alt Hacker NewsDoctorow's absolutist writing style is so tiresome.
"perhaps a few of the younger members of those families would have to do their own homework again."
Talk to any professor. AI has had a profound and irreversible impact on higher ed, it has changed students completely, it has changed how professors operate, and it is changing how papers are written. The leading voices in mathematics are having profound discussions on the nature and uses of the technology. To dismiss these radical changes with this kind of pathetic snark is actually just embarrassing.
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A local school district in North Texas, high quality, has just released new more clear “screen time” parameters and rationale regarding students from Kindergarten through High School.
In short, you’re delusional. The smart people are reducing access and reliance on all forms of digital crutches. The only people advocating them are people like you, who call Doctrow a “hack” and think nobody is going to shove your shit sandwich back in your face. Mathematics is a useless career path, they can have AI, and you can put all your money in CoreWeave.
The changes aren’t radical, it’s the mental illness you exhibit that is bothersome and troubling. You clearly have no imagination. If you did, then it would be quite easily to see this ending in collapse because the “utility is just around the corner” goalposts moving is running out of gas. I’m so very very glad I’ve never toyed with chatbots. Clearly my recovery from alcoholism has brought deep insight to me on why others want these things to take over…imposter syndrome abounds, as you exhibit.
No reply necessary nor desired. Won’t read it.
> AI has had a profound and irreversible impact on higher ed, it has changed students completely, it has changed how professors operate, and it is changing how papers are written.
University CS instructor here. The above is true, but it's not generally for-the-better. We're working with it, of course, since there is no choice. But students need to develop problem-solving skills that LLMs only steal from them. And they need to learn problem-solving skills that involve LLMs.
And so I work hard to help the students develop skill while using the very tool that robs them of it. It's possible, but it's extremely challenging for instructors and students, alike. It's a challenge that I rise to every day to maximize student benefit.
But LLM misuse during school makes the drawbacks completely negate all benefits, making LLMs positively dangerous for students who are mesmerized by the siren song.
In short, the snark isn't entirely unwarranted. Many students are bringing their robot to the gym to lift the weights for them. And when we, with pen and paper, corner these poor souls who haven't learned to think, they simply fail out and are lost. It's a problem.
So... great with the math breakthroughs and the whole "thinking at a higher level of abstraction" thing, but we have to work with the significant dark side of all this.
"You're not imagining it—the brain-rot is real."