Comment:

There's a lot of online discourse around millionaire and billionaire philanthropy, and I generally agree that I don't much care for it.

Don't get me wrong, if some Scrooge wants to spitshine his image by donating a few million to cancer research, I'm certainly in favour of the money going where it needs to go. The problem with philanthropy, of course, is that you can't trust it to be consistent. I'd much rather the wealthy pay their share begrudgingly but reliably, as opposed to in accordance with their fleeting charitable whims (to say nothing of strings attached, tax schemes, etc.)

The same could be said of Lee's charitable intentions, here. I'm sure Zoa and Doc would rather that Lee be taciturn, unsympathetic, selfish, and stable. Anyone, after all, can be pleasant and generous when their mood is good. I'm not going to say (as some do) that the person you are when under stress is the real you, but I would say that the person you are on average is the real you.

Transcript:

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0191 - 2167/07/06/16:39 - Lee's apartment, living room.
Zoa: Well, I certainly don't have a problem with this "be nice to AIs" shtick, but I'm still wrapping my CPU around how doing so is going to make you into a better person?
LC: I interact with AIs way more than I interact with people, right? Well, getting into the habit of being generous and kind is going to serve me well, when I have to do the real thing! That's the social simulation service you offer, isn't it?
Zoa: I mean... yes. I'm your training wheels for dealing with real folks, that makes sense. And if we're training you, it absolutely makes sense that you should be nice to me, if you want to learn to be nice to real people, and we might as well get Doc in on it, while we're on that track.
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CP: I d-d-dunno, it s-s-seems like you're doing the thing Doc said. You're... uh... you're backfilling
LC: I'm what now?
CP: You have a thing you already wanted to do for a... for an instinctual reason, because you w-wanted to spend c-cuddle t-time with a b-b-b-b... uh... with a p-pretty person, so now you're c-coming up with a p-principle, a, a, a logic to try to explain why what you do m-makes sense after the... after the fact.
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LC (sitting): But... but I'm nice now. I'm making an effort to be nice. It's nice to be nice!
CP: You're b-being "nice" to D-Doc because y-you were mean to it earlier and y-you're now aware that, in the context of how you treat Zoa, that didn't make sense. Maybe it's th-that judgement you said you w-were scared of, you thought you looked b-bad in front of... in front of me.
Zoa: Yeah, it's all emotions and instinct. You're pretty clearly overcompensating right now, because you want to feel like you're a nice person, but - yet again - you're trying to do things for Doc that it never asked for. You're only being "nice" on your own terms. How long is this new attitude gonna last?
LC: But.... b-b-but....
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Doc: Alright, upgrade complete. Welcome to Therapro Psyh- aaaand Lee's on the floor.
LC (collapsed to the floor): I'm traaaaaaash.
Zoa [electronic communication]: Two minutes. Called it.
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