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Comment by emsign | Hacker News Reader

Statistics can never replace human empathy.

Why?

To paraphrase Harville Hendrix, we are wounded in relationship and we heal in relationship. Compassion is a feeling, not a thought. I don't think a galaxy of LLMs would ever discover the precepts of Buddhism (or psychology) on their own.

An association algorithm can also never replace free thought.

Is that really true? Dr. Patric Gagne is a diagnosed sociopath and also a successful clinical psychologist. She claims her lack of empathy for patients allows her to help them solve their problems in an objective manner. I don't have any personal experience in that area and don't know if she's correct but it seems plausible.

https://patricgagne.com/

> Dr. Patric Gagne is a diagnosed sociopath and also a successful clinical psychologist.

She is not a psychologist now according to her page. And how do you know she was successful? I skimmed a few articles about her and saw no attempts to verify her claims. She offered no evidence when asked why people should believe her.

How do you know that empathetic psychologists were successful? We don't have good data or how important that is for patient outcomes so we should be skeptical of claims that empathy is essential.

Asking questions about claims I did not make is not an answer.

Your question was poorly posed. If you want answers then ask better questions.

You made a claim. I asked evidence. Few questions are simpler.

That is exactly what a sociopath would say isn't it? Without an actual study by a trusted institute I would highly question such claims.

Sure. And I would also question claims that empathy is necessary for good patient outcomes. We don't have solid data on that either way.

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