"Once we flatten human endeavours into a narrow imitation target, we risk overlooking the social and experiential dimensions of what humans are actually doing."
Around 12 to 14 minutes into the interview, Pollan draws on sociologist Sherry Turkle's work to explain how technological simulations can simplify our understanding of human interaction. He discusses the acknowledgement, scepticism, body language and social subtleties that distinguish interpersonal communication from chatbot exchanges. This provides direct support for the manuscript's argument about what gets lost when human activity is reduced to an imitation target.