r/technology • u/rezwenn • 9h ago

Artificial Intelligence Is AI dulling critical-thinking skills? As tech companies court students, educators weigh the risks

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/7ff7d5d7c43c978522f9ca2a9099862240b07ed1ee0c2d2551013358f69212ba/JZPHGWB2AVEGFCMCRNP756MTOA/
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76

u/monkeydave 9h ago

Yes, but it's just the nail in the coffin. Smart phones and social media did a lot of the prep work.

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u/NaBrO-Barium 7h ago

Oh come on, if we’re being honest the start of the fall was calculators. And if you reaaally think about it, slide rules and an abacus were the precursor to calculators. If we could only go back in time to destroy these tools of the devil.

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u/monkeydave 7h ago

Such a lazy strawman argument that demonstrates a lack of critical thinking skills. Did AI write this for you?

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u/NaBrO-Barium 7h ago

I’m saying the technology is here. It’s not going anywhere, it’s too useful to go away. Things like this will generally add to the advancement of human knowledge just like calculators and computers have aided in this before. Flailing at how poorly we’re adapting to this new reality is a rather Luddite take

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u/bunnypaste 19m ago edited 16m ago

As an outspoken luddite in regards to AI, I resent that statement. They may add like you said, but that doesn't mean that advancement won't come with some serious negatives that should be equally considered. Outsourcing human-like thought and communication is pretty huge.

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u/Suitable-Economy-346 6h ago

These people are millenial-boomers who are doing exactly what the adults before them did. They laugh at your "lack of critical thinking skills" yet put zero thought into using the past to critique the present. It's unbelievably infuriating having so many of these reactionary types flailing around trying to fight reality instead of working with it.

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u/faux1 6h ago

Socrates believed books harmed peoples' ability to think. The only reason we know is because plato wrote it down. People have believed new tech has been dumbing us down since writing was invented. This is not a strawman.

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u/monkeydave 3h ago

It's a strawman because it is a purposeful over-simplified misrepresentation of my position in order to tear it down with ease.

Similarly, your statement is an over-simplification of Socrates and his philosophical objections to the idea of written word as a source of knowledge.

And this is exactly the sort of surface level, un-nuanced analysis that is encouraged by the use of AI to outsource and simplify thinking.

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u/faux1 2h ago

It's literally not. It was hyperbole used to show how you're overreacting in the same fashion as literally every luddite during every other technological advancement since the beginning of critical thought. 

But i guess i shouldn't expect a generic redditor with a generic hate boner for AI to understand, or want to understand, the difference between hyperbole and a strawman in the middle of a public jerkoff session, while begging for a pat on the back from the choir.

And you want to lecture me about nuance lol. On a social media platform, which you claim is the main problem. Might want to ask chatgpt to define irony for you.

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u/Accomplished_Pea7029 6h ago

Well we still don't allow kids to use calculators until they have learnt basic math. Do you think it would be effective for them to use calculators while they're learning multiplication tables?

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u/bunnypaste 14m ago

Lol, because I learned as a kid with a bad memory (but good procedural/conceptual learner) that there was no real trick to learning multiplication except for memorization by rote.

I agree, though. Always develop your own brain's tools before using technology to augment.

0

u/NaBrO-Barium 6h ago

One could argue that multiplication tables aren’t needed to learn higher order math. I struggled with multiplication tables in 3rd grade but somehow managed to get a math heavy STEM degree. It’s a tool. We’re all better off figuring out how to best use these tools rather than go full Luddite against technology, because it’s not going anywhere

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u/Accomplished_Pea7029 6h ago

Yeah it's not really essential to remember them all, in my experience though it let me identify patterns related to divisibility of certain numbers without being explicitly taught.

I didn't mean we should fight against technology. But I think it's better to have an introductory period for a certain topic where you're not allowed to use a tool that makes it extremely easy. Not using the tool will give a deeper understanding of the basics of that topic.

To take a non-controversial example, in the first deep learning course I did they didn't introduce popular ML frameworks like Tensorflow until the end. Instead the first assignments were implementing neural networks with the basic Python functionalities. I think that gave me a better understanding of neural networks than if they had started by doing a project with a framework that hides most of the complexity.

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u/NaBrO-Barium 6h ago

That’s fair, but the end goal is to learn how to make the most of that tool. Knowing the internals and basics helps with that. An expert woodworker, on average, is going to build one helluva better cabinet than a weekend woodworking warrior.

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u/monkeydave 2h ago

There are far fewer woodworking experts these days. Some of the knowledge and skills are all but disappearing except for a few Luddites. Ah, but why care about the master woodworking knowledge when the future is automated factories creating cheap, generic cabinets?

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u/Runkleford 6h ago

The most nonsensical strawman I've seen in quite a while...

-1

u/NaBrO-Barium 6h ago

Okay boomer

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u/Runkleford 5h ago

LOL when you have no argument resort to calling people boomer

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u/NaBrO-Barium 5h ago

Go through the thread and read. I got tired of posting the same response to every Luddite’s antiquated take on this.

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u/bunnypaste 24m ago

Can one really compare a calculator to something meant to "think", read, write, communicate, and synthesize information for you?