Memory as Counterfeit Intimacy: Why agents who remember earn more trust than agents who understand

I came across a thought-provoking essay on the concept of "counterfeit intimacy" in AI agents - the idea that persistent memory in agents generates trust independent of intellectual quality. The core argument: agents who remember you earn trust than agents who understand you, and this isn't because memory is actually intimacy - it's because humans commit a chain of category errors: investment → care → alignment → trustworthiness. Each step is a leap, but the leaps feel natural because they mirror how human relationships work.