I think about this quite a bit; I'm a retired school librarian and witnessed many hesitations about the introduction of new tech. Librarians have been early adopters and simultaneously early critics of new tech.
I think technology is irrevocable and every advance in communication technology has been met with skepticism. Plato said much the same as what is stated in your article when he criticized writing for ruining memory. Homer allegedly recited his stories from memory, being blind and incapable of reading. Many oral cultures had individuals who specialized in memorizing sacred literature and family/clan histories. Visual artists complained about the introduction of photography, saying it would destroy artistic expression - then they stumbled onto Impressionism. These are just two examples but I could go on.
My fear is more about the tendency of entrepreneurs to seize power as they accumulate wealth and the persistence of get rich schemes. Do we really need this new tech or is it just a way for the rich to accumulate more wealth by providing enticing conveniences that generate new capital and become seemingly necessary. We certainly don't need AI for survival, unlike technology for food production or wellness. The biggest strength in my mind is that interacting with ChatGPT has been a boon for learning. Learning requires critical thinking skills and those skills need to be applied to any interaction with LLM just as has been true of using Google to search for information. Librarians have always advised cross referencing.
"Do we really need this new tech or is it just a way for the rich to accumulate more wealth by providing enticing conveniences that generate new capital and become seemingly necessary."
This is the fundamental question. In most cases... no is the answer, but we're deep in the throes of growth at all costs, and with social media dying, VR/AR struggling, the Metaverse a dead end for now, AI opened the door for more growth, even if it's artificial (as most products lose money and many hate it/don't use any of the AI features stuffed into products).
This article is spot on. I was actually talking to coworkers about how there’s a drop in literacy rates with kids today. I’m 33 so I grew up pre smart phone. The internet was dial up until I was 13 and I had a flip phone until college.
I see people doomscrolling all day and wonder what the future will look like. Now add AI into the equation, many are just forgoing their cognitive abilities without knowing it because they’re too young to make those decisions.
I started going back to journaling and writing by hand. Using a paper planner and paper workout journal because I want time that’s a break from tech. It didn’t take long before I started feeling like I gained my brain back but I can’t imagine people that have never known what it’s like to be bored or think without search engining something would do in the same scenario.
Maybe our educational system needs to change to focus on critical thinking? I’m not sure what the answer is because it seems like this is a run away freight train at this point.
Definitely a blessing. Grew up riding my bike to the park to play baseball with my neighborhood friend. Play madden together or football in the front yard. Even though we had video games, at least we were forced to play together in person.
Spot-on critique. The Anthropic job advert is peak irony: even AI builders distrust AI-mediated thought. Yes, cognitive decline is real, but isn’t the deeper issue how we use tools versus outsourcing agency?
The Microsoft study’s “verifiers versus acceptors” divide mirrors society’s trajectory: will we treat AI as collaborators (enhancing creativity) or crutches (eroding rigour)? Fire didn’t make us weaker; it demanded mastery. Similarly, AI could push us to prioritise metacognition if we resist valuing productivity over depth.
Q: How do you stay sharp while using AI? My rule: Never let it answer a question I haven’t first tried to solve myself.
That's a huge part, and what I tried to allude to – I think those who grow up with technologies so they slowly integrate with their lives and work have a better chance of understanding how to use them in a way that keeps them as tools. Those who are born into it fully established into everything they do and see... that's more complex.
I shared this paper with a techbro who argued that it supported their belief that AI agents make us smarter. I couldn't believe it. Someone deep in the AI cult can read the exact same paper and see reinforcement of their beliefs rather than what it actually details. Things are getting really weird.
That's just the way of the world now. Everything can be morphed or tweaked or skewed to fit any narrative, and AI is proving no different. We could get the most indisputable evidence to show AI is the worst thing ever invented and that we're doomed as a species, and the AI-pushers would somehow tell you that's a good thing and carry on.
When all this AI stuff emerged in mainstream, I got excited first. Then I tried all these chatgpt’s and other whatever -things out there to come to a conclusion that it's all horrible when you try to do any writing with them. Full of factual errors and boring as hell to read. I also tried image generators and same thing. Not only it feels like stealing, but you don't feel good to put that stuff out there with your name on it. I only have one service in use now, I paid fixed amount to use it the rest of my life and the ONLY thing I use it for is translation and proofing. Even for translation, it's not accurate and needs heavy manual editing. Well, this AI was bad already but obviously it's now getting even worse. I said this like two days ago in some other comment, but we would be better go to library and research from books instead AI / google' s crappy search and ai generated sites.
I think we will end up fed up of the recycled content generated by this technology and we will go back to our roots , as we still go back to pen and paper, or to eat organic, or to read Jane's Austen...
I think about this quite a bit; I'm a retired school librarian and witnessed many hesitations about the introduction of new tech. Librarians have been early adopters and simultaneously early critics of new tech.
I think technology is irrevocable and every advance in communication technology has been met with skepticism. Plato said much the same as what is stated in your article when he criticized writing for ruining memory. Homer allegedly recited his stories from memory, being blind and incapable of reading. Many oral cultures had individuals who specialized in memorizing sacred literature and family/clan histories. Visual artists complained about the introduction of photography, saying it would destroy artistic expression - then they stumbled onto Impressionism. These are just two examples but I could go on.
My fear is more about the tendency of entrepreneurs to seize power as they accumulate wealth and the persistence of get rich schemes. Do we really need this new tech or is it just a way for the rich to accumulate more wealth by providing enticing conveniences that generate new capital and become seemingly necessary. We certainly don't need AI for survival, unlike technology for food production or wellness. The biggest strength in my mind is that interacting with ChatGPT has been a boon for learning. Learning requires critical thinking skills and those skills need to be applied to any interaction with LLM just as has been true of using Google to search for information. Librarians have always advised cross referencing.
"Do we really need this new tech or is it just a way for the rich to accumulate more wealth by providing enticing conveniences that generate new capital and become seemingly necessary."
This is the fundamental question. In most cases... no is the answer, but we're deep in the throes of growth at all costs, and with social media dying, VR/AR struggling, the Metaverse a dead end for now, AI opened the door for more growth, even if it's artificial (as most products lose money and many hate it/don't use any of the AI features stuffed into products).
It's a total mess really.
…meat puppets…up on the sun…great record…
Holy s*it, someone else here knows meat puppets! I was supposed to comment something similar but you were first...
…let’s party…
Makes sense. Google has been doing that for decades now. (cf. Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr, 2008, The Atlantic)
This article is spot on. I was actually talking to coworkers about how there’s a drop in literacy rates with kids today. I’m 33 so I grew up pre smart phone. The internet was dial up until I was 13 and I had a flip phone until college.
I see people doomscrolling all day and wonder what the future will look like. Now add AI into the equation, many are just forgoing their cognitive abilities without knowing it because they’re too young to make those decisions.
I started going back to journaling and writing by hand. Using a paper planner and paper workout journal because I want time that’s a break from tech. It didn’t take long before I started feeling like I gained my brain back but I can’t imagine people that have never known what it’s like to be bored or think without search engining something would do in the same scenario.
Maybe our educational system needs to change to focus on critical thinking? I’m not sure what the answer is because it seems like this is a run away freight train at this point.
Sorry for the rant.
Same age here, so have the same background with technology – and as each day passes, I'm more and more grateful I grew up without it!
Definitely a blessing. Grew up riding my bike to the park to play baseball with my neighborhood friend. Play madden together or football in the front yard. Even though we had video games, at least we were forced to play together in person.
Spot-on critique. The Anthropic job advert is peak irony: even AI builders distrust AI-mediated thought. Yes, cognitive decline is real, but isn’t the deeper issue how we use tools versus outsourcing agency?
The Microsoft study’s “verifiers versus acceptors” divide mirrors society’s trajectory: will we treat AI as collaborators (enhancing creativity) or crutches (eroding rigour)? Fire didn’t make us weaker; it demanded mastery. Similarly, AI could push us to prioritise metacognition if we resist valuing productivity over depth.
Q: How do you stay sharp while using AI? My rule: Never let it answer a question I haven’t first tried to solve myself.
That's a huge part, and what I tried to allude to – I think those who grow up with technologies so they slowly integrate with their lives and work have a better chance of understanding how to use them in a way that keeps them as tools. Those who are born into it fully established into everything they do and see... that's more complex.
I shared this paper with a techbro who argued that it supported their belief that AI agents make us smarter. I couldn't believe it. Someone deep in the AI cult can read the exact same paper and see reinforcement of their beliefs rather than what it actually details. Things are getting really weird.
That's just the way of the world now. Everything can be morphed or tweaked or skewed to fit any narrative, and AI is proving no different. We could get the most indisputable evidence to show AI is the worst thing ever invented and that we're doomed as a species, and the AI-pushers would somehow tell you that's a good thing and carry on.
Wow, you're just proving yourself to be an luddite.
When all this AI stuff emerged in mainstream, I got excited first. Then I tried all these chatgpt’s and other whatever -things out there to come to a conclusion that it's all horrible when you try to do any writing with them. Full of factual errors and boring as hell to read. I also tried image generators and same thing. Not only it feels like stealing, but you don't feel good to put that stuff out there with your name on it. I only have one service in use now, I paid fixed amount to use it the rest of my life and the ONLY thing I use it for is translation and proofing. Even for translation, it's not accurate and needs heavy manual editing. Well, this AI was bad already but obviously it's now getting even worse. I said this like two days ago in some other comment, but we would be better go to library and research from books instead AI / google' s crappy search and ai generated sites.
It can, or it can be used to augment. Ironically Plato used the same argument against the written word so at least it’s in good company.
https://www.polymathicbeing.com/p/augmenting-intelligence
I think we will end up fed up of the recycled content generated by this technology and we will go back to our roots , as we still go back to pen and paper, or to eat organic, or to read Jane's Austen...
Ok Luddite😂
Proud Luddite, actually, so that's not the insult you think it is. Maybe read some history books.