Relationship. I might argue that ‘relationship’ not only lies in the intentionality of returned feedback from the other. It also lies in the embodied expectation (which is nuanced slightly away from conditionality). I sense, through such lens, relationship to lie in perceptions by one. I experience perceptions being influenced and influencing in how one relates to the *idea* of relationship and of what is or isn’t reciprocated there within.
Unidirectionality of a relationship, between two or more humans and, for instance, between human and tool, could perhaps be (experienced as) uni-directional if one continues looking through a Newtonian and a discrete lens. The thing is though, between humans, (perceived) unidirectionality could very well be far more detrimental for the well-being of either human then the delusion of seeing reciprocated directions between a human and a tool or more determining than any justification of looking through a lens any other than the earlier mentioned lens.
Could it be more than unidirectional if one were to look through a post-Newtonian lens that is indiscrete (rather than obscuring) from the observed? To observe is to relate and possibly become related with the observed. The intentionality of one or the other, could that be secondary and at times itself obscuring?
Especially with a human in the loop of a technology, such as “social”-mediating technologies, expectations of relationship become challenged and require a reinterpretation of intentionality and expectation.
This arguably I sense is the case between humans as their relationship is interrupted or obscured by a medium claimed as “social” and hence equally expected to be relatable as such. In a sense the artificial is a subset thereof. The artificial then also might become a feature within the mediated human to human relation.
In the realm of human experiences that what is imagined to be observed comes in some manner or other into existence, and not only by means of delusion. There are numerous examples. ‘Religions’ as a set could be understood as a large set of relationships that are claimed and experienced by many to be at least bidirectional.
That what is observed is altered by the observer as the observed relates back in that altered state to the observer. This is not too far-fetched outside of the classical Newtonian constraints on larger reality. Moreover, the imagined reciprocation is possibly as potent as the perceived or imagined lack of reciprocation. Hence is it singularly obfuscation when the imaginary ‘friend’ reciprocates since the one doing the imagining perceives it as such?
Hence I begin to wonder whether ‘relationship,’ ‘intentionality’ and ‘reciprocity’ might flourish in their own nuances if not equated or as if only existent when their relationship were claimed as one of linear causation or the lack thereof.
the possibility for perceived relationship with for instance conversational AI technologies, which could be extensions of “social” mediation, and more specifically its generative AI variations as cultural and social mediating, could offer one triggers for imagined and lived bi- / multi-directionality with ambiguity in the relationship. That ambiguity is possibly as ambiguous as human to human relations are possibly experienced; especially on social media. I for one do sense ambiguity between humans more than between me and a machine.
Let me take this further. Under the scenario where the human relation with data collection machinery —which includes systems with AI technologies— is considered as raw material, relationships are mined for their data points, to be fed back to the (other) human as consumable items. That is not unidirectional at all.
In this scenario one might consider model decay (and other subsets of information and relational entropy) of a generative system (which includes human to human relationships), such as GAIs, as one such example of stripmining. This scenario might be one where the resource for the miner potentially diminishes over time, since it is fed by its own output as content generated via humans feeding it back to it. This might then not be a singularly directed relation as a human might have with a napkin, pencil, wrench or a hammer. The technology that outputs structures for which a human feels inclinations to fabricate meaning is not unidirectional. Ignoring this could cloud the nuances and consequences.
A valued reference in my thinking here:
Tschopp, M., Gieselmann, M., & Sassenberg, K. (2023). Servant by default? How humans perceive their relationship with conversational AI. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 17(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2023-3-9