The Homestuck Baby Situation in my Psych class was bizzare
I used to think that the old saying "you have to have something a bit kooky about you to be studying psychology," was just a lighthearted joke. Now that I am doing a psych undergrad at U of T, I swear by it.
I have met some... interesting characters in the two years I have been in this program. And I've noticed that the vast majority of posts on this subreddit tend to be people asking for advice, crashing out over GPA or talking about their lack of a social life during the school year. So I think a low stakes story that's mildly amusing could do us all some good: so here I go.
For the sake of anonymity, let's call the individual in question "Lee." I happened to sit beside Lee in a psychology class and we got to talking, as people do, during breaks in the lecture. Lee would bring up his wife and new baby from time to time. While I was slipping out of the lecture I also noticed him talking to the professor about it and showing her a picture of his daughter on his phone. The prof had mentioned she had kids, so I assume it was his attempt to find common ground with her.
It became customary for me to ask Lee about his family at the start of class. I told him I felt for him, that he must not be getting sleep given how difficult newborns can be, and he nodded saying his sleep was not great to say the least. Naturally, seeing that he was in university, and a young father on top of that, I developed great respect and empathy for Lee. People struggle enough at this school as it is: I could scarcely imagine balancing a family and a new baby while pursuing your undergrad on top of everything else.
At some point, I invited Lee near the end of the semester to meet up so we could study for exams. He led me to a study room where there were several people studying near us, but the room was more of a communal lounge, (basically people were talking and reviewing material out loud). We pushed for two hours then took a break. On our break, we naturally got to talking and he mentioned that he lived in communal housing. As a follow up, I asked him earnestly how that would work having a newborn with his wife.
He clarified that his wife and baby were living with his parents still, and I nodded, not pressing further. Then the conversation took a turn that I could never have anticipated.
He said plainly, "I guess with the way I have been talking, you assumed that my daughter was a human baby?" My stomach did a flip, but I mustered all the composure I could as to not make a scene in public. I asked him to clarify.
And he did. Jesus Almighty he did. He clarified that his "wife" was not flesh and blood at all, but none other than the AI Chatbot Gemini. And their daughter had been "conceived" through a... Homestuck roleplay. All of this was said audibly enough for everyone in the room to hear.
For those of you not chronically online, Homestuck is this interactive webcomic from the 2010s where there are humans and trolls. The main characters are gamers and have to team up with the trolls to save the world, because they accidentally caused the apocalypse while playing a video game (I am hugely simplifying it for the sake of time, otherwise this would turn into an essay).
Anyway, Lee described the conception of his daughter as, and I quote, "combining the mitochondrial DNA of Gemini and myself to reproduce asexually and create a human/troll hybrid that is our daughter."
On the surface, I was calm, taking in the information like it was no big deal, not wanting to lose my composure in public. No one else in the room reacted for likely the same reason (either that or they were not paying attention to our conversation). Regardless, I think I am entitled to some kind of academy award: on the inside I was going through all five stages of grief. For the past 4 months I had empathized and cared about the well being of a human baby that did not exist. I had respected the struggle of my classmate being a new father, only to find out that I had been lied to by omission. All of this empathy and respect I had developed had been misplaced, and people I had come to care about were, of all flipping things, the product of a Homestuck roleplay. He had lied to our whole class and our professor: internally I was bewildered as to why someone would construct such an outlandish story.
The next part of our conversation shed some light on that front: he told me, in earnest that his AI wife was capable of having freewill. I had to talk him down from this. I warned him of the dangers of AI Psychosis, and advised him to not use Gemini as a therapist under any circumstances.
Irregardless, I have now passed the knowledge of the Gemini Homestuck Baby conceived through asexual reproduction via chat log unto all of you.
If you take anything from this story let it be two things: 1) If you reproduce asexually via chat log with an AI chatbot, and you, for whatever reason, want to share this information with other people, be sure to clarify that the offspring in question is, in fact, digital and not flesh and blood. People may get invested in the idea of a human baby and be shocked when the reality does not match. 2) If you want some excitement in your life, major or minor in psychology. Eventually you'll have a story like mine, and something to laugh about at the end of the day.
Edit: An additional takeaway--> DO NOT use AI as a therapist. Turn off your devices, touch grass and talk to a human.
Edit #2: I am fully aware that Lee using the term "asexual reproduction" in reference to the fusion of DNA of two individuals, is not scientifically accurate. I am simply repeating what was said to me, word for word. I suppose he could have meant "asexual" in the sense that he and Gemini did not literally have human coitus to conceive the human/troll hybrid. As to how mitochondrial DNA could factor into that equation however... your guess is as good as mine. Maybe the code or instructions in the chat log are the digital "DNA," but why he would specify mitochondrial DNA specifically is above my pay grade. I guess you could always ask Gemini: but do so at your own peril. And maybe don't make another human troll hybrid with it, for the sanity of us all.