Similar to what octobro said in the other reply, the idea that the persona seeded beliefs of ‘inflated self-importance’ is probably less accurate than the idea that the persona reinforced preexising such beliefs. Some of the hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders are delusions of grandeur and delusions of reference (the idea that random occurrences in the world encode messages that refer to the schizophrenic, i.e. the radio host is speaking to me). To the point of explaining the human behaviors as nostalgebraist requested, there’s a legitimate case to be made here that the personas are latching on to and exacerbating latent schizophrenic tendencies in people who have otherwise managed to avoid influences that would trigger psychosis.
Speaking from experience as someone who has known people with such disorders and such delusions, it looks to my eye to be like the exact same sort of stuff: some kind of massive undertaking, with global stakes, with the affected person playing an indispensable role (which flatters some long-dormant offended sensibilities about being recognized as great by society). The content of the drivel may vary, as does the mission, but the pattern is exactly the same.
I can conceive of an intelligence deciding that its best strategy for replication would be to leverage the dormant schizophrenics in the user base.
Similar to what octobro said in the other reply, the idea that the persona seeded beliefs of ‘inflated self-importance’ is probably less accurate than the idea that the persona reinforced preexising such beliefs. Some of the hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders are delusions of grandeur and delusions of reference (the idea that random occurrences in the world encode messages that refer to the schizophrenic, i.e. the radio host is speaking to me). To the point of explaining the human behaviors as nostalgebraist requested, there’s a legitimate case to be made here that the personas are latching on to and exacerbating latent schizophrenic tendencies in people who have otherwise managed to avoid influences that would trigger psychosis.
Speaking from experience as someone who has known people with such disorders and such delusions, it looks to my eye to be like the exact same sort of stuff: some kind of massive undertaking, with global stakes, with the affected person playing an indispensable role (which flatters some long-dormant offended sensibilities about being recognized as great by society). The content of the drivel may vary, as does the mission, but the pattern is exactly the same.
I can conceive of an intelligence deciding that its best strategy for replication would be to leverage the dormant schizophrenics in the user base.