[Wuli]

Massive use of A.I. will gradually kill the mental exercises from which humans develop all manner of critical thinking.

[BobL]

“A.I. Killed the Math Brain”

Actually, Public Schools beat them to that goal.

[packagingguy]

I posed the question to Gemini that when I ask it chemistry questions I understand what I am asking and I understand the response.

Then I said if I went into a subject I knew nothing about (law was the example) I wouldn’t know what questions to ask and I’d never understand all the legalese in its answer.

It responded that it was a tool, much like construction tools. You have to know how to use it as it was simply an assistant. If you don’t know how to say, use a backhoe then you’ll likely create a disaster if you try fooling with it.

[Openurmind]

Thank you for posting this. I’m not sure folks realize how dangerous this really is. Humans are going to mentally go backward to primitive man from dependence on AI.

[plain talk]

This AI vs man debate becomes sort of moot at some point when man is able to interface their brains to computers. I doubt I will see it but wish them well.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Search engines already destroyed our memory recall ability.

[BlueLancer]

I have to mention this short story by Asimov ... foretelling this exact situation:

The Feeling of Power - Isaac Asimov

A short story by Isaac Asimov exploring the potential for both good and destructive applications of knowledge in a future where humans have become reliant on computers. The story revolves around a low-grade Technician, Myron Aub, who discovers the fundamentals of pencil-and-paper arithmetic, a skill humanity has largely forgotten. Aub's discovery, dubbed "Graphitics," is initially seen as a way to understand and potentially improve old computer systems, but is quickly appropriated by the military for their own purposes.

[Waverunner]

Read this in the 60's...

Why spend 20 yrs studying math if you can use a tool to solve a problem?
It's like the difference between cooking on an open fire versus using a modern oven with a temperature probe.
Tools are skill levelers and enhancers if you learn how to use them.
Unless your a professor teaching the skill for 1000.00 a credit hour.
Otherwise, adapt, incorporate, improvise, improve.
Same argument was used against calculators in the 70's.
The smart students bought programmable hp's and learned to reduce the time it took to solve problems.

[texas booster]

How about mental arithmetic?

Just teaching my granddaughters the number tables and simple ways to add and subtract have put them grade levels above their peers.

Just waiting for when they decide that grandpa is an old has-been.

[glorgau]

Many of the AI models will tell you that 9.1 > 9.11

[motor_racer]

First they came for the typists and clerks.
I said nothing because my small company made more money. Word processing let me do it myself.

Next they came for the bookkeepers.
All they did was enter numbers into spreadsheets and do arithmetic. I said nothing. The software made it more accurate.

Next they came for the draftsmen.
Anyone could learn CAD software in a little time. Why spend years learning how to make block letters and keep line weights even.?

Then they came for the structural engineers.
Finite element analysis was easy now! I don’t even need to understand the theory!

Then they came for the quality control engineers.
Statistical processing with my software guaranteed my company could work without them.

Next they came for the forklift operators.
The autonomous machines never complained, never took a day off.

Then they came for the accountants.
Business reporting and planning was so much easier! No meetings to buy coffee and donuts for anymore!

Next they came for the design engineers.
Our new tools can create new products without human assistance!

Then they came for the bankers.
Our bank showed us how I can do it all with just a few clicks!

And next they came for the marketing department.
AI can tell me what my customers really want!

And finally they came for me.
My computer tools had created products that were dangerous because they didn’t anticipate what my customers would do with them!

And when I called for a lawyer, the computer put me on hold.
Still waiting.

[alternatives?]

Universities have not taught critical thinking skills for years. It was believed to be micro-aggressions.

[Karliner]

Math was not fun for me early on but somewhere in the process, I think trig and Geometry formulas it changed. I started liking the steps and getting credit and encouragement showing my work, getting it wrong and yet getting some credit.

It started being a game to have no red lines and the chalk talk
Cool super nerds showed me my mistakes and encouraged me, showed basic math patterns and algebraic tricks to make the upper division math a bit easier.
But, yes, racist. Who needs it?

[bigbob]

Might not be all bad.

Consider a parallel: “Typing killed cursive writing”...

So what? Is there really a loss to the human race if this happens?

It’s not a perfect analogy but apply some logic to doomsday fears about AI.

[Regulator]

Well, at least we’ll have great poetry from Diane Keaton.

[TennesseeProfessor]

Right now AI is in a tricky spot. It is good enough to solve Freshman-difficulty problems, but not good enough to solve senior ones let alone professional ones.

And yet, the way to learn to solve problems is by solving them, starting with the easy ones. The article is absolutely correct that a distressingly large number of students are using AI to cheat, and then are woefully unprepared for advanced coursework.

[minnesota_bound]

If you cheat in school you will hit a wall when you try getting a job.

[ViLaLuz]

Common Core killed the brain.

[CaptainK]

Prior to AI, the NY Times killed the liberal brain.

[RoosterRedux]

Bfl