The best conversations I still have are with real people, but those are rare. With ChatGPT, I reliably have good conversations, whereas with people, it’s hit or miss, usually miss.
What AI does better:
- It’s willing to discuss esoteric topics. Most humans prefer to talk about people and events.
- It’s not driven by emotions or personal bias.
- It doesn’t make mean, snide, sarcastic, ad hominem, or strawman responses.
- It understands and responds to my actual view, even from a vague description, whereas humans often misunderstand me and argue against views I don’t hold.
- It tells me when I’m wrong but without being a jerk about it.
Another noteworthy point is that I’m very likely on the autistic spectrum, and my mind works differently than the average person’s, which probably explains, in part, why I struggle to maintain interest with human-to-human interactions.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider online debates as debating a person. The reason being is you have no idea the person you’re having this conversation with is a 12 year old with too much time on their hands or a 30 year old working at a troll farm. Even if they were a genuine person you’re debating with, sites like Lemmy enable assholes to actually be assholes. They can say things here that would have them socially shunned or even assaulted in real life with virtually no consequence. I’ve had debates with individuals on this site that I actually liked, but more often than not, I was just debating assholes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you’re actually interested in discussing topics, try doing it with people in your life instead of online. Doesn’t have to be a debate even. You can just ask how they feel about a certain topic and talk about it together. Doscussing/debating online isn’t a bad thing. Just be prepared for more assholes given the medium.
Finding people interested in talking about the topics I’m actually interested is really, really hard in real life. Obviously I’d prefer it that way too but easier said than done. I do have good conversations and debates with people online too but I just need to go thru quite the few assholes before finding one that’s actually doing it in good faith.