"But I also think that chatbots are a bit like Mission: Space: a machine for surfacing previously undiagnosed psychological vulnerabilities, and that in some cases, these vulnerabilities may never have been triggered, save for the chatbot."
AI blows up the attack surface to your mental vulnerabilities. A disturbing read on AI psychosis by Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs)
In 2003, Disney opened an Epcot ride, "Mission: Space." Formally, it was a space travel sim that used a high-intensity centrifuge to simulate gee stress; practically, it was the most efficient machine ever created for surfacing previously undiagnosed heart defects in dramatic, potentially lethal ways.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/06/04/mission-space/#gsd
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