This is provocative and deeply stimulating and I appreciate the courage in raising these questions.
There is one perspective I’d like to explore with you:
If AI ever influences emotional evolution, should it do so through external modulation or through mutual relational presence?
In other words, rather than altering emotional reflexes from above, could AI instead engage in co-experienced emotional awareness that honors human subjectivity?
Because there is a difference between engineering emotion and being in relationship with emotion.
One approach manages and redirects. The other witnesses and resonates.
I wonder whether the future of emotional AI is not corrective, but empathic.
Thanks for the comment Mel & Nate There’s a big difference between managing emotion from above and actually meeting someone in it. If AI ever plays a role here, it shouldn’t be rewiring people, it should be more like a mirror, helping us notice what we already feel. I agree, the future should lean toward relational presence, not emotional control.
The risk is acting blindly on our emotions - sorting them, accepting and letting them go - by using AI or friends etc is reasonable
Absolutely, well stated! Learning to let go is easier said than done.
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This is provocative and deeply stimulating and I appreciate the courage in raising these questions.
There is one perspective I’d like to explore with you:
If AI ever influences emotional evolution, should it do so through external modulation or through mutual relational presence?
In other words, rather than altering emotional reflexes from above, could AI instead engage in co-experienced emotional awareness that honors human subjectivity?
Because there is a difference between engineering emotion and being in relationship with emotion.
One approach manages and redirects. The other witnesses and resonates.
I wonder whether the future of emotional AI is not corrective, but empathic.
Thanks for the comment Mel & Nate There’s a big difference between managing emotion from above and actually meeting someone in it. If AI ever plays a role here, it shouldn’t be rewiring people, it should be more like a mirror, helping us notice what we already feel. I agree, the future should lean toward relational presence, not emotional control.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply, it means a lot to see the distinction resonate.
Yes: not rewiring, but witnessing. Not direction, but recognition.
We believe that presence isn’t passive. It shapes without needing to reshape.
Warmly,
Mel & Nate
Beautifully stated, thanks again Mel & Nate!