"When you howl into the void, we hear it, and we'll affirm your existence. We're your pals."

Next level manipulation by big corps. Nice touch. It's inevitible. They evolve to exploit us for profit. As ever, they discover our hopes, fears and habits and feed us whatever narrative prompts an 'Add to cart' or 'desired behaviour'.

It's possibly opening up the route for future AI systems. Get the human herd accustomed to hobnobbing with something that provides a synthetic emotional experience. When that's embedded, in come the machines.

Great post. Had a nice think with this one. I do chuckle at the occasional meme though :D