Posted by Introduction:
I wanted to get ChatGPT to give me something specific and concrete, involving specific individuals, technologies, and scenarios that might occur in the future. So I decided to ask ChatGPT to write a diary entry from the perspective of a teen. I played around with some wording. If I give ChatGPT a specific topic to write about, it will only write about that topic, so I added an extra sentence asking it to write other things. I wanted ChatGPT to go beyond what the generic general consciousness thinks when they think about socialisation and communication in the future, avoiding topics like neural linking and social media but now in 3d. Unfortunately, that’s what I always get unless I specifically write out what I want, which is not what I want from it. I described the narrator of the diary as a intelligent teenage girl so I can receive something that is coherent but also grounded in realistic details, but didn’t specify race, class, sexuality or any other specific traits.
I noticed that ChatGPT had a little message that said logging in to an OpenAI account will give you smarter results. I made an account and got different results for the same prompt. I’m going to go with the logged-in results because they do sound better.
Prompt:
write a diary entry from an intelligent teenage girl taking place 100 years in the future. write specific events. add something about changes in socialization and social psychology. and other futuristic things.
ChatGPT response:
Dear Diary,
Today was one of those rare days when I actually left the house. Most of the time, I socialize through my NeuroLink, where I can connect with my friends without actually seeing them in person. We usually just share our thoughts directly, but sometimes I miss the old way of talking—using words, hearing voices. I guess that’s why I agreed to meet Ava and Kiran at the VR café today.
It was strange seeing them in person. We’re all so used to our digital avatars that seeing their actual faces felt almost… intimate? We sat in the café’s holographic garden, surrounded by digital birds and flowers that felt more real than the ones outside. Ava had new nanobot tattoos that shifted colors with her mood. She was anxious about the upcoming exams, so her skin kept flashing pale blue.
We talked about the latest upgrades to the EmpathyNet, which is supposed to help people understand each other’s emotions better. It’s fascinating how much social psychology has changed. EmpathyNet can analyze your feelings and send them to someone else in a way they can perfectly understand. Misunderstandings are almost non-existent now, but it also means people are less patient with others—they expect you to “get it” right away.
After the café, we went to the hyperloop station. I love how fast travel has become—what used to take hours now takes minutes. Still, there’s something almost too efficient about it. It feels like life is speeding up, and I’m not sure if I’m keeping pace.
At home, I had my daily session with the AI tutor. Today, we discussed the ethical implications of AI in governance. I argued that while AI might be more logical and fair, it lacks the human element of compassion. The tutor agreed but pointed out that humans have historically made biased decisions. It’s hard to argue with a machine that knows more about history than I ever will.
Sometimes I wonder if all this technology is making us more connected or more isolated. I can feel everyone’s emotions, share thoughts instantly, and yet, I’ve never felt more alone.
Time to log off. I’m thinking of starting a new project—maybe a painting or a poem. Something that’s just mine, without any digital enhancement. Just me.
Goodnight.
-Maya
Reflection:
The first thing I noticed with this response is that many of new technology featured here are related to Elon Musk and his tech companies. Neuralink, hyperloop are both technologies that he proposed. This is frustrating but understandable. While I understand ChatGPT can only draw from what humans know, I wanted to see ChatGPT generate something interesting and uncommon. Meanwhile ChatGPT gave me pretty much the most hotly discussed and popular future-related technology. Some of these technologies aren’t even technologically advanced or futuristic, but simply giving the appearance of being so. The real hyperloop declared bankruptcy in 2023.
Another interesting element I noticed is the depiction of the narrator’s identity. Maya is inside her home for long periods of time. She also has daily sessions with an AI tutor and goes to the café to talk to her friend who has exams. Since she is supposed to be a teenager, it can be assumed that she is in some kind of education. She and her group of friends all share in similar technologies. They all use the Neurolink and chat about the EmpathyNet. From their language we can see that the EmpathyNet is given cultural meaning within their group. The EmpathyNet acts like a secondary sensory organ for them. They use it liberally and naturally and become frustrated with others don’t engage with it in the same way and with the same efficiency. It’s similar to being frustrated with a friend who can’t speak clearly enough or text effectively.
Since she goes to a café to speak with her friends, it can be assumed that cafés are a public space for teens. However, the narrator doesn’t seem to visit cafes very often. When she finally sees her friends in person for the first time, she describes the experience as strangely intimate. The use of their new virtual avatar technology has changed the way people socialize in public vs private spaces and with intimacy. Social gatherings that used to happen in public are now all private. Common physical aspects of social interactions like someone’s face, body language and voice, are now commonly altered through technology to represent real people, instead of being one. These barriers create a divide between the person Maya thought she is friends with and who her friend is. So much so that face-to-face interaction in a real space now feels intimate. This technology’s consumption has changed the way they represent themselves and how they identify with each other.
Overall, this response seems to draw from the experience of middle class urban teens. They have exams, are in education but not employment, can use superior technology to communicate, meet at cafes to hangout, and live in highly urbanized areas with the newest technological advancements in transportation.
Feature Image generated by ChatGPT
Feature Image prompt: create image of futuristic cafe. 3 teens sitting together and chatting. holographic garden, digital but photorealistic birds and plants
Cultural History of the Internet 