little doubt that it s driving them into destructive behaviors such as embracing fascism that have negative impacts on everyone Related Joe Rogan beef shows MAGA male fragility Still the urge to roll one s eyes and dismiss men s social isolation is understandable Implicit in multiple discussions of the issue is the notion that male loneliness is the fault of women and their obstacle to solve Last week Ross Douthat of the New York Times hosted a pair of conservative female writers to argue that allowing women into the workplace drove men out and deprived them of meaning and connection The MeToo movement is blamed for allegedly making men too scared to date and inducing self-loathing And of syllabus women are endlessly scolded for refusing to marry men for reasons their critics deem unacceptable such as expecting a baseline level of respect As Jessica Winter pointed out in a latest New Yorker article about the masculinity emergency even centrist and liberal men seem to believe the only resolution is to accede to the belief that men should still rank above women in the social hierarchy just not as much as before She s right that these arguments dehumanize women who are full human beings and not emotional backing animals for men But it s also doing men no favors to pin the blame for their problems on women The fantasy that men can be restored to provider status over women isn t just immoral It could really make things worse as modern women want men to be partners not a boss with whom they live and have sex Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics Sign up for her free newsletter Standing Room Only now also on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts Instead it s time to look at how male loneliness has been monetized by all manner of seedy actors who have every incentive to discourage men from making changes to improve their lives Men s ability to adapt to modernity is being stymied by propagandists and grifters who persuade men to adopt anti-social behavior because doing so is incredibly profitable The explosion of podcasters and social media influencers dubbed the manosphere has received a lot of attention in fresh years in no small part because it helped push young men toward voting for Donald Trump in It s a diffuse category to be certain encompassing everyone from comedians like Joe Rogan and Theo Von to overtly nasty misogynists like the Fresh Fit podcast Across the board however these manosphere guys promote an anti-social view of masculinity that just so happens to make them a lot of money Selected sell supplements Particular sell online courses Chosen exclusively sell their viewers to advertisers All sector themselves with the implicit promise that they re helping men improve their lives But instead they sell a view of masculinity that is cut off from emotions valorizes hustle over having a well-balanced social life and encourages staying at home instead of taking the pitfall of getting out in the world to meet more people Entire cottage industries now exist to exploit men who don t have enough social assistance to keep them sane and out of trouble Both crypto and sports gambling would likely be much smaller if not for men unmoored from family friends or partners to occupy their time and discourage risky behavior The modern Major League Baseball gambling disgrace exposed how ridiculous sports betting has become drawing mostly men to impulsively wager often alarmingly large sums on prop bets certain as minor and disconnected from the sport as the coin flip at the beginning of a championship A multitude of factors have contributed to online gambling spiraling out of control but male loneliness is an under-discussed aspect of the conversation Betting apps depend on a steady supply of bored guys watching games alone While alcohol isn t good for you one does wonder if we wouldn t all be healthier if more men watched sports with friends in bars using the downtime to talk instead of idly tap at screens We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in current times to aid Amanda Marcotte s commentary Even dating apps have fallen into this trap As progressive dating coach Harris O Malley lamented in a latest interview with Salon They re all Candy Crush now None of them are there to certainly help you get introduced to people Instead he explained they get you to be frustrated by serving up poor matches or bots and then promise that if you pay more money for premium benefits you ll start getting better results But his clients find that even when they buy subscriptions as well as boosts flowers likes they are still getting nothing because the app will lose a customer if they ever do find a girlfriend So it s really no wonder that Altman desperate for specific promise of revenue may be looking at the same source that is making crypto grifters pick-up artists and gambling apps so profitable Lonely bored men Like all these other capitalist vultures OpenAI s plans wouldn t just be exploiting lonely men but would actively be making the matter worse Dating is hard and if certain of your requirements are being met by a sycophantic AI girlfriend it will feel easier for a few men to stay at home and play with their toy rather than getting out into the real world While that s understandable in the short term there s a real threat of long-term damage from social isolation Ironically the answer to the male loneliness epidemic is to refrain from the gendered talk that frames the situation as men vs women In reality it s being driven by capitalist vultures who have monetized people s misery By looking it as an economic and structural issue we can find solutions such as regulating online spaces and AI that would work a lot better than just yelling at women to lower their marriage standards Read more about this topic Podcast bros criticize Donald Trump and sports bros step in Tradwives incels and cat ladies The year MAGA broke heterosexuality Here s why experts say men need more friends in their lives and how they can make them The post Don t blame women for men s loneliness Blame capitalism appeared first on Salon com