The strange part is: I left the clinic more confused, but left the chatbot session feeling more informed. That shouldn’t be the case.
I’m not expecting AI to replace professionals, but it feels like there’s a widening gap between how institutions communicate and how much people actually want to understand. Tools like ChatGPT (and other LLMs) end up filling the gap, even though they weren’t designed for that role.
My questions for HN:
· Have you had similar experiences, not just in healthcare but in any domain (law, finance, even tech support) where the “official channel” gave you less clarity than a chatbot? · If so, how do you think about trusting or double-checking what the model says? · Do you think this is a temporary bridge until institutions adapt, or will LLMs permanently become the "first line of explanation" for many of us?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Analysis_of_the_Self
Kohut talks about the feeling of "mirroring" that we feel or don't feel from other people.
To follow the psychoanalysis area, consider sex. You might want to fulfill somebody's fantasies completely but you might have a very hard time doing it because something they want is squicky to you or you just feel "used". This turns into tension in your body, a krackle in your voice, and other little manifestations that are hard to hide. If a person is sufficiently wrapped up in themselves they might be oblivious to this but if they are properly receptive they might have a reaction that seems entirely out of proportion to some small non-verbal or verbal sign that "breaks the spell".
Kohut talks about narcissistic transferences (idealization, mirroring, twinship, merger) and also the countertransferences that the therapist feels towards that patient that can make it very hard for the therapist to be sympathetic, he does not think the therapist should every try to make the patient feel unmirrored but that no matter what you do you're going to make a mistake and get these reactions that are out of proportion and analyzable.
That countertransference is a function of the self of the therapist, and some people with an underdeveloped self (e.g. "narcissists") can be highly effective at seduction some of the time because they can be perfect chameleons and not experience that countertransference.
The LLM doesn't have a self, it doesn't feel a countertransference, it can mirror you better than any real person because it doesn't have any emotional reaction to your or to the milieu (they might be thinking more about how they're going to bill it to insurance or make their student loan payments that month, etc.)
Maybe it’s right, maybe not, I do have an appointment scheduled with a doctor, but it was a much more informative conversation I had than with an actual doctor.