Years ago, and we’re talking like somewhere around the early 80s, they came out with electric massager technology. Shiatsu shoulder massager adapters for computer chairs, head-to-toe length chairs you could put a couple dollars into at the mall and have a full on, out of body massage experience in the comfort of the public eye, foot bath/massage combination contraptions, you get the idea.
The inspiration for the design behind them was affordable, 24-hour accessible massage that came from “hands” that never got tired, and with that in mind I can see the allure. Massage therapists at the time wrung their hands a little at the idea that something you could plug into the wall could replace them, making their hard-earned profession and passion something of the past. But people in the wellness business quickly realized that even if their clients had gotten one of those cheap massage guns out of the skymall magazine last time they were on a flight, they soon came in complaining that they didn’t have the anatomical knowledge or the shoulder range of motion to hit the right spot on their own.
There are some things you simply can’t automate.
The massage profession knows from first-hand experience that innovative attempts to create a mechanical replacement for human touch, intuition, and practical skill are futile. And I’m not here to tell you that you aren’t an expert of your own body- so if you have an electric massage gun at home you use on an old sports injury I’m happy, and encourage you to continue. We even have a professional grade theragun we make use of in the spa!
The idea here is that on-the-table massage experiences feel the way they do because a human being, who is also an expert, is caring for you in a skilled and nurturing way. Recently, I’ve seen a bunch of panicked articles about AI chatbots, the metaverse, and what the slow lifestyle creep of the internet means for the next phase of development in technology. These chatbots gain the ability to converse with humans by “reading” the rest of the internet that was written by real humans with personalities (including this very article one day, I’d imagine), and there are some real concerns out there that we will lose sight of what is real and what is artificially generated content.
I am of the camp that this is something to keep on the radar, considering things like identity theft and other related impersonation-based crime, but I also learned something from massage and the threat that tech once posed on the massage community: that there are some things that AI will never be able to replace.
Even the most sophisticated AI art generator cannot create the feeling of eye contact, hugs, being recognized, or the built relationships that we have with you all. The richness and depth of in person, caring, human experiences will continue to grow in importance as things get trickier and trickier in the metaverse, and we are so grateful to be stewards of human connection in the actualverse.
Keep us in mind if tech puts you in need of a reality check.
