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David Mendoza's avatar

I enjoyed the article and I appreciate the author taking the time to detail this counter to conventional wisdom.

However, I think conventional wisdom is right on this topic. The highest part of human cognition - the part that moves the needle for human civilization and is responsible for most (all) of our advancements - is extremely metabolically expensive. For that reason, humans tend to skirt around it whenever possible. The old adage of “water flows through areas of least resistance” describes this phenomenon. You saw it in your Gilgamesh reading group.

So it seems that training the ability to exert cognitive force is important. It’s something we (on average) try to skip if we can, but civilization knows it’s important and so we codify it and mandate it in our formal education structures.

AI is the first real tool that can be used by almost anyone to completely bypass this metabolically expensive yet critical activity. Cheating on homework and tests was situational and a stopgap at best. But generative AI can completely relieve a human mind of its most potent cognitive burden.

I believe this is the root of the concern of AI in the classroom. Whether or not it’s a valid concern is something people can debate. But I think intuitively people sense a trade is being made with the devil.

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Sean Clark's avatar

Absolute bang on! I have been in K-12 public education for nearly 15 years as a teacher and administrator and have come to exactly the same conclusions since getting serious about exploring AI. This is a post I wish I had written!

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