[admyral]

I think what the author was getting as was that apps like this turn normal human interactions, complete with nuance and imperfection, into systematic conversation streams which can be optimized. One is like more efficient, but it raises the question of whether this theoretical human interaction optimum is a good thing.

[SapphireSun]

I think their point was valid, but they didn't think it through enough. It's good to make things you don't want to do or need to do a lot of efficient in the sense of optimizing away time, energy, or money. It's bad to optimize away things that you actually like to do.

I think an app like this could optimize away a weak link to arriving a place you want to be. That is, deciding when to initiate a conversation and coming up with an opening. The conversation itself is the valuable thing you want to spend time in. The opening of a comm channel is, in some conceptions, simply protocol.

Of course, it does take away the choice of thinking that you want to communicate at that moment, which can start to make it seem like an intrusion into your time and change the way you regard the conversation. I think it depends on the person and their evolving circumstances as to whether the removal of choice in this regard is advantageous.