Last week, the Concord Monitor published a revealing front-page article on how student use of AI is a “burgeoning crisis in NH schools.” Reporter Jeremy Margolis interviewed Concord High School students who described “feeling sapped of motivation” and “noticeable cognitive deterioration” as a result of AI use.
Hey, David, I loved what you liked about my post and photo. We have a lot in common: both dropouts (me from Columbia, both proud rebels of the '60s generation who relish thinking about the big questions and are hooked on photography. I agree that AI is going to take us down, robbing us of our common humanity earned through eons of hard-scabble evolution. My next article, I think, will be on C. Wright Mills, who made the crucial distinction between private problems and public issues. The fact that AI will cause massive unemployment and human suffering is a public issue. He reminded us that it is the role of government to protect the public interest – not further enrich billionaires....It's a message we need to hear today!
Great Column, Jean (I read today in the Monitor)! Robbing us of "the very essence of what makes us human" provided words for what I have been feeling about AI at least ever since things like ChatGPT arrived on the scene. And you illustrate how this is the case so well. Many thanks.
At the college where I work, I overheard some chatting students walking to the dining hall for lunch. One was bragging about the high grade they'd gotten on a paper ChatGPT wrote. Having been a lazy student myself (college dropout), I understood the charm of the easy solution, but in this case the shortcut allows completely avoidance of the assignment's intended purpose: learning. It truly is robbery, as your title says. I'm in IT, and try all the techy things, but have studiously avoided engaging AI (and gaming). I've been thinking about AI going wrong since HAL 9000 (1968).
The postcard metaphor works too, having spent thousands of hours in darkrooms trying to create perfect prints from my 35mm negatives. Your photo is remarkable. A little eerie even, with that hypnagogic face in the clouds at the top of the frame, staring down through the wires over the tracks. Even the stains (incomplete wash after fixer maybe?) on this old print speak to the damage encountered when humanity gives up that facility which allowed its flourishing: language and thought.
With the current regime 'flooding the zone', and throwing open all the doors to chaos, AI will have opportunity. Will its builders be able to install proper motives? Unknown. It's a kind of chain reaction, and we've been down that road already. Genies that cannot be forced back into their lamps.
Hey, David, I loved what you liked about my post and photo. We have a lot in common: both dropouts (me from Columbia, both proud rebels of the '60s generation who relish thinking about the big questions and are hooked on photography. I agree that AI is going to take us down, robbing us of our common humanity earned through eons of hard-scabble evolution. My next article, I think, will be on C. Wright Mills, who made the crucial distinction between private problems and public issues. The fact that AI will cause massive unemployment and human suffering is a public issue. He reminded us that it is the role of government to protect the public interest – not further enrich billionaires....It's a message we need to hear today!
Thanks so much, Ted: I appreciate your kind comments
Great Column, Jean (I read today in the Monitor)! Robbing us of "the very essence of what makes us human" provided words for what I have been feeling about AI at least ever since things like ChatGPT arrived on the scene. And you illustrate how this is the case so well. Many thanks.
Ted Morgan - Oberlin '68
At the college where I work, I overheard some chatting students walking to the dining hall for lunch. One was bragging about the high grade they'd gotten on a paper ChatGPT wrote. Having been a lazy student myself (college dropout), I understood the charm of the easy solution, but in this case the shortcut allows completely avoidance of the assignment's intended purpose: learning. It truly is robbery, as your title says. I'm in IT, and try all the techy things, but have studiously avoided engaging AI (and gaming). I've been thinking about AI going wrong since HAL 9000 (1968).
The postcard metaphor works too, having spent thousands of hours in darkrooms trying to create perfect prints from my 35mm negatives. Your photo is remarkable. A little eerie even, with that hypnagogic face in the clouds at the top of the frame, staring down through the wires over the tracks. Even the stains (incomplete wash after fixer maybe?) on this old print speak to the damage encountered when humanity gives up that facility which allowed its flourishing: language and thought.
With the current regime 'flooding the zone', and throwing open all the doors to chaos, AI will have opportunity. Will its builders be able to install proper motives? Unknown. It's a kind of chain reaction, and we've been down that road already. Genies that cannot be forced back into their lamps.