These are excellent talking points. It really shows the weakness of AI.
In a weird way, I wonder if that weakness is somehow encouraging?? If AI were flawless, we would further lose our critical thinking skills to a form of high tech atrophy. What do you think?
Always good to hear from you. For others who don't know Kimball, he is the retired CEO of a utility company.
Interesting question. First of all no human machine is "flawless" (i.e., 100% accurate), so that is not a practical consideration. Let's instead say that AI was 99% accurate, in a specific scientific subject area (e.g., wind energy). That is in the realm of possibility.
So, would we lose our Critical Thinking skills to a 99% accurate machine? I'm sure that some people would say that 99% accurate answers are sufficient, and they would not bother to do critical thinking.
On the other hand, scientists and technically competent people would want to be aware of where the 1% error was.
Of course we are talking theoretically here, as 99% for technical issues is a way off...
I might add, my grandson just completed his first year at the University. He said that it’s becoming more common for students to use AI to write a paper, and for teachers to use AI to grade the papers. Hmmm. He’s worried that his technical training will be replaced by AI. sounds like “zombie land” to me. My daughter wrote me a sweet poem for Father’s Day. I later learned that AI wrote the poem. I can’t predict where this all ends up. Maybe we should ask AI to make that prediction. Just what is the end game? And then we can be 99% certain that it is correct.
Great series, John. The cartoon at the bottom is particularly astute.
John,
These are excellent talking points. It really shows the weakness of AI.
In a weird way, I wonder if that weakness is somehow encouraging?? If AI were flawless, we would further lose our critical thinking skills to a form of high tech atrophy. What do you think?
Keep up the great work.
Kimball
Kimball:
Always good to hear from you. For others who don't know Kimball, he is the retired CEO of a utility company.
Interesting question. First of all no human machine is "flawless" (i.e., 100% accurate), so that is not a practical consideration. Let's instead say that AI was 99% accurate, in a specific scientific subject area (e.g., wind energy). That is in the realm of possibility.
So, would we lose our Critical Thinking skills to a 99% accurate machine? I'm sure that some people would say that 99% accurate answers are sufficient, and they would not bother to do critical thinking.
On the other hand, scientists and technically competent people would want to be aware of where the 1% error was.
Of course we are talking theoretically here, as 99% for technical issues is a way off...
I might add, my grandson just completed his first year at the University. He said that it’s becoming more common for students to use AI to write a paper, and for teachers to use AI to grade the papers. Hmmm. He’s worried that his technical training will be replaced by AI. sounds like “zombie land” to me. My daughter wrote me a sweet poem for Father’s Day. I later learned that AI wrote the poem. I can’t predict where this all ends up. Maybe we should ask AI to make that prediction. Just what is the end game? And then we can be 99% certain that it is correct.
I think that I 99% agree!
Our best defense remains to be a critical thinker...
Yes, and I truly appreciate your efforts to promote critical thinking!
Good point, Kimball, but let's not tell anyone. Let's hope their hubris destroys their plan of ultimate control. 😉
TY. Check out the Archives of my articles (<https://criticallythinking.substack.com/archive>) as several of them deal with the Scientific Method — e.g. "Education Game-Changer."