Over Used and Under Keyed

Many people think I am against AI as I often write about the various dangers of it, but that is not the entire truth, because I see plenty of advantages of it too. However, while there are advantages, I think that humans are pretty short-sighted and even when trying to be "aware" will slip into defaults, and the default of using a lot of tools to achieve what we did earlier, means lowering the ability to do more later.

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For example, there are quite a lot of number and tech nerds around here and the fact is that everyone one of them learned basic math, before moving onto more advanced forms. The learning path is progressive, where one bit of knowledge builds on the next and then the next. Each learning point creates the possibility to move onto the next. The problem with a lot of the tools available now is that they take away the need for all those beginners to learn the fundamentals and allows them to jump into far more complex problems. While many don't seem to see the problem with this, learning those basics changes the way the brain is structured and therefore, the way we think. Skipping those steps doesn't make us smarter, it reduces our mental ability and probably has detrimental effects.

To illustrate this, for many years I have been training groups of design engineers that create large industrial machines that can be valued in the hundreds of millions. There are lots of complexities. There is a range of ages I have worked with over the years from people close to retirement, down to those just starting their career and while the younger ones are far more efficient users of the CAD software than the older, the older are far more effective problem solvers because they can think through the design without seeing it. This comes down to how they learned to draw, because they didn't learn on a computer, they learned on paper, with a pencil and set squares, in technical drawing class. This meant that they had to "build" the model from scratch and there was a cost to making a mistake, especially once inking it in with a Rotring pen.

I loved technical drawing.

My point with this story though is how missing lessons in certain skills can change the way we think and act, and what is probably predictable, is that if we do not learn the basics, we are going to be missing some fundamental understanding. Just imagine a hypothetical child who was raised in a white-padded room, only seeing those walls, unable to walk, nothing to stimulate the mind, only the plainest of foods, no conversation, no interaction with other people or animals - nothing.

What can they do at 21 years of age?

I don't know, but that would be a very cruel experiment to trial. However, we could assume that at the very least, they will have physical development problems, no speech, be unable to tolerate even slightly spicy foods, and will likely die once they come into contact with the most mild of viruses.

Now while that experiment is cruel, we can assume that a child who is for instance denied education is going to struggle to struggle to learn from a book, since they can't read. But that is the same for a child who is spends all of their time gaming too, right? Because it doesn't matter what tools we use in our lives, they shape us. One of my brothers was a mechanic, his forearm and hand strength was incredibly high, because he had spent years working on engines with spanners and the like. He became an engineer later in life and outperformed others not because of his grip strength, but because he understood the practical nature of mechanics.

And since the tools shape us, using a large amount of AI and automation is going to shape us also. Some believe that it frees up space for more important and complex thought, but that is not how the brain learns. The human brain requires that foundational understanding to build upon, so jumping in at the deep end with tools doesn't build it. This isn't to say that it is necessary to have it either, because who knows, perhaps the tool support will be enough to always take up the slack, but I doubt it.

Those who are using AI well now to improve their jobs, are people who have probably already learned the basics of their job, which means they are able to now skip steps for efficiency sake. But what about those who are coming in without the experience, and what kind of value can they add when they don't understand where the value is derived from in the first place?

Every tool that replaces our need to do something ourselves, is competing with our brain power and ability. In some cases this is great as it really does free up space, but in many cases what ends up happening is that we lose the ability at the low-end, so we will not have the ability at the high.

I added the picture of the keyboard, because I use one a lot but didn't use one much until I was in university. A keyboard has taken away our need to write with a pen and now many don't even use a keyboard at all. However, the fine motor skills of children is degrading rapidly, where some kids struggle to hold a pen or use a pair of scissors. Their muscles are weak and developed in the wrong way for fine hand actions. Having opposable thumbs was one of our main evolutionary advantages and now we are undermining it, but where are the next surgeons going to come from? Moreover, I suspect that the act of using our hands to create is one of those fundamental processes that builds our brain to be able to think practically.

AI is not going anywhere, but I do not think we are going to use it smartly and it is going to have some pretty terrible impacts on children and what kind of adults they become, much like the internet has done in the last three decades. Those who have only known internet access are more likely to be lonely, depressed, have mental health issues, and be overweight.

And it was all very easy.

Perhaps AI will hit the singularity point and surpass human intelligence and then race ahead at an exponential rate of self-advancement, which would render us all obsolete. That won't matter though, because we would have already been consumed as a fuel source before we even realised we were useless. But even this is the future, I don't see how it is going to be a good life for anyone to keep reducing their ability until they can do nothing of value at all. For now, people are looking at all the savings, but that is short-sighted.

Start looking at the costs.

AI shouldn't be used to do what we are already doing more efficiently, it should be used to do what we haven't been able to do effectively yet at all. We haven't been able to create a peaceful world, where energy and opportunity is abundant, and human wellbeing is approaching its peak. Instead we keep on using it to make a handful of corporations a little more money, while they find ways to get rid of us for efficiency's sake.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]

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