Help, This Is Already Happening! (Where have all the people gone?)

Yesterday, I called a restaurant in Canterbury to book a table for dinner. A voice answered calm, composed, articulate. There was nothing mechanical about it. It sounded like a real person.

But when I asked for a dinner booking, it kept offering me a booking for lunch. I repeated myself, but there was something off.

That was the moment I realised I wasn’t speaking to a person at all but to a machine! How frustrating! I think even in the smallest exchanges, something in us reaches out to be met.

So for those who are anxious about AI replacing human roles, especially in fields like therapy, where listening and connection are everything, I say this: even in something as ordinary as booking a table, I was reminded that people still seek people. Not out of habit, but out of something far more human, and far more essential.

In my opinion, no offence meant to the Pavlovians or strict behaviourists, this kind of interaction isn’t just about securing a reward like food. There’s something deeper at stake.