Researchers have noted that the recursive training of AI models on synthetic text may lead to degeneration, known as “model collapse”.

[...] Over time, dependence on these systems, and the existence of multifaceted interactions among them, may create a “curse of recursion” Shumailov et al. 2023, in which our access to the original diversity of human knowledge is increasingly mediated by a partial and increasingly narrow subset of views. With increasing integration of LLM-based systems, certain popular sources or beliefs which were common in the training data may come to be reinforced in the public mindset (and within the training data), while other “long-tail” ideas are neglected and eventually forgotten.

[...] in other models, small amounts of synthetic data can poison an image model, and once distorted, it is difficult for such models to recover even after being trained on true data Bohacek and Farid 2023. As one particular example, training LLMs on synthetic data can lead to diminishing lexical, semantic and syntactic diversity Guo et al. 2023.

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. [...] Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather.

[...] Anthropomorphism and anthropomorphization derive from the verb form anthropomorphize, itself derived from the Greek ánthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος, lit. "human") and morphē (μορφή, "form"). It is first attested in 1753, originally in reference to the heresy of applying a human form to the Christian God.

A community requires a commitment to a certain social order—and usually to a place—that, by definition, must constrain some choices. In return for security, support, and belonging, members surrender some of their freedom. This explains why creating community in America today is so difficult—few want to compromise their ability to make choices.

Unsupervised, child-directed play was in decline long before kids had smartphones ... and more affluent children had many of their activities organized for them by their parents, putting them in a variety of highly structured functional groups with different kids rather than repeatedly playing freely with their neighbors. This oversupervision or “coddling” Greg Lukianoff and Jon, 2028 made the attractions of smartphones and social media even more appealing.

Virtual networks are not only insufficient replacements for communities, but their proliferation makes the establishment of communities more difficult.

“term inflation” — the stretching of a good idea to promote values and goals quite different from what is meant.