Conor Feehly at Big Think:
Notice how our sense of what is real, even in a basic perceptual context, is deeply dependent on that reality being corroborated by another. Our need for intersubjective validation also goes well beyond basic facts of perception. In recalling an event with our peers, we constantly seek confirmation that our judgments and interpretations are correct. The social feedback we get from others plays a central role in shaping our narratives and memories of the world and, more broadly, what we take to be reality.
Lucy Osler is a philosopher of technology at the University of Exeter in the U.K. interested in human-AI relationships. She thinks that one of the primary reasons chatbots’ belief-changing capacity is so potent — at least compared to previous technologies — is that they are increasingly occupying the role that other people play in shaping, mediating, and validating our notions of what is real.
More here.