How to tell if your favorite goo-roo is a sociopath

Behold a cautionary tale: One of the reasons I am so skeptical about AI-generated content of any kind (not just emails and sales copy) is because every time I’ve seen it, I’ve been reminded of a guy I know up in this business who I suspect is a bonafide sociopath. No, not the “Dexter” kind of sociopath who’ll drug you at an event, and then you wake up in another room bound by plastic wrap to a table with pictures of all the people you’ve wronged. This particular guy is more of a benevolent sociopath. A sociopath is simply someone who’s not “wired” to care about anyone else. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t. And while probably 95% of people reading this email probably know who this fellow is, those same 95% would have absolutely no idea he is a sociopath by talking to him if they didn’t know how sociopaths operate, communicate, and, frankly, survive in society without being exiled, jailed, or even executed (by the state, someone they wronged, whoever). And before anyone asks: No, I am NOT going to say who it is, or give a single “clue” or anything like that — so don’t bother asking. It’s not the point of this. And I have no desire to dox him, or do him any harm whatsoever. He is not out there screwing anyone over from what I’ve seen, even if he’s racked up quite a few enemies as well as intensely loyal friends and fans. But let me give you an example of what I mean: I remember being at a seminar we both spoke at many, many years ago. And during his talk I remember him starting to cry at an odd point when telling his story. It was odd because, one, it wasn’t really all that sad of a story in the first place. And, two, he did it during a part of the story where it made zero sense to cry. He was off by a few “beats” at least. And it was jarring. The person sitting with me noticed the same thing: “Why’s he crying?” And when I looked at other people around us, you could see the confusion on a few of their faces, too, while the majority (most people I have known who attend IM seminars are very compliant, just believe whatever the speaker says — it’s call the “Podium Effect”) were intensely engaged totally oblivious they were listening to utter bull shyt. It was just a very strange thing. And that was when I realized he was almost certainly a sociopath — meaning, he lacks the ‘wiring’ to care about people and lying does not only not phase him, but it’s a tool in his belt for selling without giving a second thought. Again, I am not saying he screws people over. To my knowledge he doesn’t, and has a very passionate and loyal client base. But he does seem to lack humanity: that piece of what makes normal people human, makes us feel empathy, makes us feel guilt, fear, sadness, shame, loss, whatever. In other words: He thinks more like a machine than a man — Very cold, very calculating, and with zero remorse. If I am correct about him, and I may not be, admittedly (this is a cautionary tale, not an FBI investigation), then even if he did screw someone over, he wouldn’t really be bothered by it. Or if he fleeced someone of everything and got them framed for a crime, he wouldn’t even bat an eye. It just wouldn’t emotionally register. Personally, I do think he’s been taught the difference between right and wrong. And that is why he doesn’t do these things. This isn’t a seminar on how to ID sociopaths though. It’s simply an example of how someone with little or no empathy — like AI — thinks. It will always lack humanity. Just like the guy above who is great with statistics, looking coldly at numbers, and saying whatever he has to say on stage to make people think he has humanity… he has to fake human emotions and behavior in order to fit in. Some of the really dangerous sociopaths are almost supernaturally good at faking humanity and do a lot of evil things. Think Ted Bundy who was almost freakishly good at being “more human” than regular humans when it came to faking humanity. But if you know what to look for, you know something is “off” and can adjust your action accordingly. It’s not unlike in Terminator 2 when the T2000 — the most advanced AI/robot created — tried to mimic John Connor’s foster parents… sounded just like them, same voice, tone, etc over the phone and John goes: “Something's wrong. She's never this nice.” With the dog (who senses its not human) barking. There is always something “off” — not in a good way, unlike human imperfection which is always perfectly normal, and also something Ted Bundy used to mimic, too, I will add… — when it comes to anything AI-generated, created, prompted, in my humble, caveman-like opinion… And people know it. They can tell fools gold from the original no matter how much it glitters. On a side note: This was very accurately shown in the TV show Dexter with the Sgt. Doakes character. He got a creepy vibe from Dexter, but couldn’t rationalize it. He just knew it was there and something in the milk wasn’t clean. Point is, there is no real human connection there or humanity. And it shows in how the guy I am referring to sells and even tells stories. Which brings me to the point: That’s your AI like fapGPT, etc, too. AI cannot be human, so will always lack humanity, even if it tries to pose as human, copies humans, pretends to be humans, is prompted by a human, takes that data and improves at trying to be human even though it’s not human and never will be human. There are many legit uses for AI, of course, even though the term “AI” is even fake and a lie, it is not actual “intelligence.” And I have to make that clear for the peanut gallery obsessed with all-things AI. And while you can obviously do whatever you want, I would not rely on it for anything other than cold calculations, brainstorming (like you would a swipe file), research, and other tasks that require no real humanity. I certainly would NOT use it for creating — whole cloth — emails, sales copy, content, customer service (do you really like talking or chatting to prompts when you have a serious customer service question?) or anything that requires genuine humanity. And just to be clear about something else: When I say “humanity” I’m referring to that unique spark of individuality that is you and nobody else. Humanity cannot be copied, and it cannot be “prompted,” and it can’t really even be “reverse engineered.” You cannot “prompt” your way into a relationship — romantic, friendship, or otherwise — unless you’re one of these deviants who buys secks dolls or, I suppose, a character in Black Mirror. Something else to compute: If you ever saw the movie Watchmen (or read the comicbook) there’s a scene that perfectly shows what AI does when it tries to create a relationship by doing everything “right” and checking all the humanity-boxes while utterly failing at the exact same time. The scene is when Laurie is having sex with Dr. Manhattan. (Who is a being of basically unlimited power who can bend matter to his will). And she’s in to it and it’s hot and heavy until she feels another pair of hands. And then she sees another face. And then she realizes she’s not doing the horizontal polka with Dr. Manhattan… She doing it with half a dozen (I forget how many) Dr. Manhattan clones! Dr. Manhattan (whose humanity was all but gone by then) assumed pleasuring her like that would make her happy, while the “real” him was in another room working on this machine to save the world, and he’s not focused on her at all, and not emotionally engaged with her on any level whatsoever, even if he was ticking all the right boxes for pleasuring her. So there is no connection, no empathy, and no relationship. He’s just going through the motions, phoning it in based on algorithms he calculated from his years of knowing her, talking to her, listening to her, being in close proximity with her. Thus, there was no real connection. Because, let’s face it, there was nothing there to connect with. That, to me, is a very good metaphor for using something like AI to write your emails and sales copy and content and grow a relationship with your list, customers, and clients with. Because the relationship transcends marketing and copywriting or content creation. There’s a transfer of energy and emotion going on between you and the person you’re trying to serve. No, I do not mean this in some idiotic “woo-woo” sense. This is all very rational… and human. Speaking of clients: The old Roman legal meaning of a client was someone under your care and protection. They considered that relationship sacred. Which is interesting because in the book “Ten Greatest Sales Persons” the late master of selling Joe Girard (who won the world record at selling cars — Chevrolets of all things) used that exact same word — sacred — to describe his customer relationships. fapGPT or any other AI cannot do that. Because it’s not really human. It’s just a tool — like a calculator. And while a calculator is a useful tool for pushing in numbers (prompting numbers), I don’t think you’re going to let it negotiate with, deal with, or try to form a relationship with your accountant, your stock broker, your insurance agent, or, even your friendly neighborhood IRS agent. I fully realize those with a vested interest in AI disagree with this. I’ll get a reply with “what about ___” with half a dozen AI marketing guys. But I don’t believe a single prompted word I hear about it at this point except from anyone talking about AI other than a very small handful of people I know, like, & trust — such as my pal and Email Players subscriber Shane Hunter, who intelligently approaches the topic from the perspective of wanting to better serve his clients vs just selling stuff. All right enough of this. If you want to learn how to create & monetize content with your own brain, that isn’t fools gold, that people don’t sense something “off” with, and that does not insult your customers’ or clients’ intelligence as a result of not trying to fool them with AI fakery, then see my newest book: “The Count of Content” Here are the details: This nearly 250-page book primarily consists of the December 2021, July 2022, November 2022, October 2023, and this past April & May 2024 Email Players issues. So if you have all or some of those you will have to determine if you want to buy this book or not. It is also on sale this week until tomorrow, Friday, 10/11 at midnight EDT during the launch at a $300 discount off the listed price. You can read about it here: [( Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2024 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 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