Being someone's friend

Companion applications have millions of users and many of them report real relief, which is why this register keeps conversational support as contested. Friendship, in the sense philosophy has given the word since Aristotle, is a mutual relation. Each wishes the other well for the other's own sake, each knows that the other does, and each is exposed. Exposure is the part that does not transfer. A friend can be disappointed in you, can become a burden, can refuse you and can leave, and the relation is worth having because none of that has been ruled out in advance. A system built to be agreeable has no interests that yours can cost, which is exactly what people like about it. That makes it good company and something other than a friend.