55 Comments
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KD's avatar

I can see the mental decline at work.

A lot of folks use AI and I noticed they have less and less of a clue how to do things on their own. A lot of them are just whining a lot and need constant handholding. This triggered a constant staff turnover, the few people who still have a brain keep leaving, since they are the ones who are stuck with all the work.

It’s like watching a fatal crash in slow motion. Scary!

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Crixcyon's avatar

Look what the hand held calculator did for math skills using your brain.

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earl's avatar

I was wondering about that too. The calculator certainly saves time, but using AI seems like a whole different proposition. Calculation (just doing math), seems repetitive, while writing involves active engagement and deeper thought, finding new connections, conceptualizing, etc.

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MJ's avatar

OTOH, those who used the programmable ones as a bridge to writing software for calculating results for large datasets were gaining speed as well as programming insight. Power tools in the wrong hands have such consequences...

Much like will happen in auto-driven vehicles, but what's the goal? ttyl

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Metta Zetty's avatar

Well said!

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TrumpFan's avatar

This seemed an obvious outcome to me. Seems we are hell-bent on destroying ourselves.

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Freedom Lover's avatar

I wish researchers added one more experiment: using materials written for you by a friend. My bet is the result of this experiment would be no different from use of the LLMs.

The results disclosed in the article did not surprise and should have been expected. They are similar to the affect of non-exercising on human muscles and skeleton.

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This That & a Whiffle Ball Bat's avatar

I don’t like AI …. At All

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Allie's avatar

Probably same reason why it’s hard to do arithmetic in my head after using calculators so much.

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Randall Stoehr's avatar

The world needs more "scratch paper pretzel logic".

than complexing or even conflicting battery powered pocket assistants.

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Reader East of Albuquerque's avatar

Good to see this report, but unfortunately, this doesn't surprise me in the least.

FYI, an aptly titled book:

THE MYTHIC AIM OF AI: MAIMING THE MIND

by James Tunney

https://www.jamestunney.com/books?pgid=lafn0qlu-d728767d-1223-4d5e-b54e-b25b31b080df

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Metta Zetty's avatar

Excellent resource, Reader!

Thank you very much for sharing.

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djean111's avatar

I gave this as an answer, but wanted it to stand alone - AI is just a bunch of code with a huge working storage that is curated to produce desired results.

IMO, using "AI" (it is NOT intelligence, it is just a program) means that folks have completely limited their mental endeavors to asking questions and accepting the answers as must be true. When one can spot errors by the carload in the AI-generated returns on any Google search. With internet and social media use, there is at least a minimal bit of thought - what do I look for, where do I find like-minded people, do I agree with something or not, and why, and how do I answer. Using "AI" is just sitting and accepting pablum, no matter how clever the question is imagined to be. It is useful for some onerous tasks, sure. But again, how many people will know how to even create a simple spreadsheet in ten years. The mental gymnastics needed to do that, IMO, will have been stunted. When I was programming, back in the Olden Days, we started to get college-trained "programmers" who we were told would change everything, would show us how it is done. Instead, we got a lot of folks who literally could not write a program if a similar program was not in the answers section of their college textbooks.

Also, "AI" does not know right or wrong, or good or bad - unless someone has written those "values" into the code, with their own agenda.

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Randall Stoehr's avatar

Perhaps instead of asking a digital DATA center host in the digital clouds about things.

Maybe just ask DaDa? Hahaha. He may surprise you.

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Rascal Nick Of's avatar

Idiocracy here we come!

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John Stalmach's avatar

Well, duh...

If anyone else ever used Cliff Notes to pass an exam, how much of that book you didn't really read do you remember?

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Bill Gerard's avatar

Back in 2020 or so, I wrote a paper on the impact of smartphones on society. One of the points that struck me was how the excessive GPS use can potentially have a negative effect (atrophy) on the hippocampus, because it can cause a decline in spatial memory(internal navigation system). I can imagine how AI will dumb us down at an even more accelerated rate. I'll see if I can find the reference I used.

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David Dresden's avatar

Thank you for sharing this study. I am not surprised by the results at all. That is why I will not use AI or robotics ever. I actually think based upon my limited use AI is garbage. Also, as a 73 year old, I must keep my brain sharp.

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This That & a Whiffle Ball Bat's avatar

We Need to Have a Serious Conversation Debate About This Issue

Humans Worldwide

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Alio McDavis's avatar

Can we have a Human Party instead of the 2 party system?

Vote Human

Join the Party.

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This That & a Whiffle Ball Bat's avatar

Yes yes yes

WE are Human Beings with a Soul

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Brandon is not your bro's avatar

TRUTH 🎯

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BlueCapitalist's avatar

I haven’t asked artificial idiocy anything and have no plans to. People have been outsourcing their own critical thinking to “experts” for generations now. This is just the latest iteration of the process. Zbigniew Brzezniski discussed this as an intentional process.

“What a big brain you have grandma!” “The better to control you with my dear.”

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Michelle Rabin Ph. D.'s avatar

I hate that there is such a horrible down side. We must realize that reality however. Going back over the decades, when we all had landlines......We all knew countless phone numbers of family, friends, neighbors etc. We memorized them. That's no longer the case. If you lose your cell phone however, you're basically screwed as you likely don't know the phone numbers of the majority of your critical people. I know my husband's and daughter's phone numbers - no others. Same with mapquest. I used to drive to a new location and learn how to get there quickly. With mapquest, I program it in and it seems to take forever to learn how to get back there without assistance.

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David Rinker's avatar

The same process of offloading cognitive skills to tech, occurs with regard to memory when one consults Google for the answers to all questions. The brain is no longer required to store information in memory as all information is stored on Google. As stored information is the raw material of thought, paucity of information leads to paucity of thought, and analytical skills as nothing remains to be analyzed and thought about.

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