For the vast majority of human history, we lived in relatively small communities, often with only minor religious differences that made it easy to communicate with one another. We relied on one another not just for food and survival, but companionship and support. In the Netherlands, this went on until the 70s of the previous century, when the pillar society as we tend to call it collapsed. Secularisation resulted in the confessional pillars fading away, and the result was individualism. As a formerly religious person myself, I value the rise of individualism as the fall of dogma. Not all is well and swell, however.
The Power and Function of the Church
Talking to my grandparents often reveals the power and surveillance that the church had in their communities, with pastors being revered figures of power within the community. When you did not show up to church, you are asked why you weren’t there, but often as much out of concern as out of judgment. The church was not just a place of dogma and control. Through the church you could get support financially when you had trouble, you had a community that you knew was always there, and you had a confidant you could always talk to, in the form of either the pastor or God. The idea that only good came with the fall of the church is often prevalent, but our time of individualism has proven its own hurdles.
The Strength and Weakness of Individualism
With the Church no longer dictating your ideals for you, and no more almighty man in the sky for millions of people, life became both incredibly free and extremely complicated. The attacks of religious communities against homosexuality and abortion are still relevant in today’s news, but the very fact that both are legal in some places (though not enough of course) is a result of the weakened grip of the church. While my grandparents are quite religious, the following generation in my family has decreased their religiosity significantly, and my generation is entirely atheistic or agnostic. We can find our own way, and experiment with our own life in ways that would have gotten my grandparents disowned or thrown out of the house (and in the case of some great-grandparents, that did happen). The change is rapid, and society as a whole still has difficulty coming to terms with much of the openness that was created, as can be seen in political discourse across the Western world and beyond. But what we gained in freedom, we often lost in community and sanctuary. I feel blessed with how many people I can call friends in this beautiful city of Leiden, but even I can find myself with a conundrum that I would not know how to share with any human. Without a God, where can I turn?
The Importance of a Spoken Word
As we are sure to know about every horrible thing that happens in the world at blinding speeds, seeing footage of wars and terrorist attacks, learning about tragic events that can shake a person to their core, and being expected to react to everything and everyone to not seem like a bad friend or a heartless monster, the 150 grams of a phone is not accurate for the burden it places upon people. You may find yourself awake in bed, thinking about what you said, what you did, or reminiscing about the banality of life itself. The inherent purpose that religion brought has left many people swimming in their minds in a search for meaning. Questions, dilemmas, insecurities, and none to talk with, in a world more connected than ever before. Sure, you can make a post on Twitter to ease your mind, but this is not the loving and carefully crafted environment that the church used to be. Still, speaking your mind is the difference between overthinking and acceptance of reality (or at least relative acceptance). After much context to my thoughts on the matter, enters now the chatbot on the state.
ChatGPT Therapy
ChatGPT is more capable of holding a conversation than any previous chatbot I have known. Hell, it is more capable of holding a conversation than most of my former colleagues at Subway. Being able to write down your thoughts is highly therapeutic and important for individuals to process their emotions. While journalling has been used for centuries, I always found it difficult as it felt not that much different from the escalating conversations I had in my mind. ChatGPT is not that big a step, and like God for the religious, it seems like another entity on the other side. The further development of Large Language Models will certainly see the rise of more advanced AI that can be specialised in helping with emotional management, which is highly needed in a time that therapy and mental well-being are deemed irrelevant by various populist governments, that are reliant on volatility of unregulated emotion. There are certainly many downsides to this as well, which are the potential harms brought in by these language models, as they are often created by for-profit companies with their own incentives, have their own biases reinforced by their own machine learning, and they are not human. They are inherently incapable of truly understanding emotion as they are not capable of empathy. We cannot hug them, cannot look them in the eyes, and they cannot care. The connectivity through digital means has dulled connection for many, brought forth further division and while it has opened the door, it has also broken the walls. Weighing off the importance of being heard to the importance of human connection shouldn’t be necessary, but here we are. Please, when you feel helpless, have a difficult question you can’t seem to answer, or whatever comes to mind, just as people want to be heard, so many want to listen to you too.
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