I'm old and alone, but there's no fucking way I'm going to talk a machine. Because, then I'd be old, alone, AND pitiful.

I heard a podcast (maybe This American Life) that spent time with a woman out in the sticks, physically no longer able to be active, all kids many hours away, who was given one of these by her local fire department. She had been scoring lower and lower on cognitive tests for several years, and after getting this thing she reversed that trend. It was creepy, and her kids didn't like it, but it was there and her kids were not, and it clearly had improved her quality of life. It's sad she didn't have human connections in her daily life, but given her circumstances, the thing had upside.

Also sad is this is one of the few things ChatGPT would actually be good at. It's basically what it was designed for.