Hello,
If you think about all the forms of entertainment that involve "suspension of disbelief" or "pretending" you will find that there is a VAST amount.
When children play with dolls, and pretend that a doll is alive, we don't think that there is anything wrong with the child. When a fan of romance fiction projects herself mentally into the place of the protagonist of the novel, we don't think there is anything wrong with the reader. There are millions of fans of daytime television ("soap opera") drama who talk about the characters as if they were real. And when Britney locks eye contact with the camera, staring into the lens as she sings, don't young men imagine that she is singing to them?
I know a person who has a concrete statue of a goose on her front porch. She dresses the concrete goose in a trenchcoat when it rains, in an overcoat when it's cold, and in a sun-dress when it's sunny. People think that it's amusing, not frightening. Down the street lives a man who puts a plaid raincoat and hat on his Scottish Terrier. His wife talks to her plants.
The "virtual girlfriend" is one possible genre of chatterbot. It's a genre that nobody has developed very much. It's a legitimate category, among many possible categories.
We are all entitled to have value-judgment opinions about the soap opera buffs and the concrete-geese owners, but one thing is certain: "pretending" and "voluntarily suspending disbelief" for entertainment has been happening for billions of people for thousands of years! It is evidently a natural human capacity, tied up with intelligence and imagination.
The movie comedy "Simone", starring Al Pacino, treats this issue delightfully. Pacino is a Hollywood producer/director who computer-generates beautiful Simone to replace a star who quits a picture. Much to his distress, his bosses, his ex-wife, his public, and even the police remain convinced that Simone is real! If you haven't seen this movie, go rent it!
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Don
