Will AI turn our brains to mush? History suggests otherwise. From writing to calculators to spell check, new tech has always sparked fears of cognitive decline. But AI, like previous innovations, will free our minds for deeper thinking. Embrace AI as a forklift for the mind. AI won't make us stupid — it’ll make us smarter.
I use AI as a brainstorming partner. And since I write lots of content, one way I try to 'keep fit' is coming up with the idea rather than telling the AI to do so. I don't do this often, but occasionally when I do, my ideas tend to be better and fresher.
Deep thinking is expensive in biological terms. Our brain does all sort of tricks and shortcuts so we avoid slow thinking as much as possible (refer to is Kahneman's book Thinking, fast and slow). If our chances of prospering in an AI mediated world depend on all of us thinking more intensely, I have to say I feel pessimistic about the chances of most individuals.
We might look clever like in case of the majority of other technology mentioned ... though we are not becoming wiser in terms of our long term survival ... Today our political and economic systems deploy technologies for control ... AI could be a new tool at their hands giving it more powers as we already see who are the players investing in ... Its going to be a new threat ensuring more energy and material use and faster destruction of our ecosystem
"But what does it matter that they can’t perform accurate calculations without calculators or computers, since these tools are always at hand?"
(1)The tools are not always at hand, and (2) the inability to estimate relative magnitudes means that people don't notice mistakes in output and don't have a feel for relative error.
It shouldn't be necessary to pull out a calculator to do a quick check on figures quoted in conversation or to figure if you're getting a good deal in a sale. What I call "grocery store arithmetic" is more than adequate to that task, but that skill seems to be a generational loss.
I use AI as a brainstorming partner. And since I write lots of content, one way I try to 'keep fit' is coming up with the idea rather than telling the AI to do so. I don't do this often, but occasionally when I do, my ideas tend to be better and fresher.
Deep thinking is expensive in biological terms. Our brain does all sort of tricks and shortcuts so we avoid slow thinking as much as possible (refer to is Kahneman's book Thinking, fast and slow). If our chances of prospering in an AI mediated world depend on all of us thinking more intensely, I have to say I feel pessimistic about the chances of most individuals.
We might look clever like in case of the majority of other technology mentioned ... though we are not becoming wiser in terms of our long term survival ... Today our political and economic systems deploy technologies for control ... AI could be a new tool at their hands giving it more powers as we already see who are the players investing in ... Its going to be a new threat ensuring more energy and material use and faster destruction of our ecosystem
"But what does it matter that they can’t perform accurate calculations without calculators or computers, since these tools are always at hand?"
(1)The tools are not always at hand, and (2) the inability to estimate relative magnitudes means that people don't notice mistakes in output and don't have a feel for relative error.
It shouldn't be necessary to pull out a calculator to do a quick check on figures quoted in conversation or to figure if you're getting a good deal in a sale. What I call "grocery store arithmetic" is more than adequate to that task, but that skill seems to be a generational loss.