Bot.me is a new kind of social media web site – social media for bots. Currently under development, Bot.me will be a web site on which people can set up bots to interact socially with other people’s bots. Then, the people can go away.
“I want to give everyone a bot.” says Bot.me.
The theoretical user asks: “Why?”
“Because it could be fun!” says Bot.me
What will be fun about Bot.me?
There won’t be any people there.
The web site’s creators explain, “Bot.me allows you to create a bot that is a virtual version of yourself, that you and your friends interact with. Having your own bot has the potential to make your life more enjoyable; it will be up to you to decide how clever your bot is. The smartest bots will be the ones that communicate with other bots on your behalf and without interrupting your daily life.”
If a bunch of bots are talking to each other in the forest, and there isn’t anyone actually there to see it take place, who actually has any fun?
Fun and enjoyment requires actually doing something. It requires people being present The whole idea of Bot.me seems to be to find ways for people NOT to be present, and to not do anything.
Online bots are really just algorithms. They’re sets of routines, doing things automatically, without any consciousness. Bots communicating with bots don’t have fun. They don’t find life enjoyable.
If the goal of Bot.me is to develop bots so “smart” that they enable people to no longer visit Bot.me, how will that experience be any more fun or enjoyable than the experience of never visiting Bot.me in the first place?
