 |
|
|
|||||
Mark Zuckerberg recently suggested that AI chatbots could combat social isolation by serving as friends for people experiencing loneliness. He cited statistics that the average American has fewer than 3 friends but yearns for as many as 15. He was close: According to a 2021 report from the Survey Center on American Life, about half of Americans have fewer than four close friends. Zuckerberg then posited that AI could help bridge this gap by providing constant, personalized interactions. I would guess that over time we will find the vocabulary as a society to be able to articulate why that is valuable, he added. Loneliness and social disconnection are serious problems. But can AI really be a solution? Might relying on AI for emotional support create a false sense of connection and possibly exacerbate feelings of isolation? And while AI can simulate certain aspects of companionship, doesnt it lack the depth, empathy, and mutual understanding inherent to human friendship? Researchers have started exploring these questions. But as a moral philosopher, I think its worth turning to a different source: the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Though it might seem odd to consult someone who lived over 2,000 years ago on questions of modern technology, Aristotle offers enduring insights about friendshipsand which ones are particularly valuable. More important than spouses, kids, or money In his philosophical text Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle maintained that true friendship is essential for eudaimonia, a Greek word that is typically translated as flourishing or well-being. For Aristotle, friends are not just nice to havetheyre a central component of ethical living and essential for human happiness and fulfillment. Without friends, no one would choose to live, he writes, though he had all other goods. A solitary existence, even one of contemplation and intellectual achievement, is less complete than a life with friends. Friendship contributes to happiness by providing emotional support and solidarity. It is through friendship that individuals can cultivate their virtues, feel a sense of security and share their accomplishments. Empirical evidence seems to support the connection between friendship and eudaimonia. A 2023 Pew Center research report found that 61% of adults in the U.S. say having close friends is essential to living a fulfilling lifea higher proportion than those who cited marriage, children or money. A British study of 6,500 adults found that those who had regular interactions with a wide circle of friends were more likely to have better mental health and be happier. And a meta-analysis of nearly 150 studies found that a lack of close friends can increase the risk of death as much as smoking, drinking, or obesity. Different friends for different needs But the benefit of friendship that Aristotle focuses on the most is the role that it plays in the development of virtue. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle identifies three tiers of friendship. The first tier is what he calls friendships of utility, or a friendship that is based on mutual benefit. Each party is primarily concerned with what they can gain from the other. These might be colleagues at work or neighbors who look after each others pets when one of them is on vacation. The problem with these friendships is that they are often fleeting and dissolve once one person stops benefiting from the relationship. The second is friendships of pleasure, which are friendships based on shared interests. These friendships can also be transient, depending on how long the shared interests last. Passionate love affairs, people belonging to the same book club, and fishing buddies all fall into this category. This type of friendship is important, since you tend to enjoy your passions more when you can share them with another person. But this is still not the highest form of friendship. According to Aristotle, the third and strongest form of friendship is a virtuous friendship. This is based on mutual respect for each others virtues and character. Two people with this form of friendship value each other for who they truly are and share a deep commitment to the well-being and moral development of one another. These friendships are stable and enduring. In a virtuous friendship, each individual helps the other become better versions of themselves through encouragement, moral guidance, and support. As Aristotle writes: Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good and alike in virtue. . . . Now those who wish well to their friends for their sake are most truly friends; for they do this by reason of their own nature and not incidentally; therefore their friendship lasts as long as they are goodand goodness is an enduring thing. In other words, friendships rooted in virtue not only bring happiness and fulfillment but also facilitate personal growth and moral development. And it happens naturally within the context of the relationship. According to Aristotle, a virtuous friend provides a mirror in which one can reflect upon their own actions, thoughts, and decisions. When one friend demonstrates honesty, generosity, or compassion, the other can learn from these actions and be inspired to cultivate these virtues in themselves. No nourishment for the soul So, what does this mean for AI friends? By Aristotles standards, AI chatbotshowever sophisticatedcannot be true friends. They may be able to provide information that helps you at work, or engage in lighthearted conversation about your various interests. But they fundamentally lack qualities that define a virtuous friendship. AI is incapable of mutual concern or genuine reciprocity. While it can be programmed to simulate empathy or encouragement, it does not truly care about the individualnor does it ask anything of its human users. Moreover, AI cannot engage in the shared pursuit of the good life. Aristotles notion of friendship involves a shared journey on the path to eudaimonia, during which each person helps another live wisely and well. This requies the kind of moral development that only human beings, who face real ethical challenges and make real decisions, can undergo. I think it is best to think of AI as a tool. Just like having a good shovel or rake can improve your quality of life, having the rake and the shovel do not mean you no longer need any friendsnor do they replace the friends whose shovels and rakes you used to borrow. While AI may offer companionship in a limited and functional sense, it cannot meet the Aristotelian criteria for virtuous friendship. It may fill a temporary social void, but it cannot nourish the soul. If anything, the rise of AI companions should serve as a reminder of the urgent need to foster real friendships in an increasingly disconnected world. Gregg D. Caruso is a professor of ethics and management and director of the Waide Center for Applied Ethics at Fairfield University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
The goal for any leader is to build strong and productive relationships with their team and other stakeholders. And the best way to do this is by inspiring their audience every time they speak. This means creating believers with every set of remarks, whether theyre having a brief hallway conversation or delivering a keynote speech. But how? To inspire others, embrace these five fundamentals: 1. ADOPT AN INSPIRATIONAL MINDSET The starting point for becoming an inspiring leader is developing the right mindsetone that is focused not on informing but on inspiring. Information, even when its up-to-date and accurate, lacks the power to move others. Avoid content-rich presentations or conversations full of too many facts. Instead, always be in inspire mode. Inspire mode keeps you away from delivering content-heavy slides or numbing statistics, and instead gets you to engage your audience with your belief or idea. Bring your listeners to the realm of possibilities. 2. LISTEN INTENTLY To inspire others, you need to listen intently. Leaders who fail to listen will not understand their audiences mindset and they wont be able to focus their message so it has maximum impact. There are three ways to listen. First, listen with your body. Face your audience and align your body with the person (or people) to whom you are speaking. Stand or sit up straight. Keep a receptive expression on your face and make strong eye contact. Keep your arms open. This body language will send a message that you care about your audience. Second, listen with your mind. You need to listen for the points the other person is making, and you also need to show that youve heard what theyve said. You might interject phrases like Oh, thats so true or Yes, thats a good point or I agree or Tell me more about that. Such responses show that your mind is engaged and responsive. Third, listen with your heart. When you listen with your heart, you show that you are emotionally engaged. Heartfelt responses include being polite, being sensitive, and using expressions like I share your feelings and That must have been difficult. (For a full discussion of these three ways to listen, consult the chapter Listen, Listen, Listen in my book Speaking as a Leader.) 3. SPEAK WITH A MESSAGE If you want to inspire, you need to speak with a message. Without a big, central idea, you cant expect people to follow you. Your message should be stated at the beginning of your remarks and elaborated on by everything else you say. So, after opening your conversation or speech with a bridge or a grabber, get to your point. If youre giving formal remarks, you might say My message to you is . . . If its a less formal situation, you might say, I believe that . . . Own your message and present it clearly at the beginning. After you state your message, prove it. This requires sharing supporting evidence, usually in two to four points. Youll lift your audiences thinking from what is to what can be. 4. USE STRONG WORDS Inspiring leaders use compelling language. They know that every word testifies to their credibility. A leaders language is confident. They own what they are saying with expressions like I believe, I see, I know, and I care. They avoid tentative language like Im not sure, I dont know, and I cant. They also avoid filler expressions like um and ah. 5. END WITH ACTION Whether you are giving a formal presentation or offering a comment at a meeting, be sure to end your remarks with a call to action. After a job interview, you might say to the candidate, This has been a great meeting. Well be in touch with you shortly. You might conclude a more formal presentation with If we take the steps I have outlined, we will be a much stronger company. I look forward to your support for these initiatives. By ending with a call to action, youll move your audience from the present to the future you envision. You’ll inspire your listeners by taking them from what is to what can be.
Category:
E-Commerce
Krista Vasquez had her heart set on getting married in a body-hugging, halter-style gown from Spain. In April, the Atlanta paramedic learned her dream dress would cost nearly $300 more because of new U.S. tariffs on imported goods. With little wiggle room in her timing, the bride-to-be quickly checked around for similar styles. The story was the same: Any dresses from Europe would come with tariff-driven price increases ranging from $150 to $400. And that was before President Donald Trump said he would increase the tariff on goods produced in the European Union from 10% to 50%. Vasquez, 33, went with her first choice, fearing shipping delays or additional costs like a rush fee before her October wedding if she placed an order elsewhere. It’s already expensive enough to get married, she said. It just kind of made me a little sad.” Wedding cakes, decor, attire, flowers, party favors, photo and video equipment, tableware, wine and Champagne. Not many goods used in the wedding industry remain untouched by the tariffs Trump has imposed since returning to office. How much of the import taxes get passed down to consumers is up to florists, photographers, caterers, and myriad other vendors and intermediaries, such as wholesalers. Olivia Sever, a 28-year-old online content creator in San Diego, has a lot of wedding shopping ahead of her. Much of what she wants may cost more because of tariffs. An immediate concern is some of her paper goods. Her wedding planner has already flagged a 10% price increase for the menus, place cards, and signage she wanted for her September celebration in Hawaii. Sever said shifting to American goods isn’t always cost-effective. For instance, flowers grown in Hawaii are in high demand, with increased prices to match, in response to 10% tariffs imposed on a large number of imports around the world. That includes flowers from Ecuador, Colombia, and other countries that grow the bulk of the flowers the U.S. imports. There’s just so many unknowns, but we have our budget and were trying to work within our budget, Sever said. If that means we cant get these, you know, specific shell cups I want, then we just wont get them and well get something else. Here’s a look from inside the wedding industry on tariffs. Tariffs and the wedding cake industry Clients of Phoenix cake artist Armana Christianson pay roughly $750 to $800 for one of her creations. She spent two years perfecting the 16 flavor combinations she offers. They range from simple vanilla bean, made with vanilla bean paste imported from Mexico, to dark chocolate raspberry with a whipped hazelnut ganache that’s dependent on chocolates and powders from Belgium. Not all of Christianson’s cost woes are tariff-driven. The chocolate industry was already struggling because of a cocoa bean shortage. I’m a small business with just myself as my employee. I’ve seen at minimum a 20% increase in just the chocolate I use. It’s a type of chocolate that I’ve built into my recipes. Changing brands isn’t acceptable, Christianson said. The imported white chocolate in her white chocolate mud cake, a popular flavor, shot up from $75 or $100 per cake to $150. She used nearly 10 pounds of it in a recent order, a cake that had five tiers. Christianson may have to come up with new recipes based on less expensive ingredients. In the meantime, she said, she’s eating the cost of tariffs for clients already on her books. I don’t have it in my contract where I can raise prices for unexpected events like this, she said. Unfortunately, that’s something I have to add to new contracts for my future couples. Tariffs and the wedding dress industry Almost all bridal gowns are made in China or other parts of Asiaand so are many of the fabrics, buttons, zippers, and other materials used, according to the National Bridal Retailers Association. Manufacturing in those countries, where labor generally costs less, has put the price of high-quality bridal gowns within reach for many American families. Retailers and manufacturers say the U.S. lacks enough skilled labor and production of specialized materials to fully serve the market. Skilled seamstresses are hard to find and often come from older generations. The materials that we sell in a bridal shop include lace, beadwork, boning for the corsetry. We dont really make stuff like that in this country. There just arent very many designers who create and put their whole looks together in this nation, said Christine Greenberg, founder and co-owner of the Urban Set Bride boutique in Richmond, Virginia. The designs done here are normally very simple designs. You dont see a lot of American-made gowns that have a lot of detail, a lot of embroidered lace, and thats a really popular wedding gown style, she said. Many designers with gowns labeled “made in the U.S.” still are using imported materials, Greenberg noted. If Trump’s highest tariffs on China are reinstated after a current pause, Greenberg said her small business will pay between $85,000 and $100,000 extra in import taxes this year. For a small, family-owned business that only hosts one bride at a time, this will absolutely lead us and many others to close for good, she said. We can’t buy American when the products don’t exist. Tariffs and the cut flower industry Roughly 80% of cut flowers sold in the U.S. come from other countries. And lots of quality faux flowers are made in China. Colombia is a large supplier of roses, carnations and spray chrysanthemums. Ecuador is another major rose supplier. The Netherlands produces a huge share of tulips and other flowers. In addition, some of the cut greens used as filler in flower arrangements and bouquets in the U.S. are imported. If youre talking about cars and computer chips, theyve got inventory thats sitting there. Its already stateside. Our inventory turns in days, and we saw the impact almost immediately, said Joan Wyndrum, co-founder of the online floral distributor Blooms by the Box. Were all absorbing a little bit, but its inevitable that it comes out on the consumer end of it. Wyndrum, who works drectly with wholesalers and growers, said the U.S. flower industry isnt capable at the moment of absorbing all the production from elsewhere. She does a lot of business with U.S. suppliers, though, and sees a huge opportunity for growth stateside. Theres a benefit to the U.S. bride to have flowers grown here. Its the simple reason of freshness, she said. Tariffs and the wedding industry overall Jacqueline Vizcaino is a luxury wedding planner and event designer in Atlanta. She’s also national president of the Wedding Industry Professionals Association, a 3,500-member, education-focused trade group whose members include transportation and photo booth providers, makeup artists, caterers, linen distributors, and planners. Any one wedding may involve 40 or more vendors, Vizcaino said. Huge jumps in costs are already widespread due to tariffs, she said, with florals and fabrics among them. With many weddings planned up to a year or more in advance, she and others in the industry are girding for more bad news. We’re going to see a lot of interactions that aren’t so pleasant in the next eight to 12 months,” she said. Tariffs have delayed decision-making among many couples planning weddings. Decisions are taking double the time because of the uncertainty. People are shopping around more and wanting [vendors] to lock in at the lowest price possible, Vizcaino said. McKenzi Taylor, a planner who coordinates weddings in Las Vegas, San Diego, and the Black Hills in South Dakota, said: Our inquiry-to-booking window has grown from 40 days to 73. Cancellations are up so far this year, on pace to double from last year, with costs definitely being a concern for couples. My vendors are shaking in their boots. By Leanne Italie, AP lifestyles writer
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||