I love AI and use it daily, but yes, I am worried that some people, especially young ones (god, I swear I am not THAT old), will use it as a shortcut and will loose critical thinking in the process. And that is a scary cost for me. We read books and were asked to write essays about main characters - what they thought, what they intentions were - not because teachers cared what characters were actually thinking about, but because the process of finding out is what mattered, that's where development lived. AI drastically cuts execution time, but I have concerns when it comes to handing over tasks that require actual thinking. I am afraid that cost might be too high.
Susie, you bring up an excellent point. There is quite a bit of growth that can come from working through a problem, rather than relying on instant answers. Regarding your essay example, the reading and writing about characters developed essential critical thinking skills.
AI is definitely not going anywhere, and I think schools (and we, as parents) may need to evolve our thinking when it comes to challenging our children, and how we continue to teach and empower critical thinking, with the endless tools available.
100% agree. It is not going anywhere and it is our job to prepare our kids and teach them to use those tools as exactly that - tools. I am kind of curious to see what the world is going to look like in 10-15 years and what our kids will have to deal with. Potentially slightly terrified, but very curious.
This is exactly my concern as well. But I think that concern can be expanded past AI as well, and to other forms of technology.
Even something as simple as calculators. To a child just learning the concept of multiplication, the shortcut of a calculator is always there, but if they learn to rely on it too early, they'll never learn how the actual math behind it really works.
AI is so helpful, but here you have hit the core of where things can go terribly wrong: "And if we outsource too much of the thinking, we may eventually lose the reps that help us know what matters." Wow.
Love your real world experience of the self driving car tying into this, really puts it into perspective! We can easily lose the "feel" of these things even if the output gets produced with the help of AI. And at that point, what's the point of doing it? You lose the meaning out of it imo.
Good point Dido! And driving is one of those skills I don't want to lose. I think its even broader than driving - with self-driving, we could potentially lose some of our reaction times as well. Appreciate your comment!
Deciding what we're willing to give to AI is such a really important point in a world where we could be losing critical thinking skills with AI (even though it is truly helpful).
Appreciate your comment. This topic has been on my mind quite a bit lately. The dangers are definitely real! Wisdom is choosing where AI can help us, but also holding our ground on what we need to protect.
Sometimes I feel like ai use makes my writing style sound too artificial when I overthink what to say. Kind of a weird passive effect, but it does also encourage me to stick closer to the first words that pop in my head!
When it comes to your more technical skills, especially tasks that AI is effective at, how do you prefer balancing automation and manual solutions?
Good observation on the writing part. Lately I have been trying more and more to write like I talk, which is generally very wordy. I'm sure you probably have noticed this in our face-to-face interactions haha.
In the technology world, I personally prefer automation. At least in my space, time management is of the essence, so I mostly lean toward automation to save time. I try hard to exercise critical thinking and systems thinking skills in an attempt to solve broader problems as opposed to just the one at hand. Its easier said than done, but the pay-off and impact is greater.
Building a reality where practice is minimized or taken out of the equation present a truly interesting dilemma. That’s really great insight and I’ve not quite put it this way in so far as how AI impacts us
Lee, I appreciate you reading the article. And happy it resonated with you. I think we’re going to continue to need to find the right balance between outsourcing our tasks to technology and deciding what we’re not willing to give up. One thing is for certain, tech will continue to evolve. Our challenge will be standing our ground for the activities we believe will make us grow.
This is SO similar to my thinking recently. You should check out my post “The Serendipity Gap”. It’s definitely different than the angle you’ve taken here, but the overlap is solid - efficiency, productive friction, and more.
I’ll definitely be following you from here on out. Oh, and I’m also an engineer … and a father of four. So … wow. 😊
Hey Brett! Refreshing to hear you’re in the same boat. Oh the joys of juggling family (4 kids, especially), Substack and our careers! But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Will check out your article. This overlap of interests (AI, efficiency, productive friction) is definitely a fascinating space.
I agree. Understanding rarely arrives all at once. It grows through the slow accumulation of patterns.
I love AI and use it daily, but yes, I am worried that some people, especially young ones (god, I swear I am not THAT old), will use it as a shortcut and will loose critical thinking in the process. And that is a scary cost for me. We read books and were asked to write essays about main characters - what they thought, what they intentions were - not because teachers cared what characters were actually thinking about, but because the process of finding out is what mattered, that's where development lived. AI drastically cuts execution time, but I have concerns when it comes to handing over tasks that require actual thinking. I am afraid that cost might be too high.
Susie, you bring up an excellent point. There is quite a bit of growth that can come from working through a problem, rather than relying on instant answers. Regarding your essay example, the reading and writing about characters developed essential critical thinking skills.
AI is definitely not going anywhere, and I think schools (and we, as parents) may need to evolve our thinking when it comes to challenging our children, and how we continue to teach and empower critical thinking, with the endless tools available.
I really appreciate your comment!
100% agree. It is not going anywhere and it is our job to prepare our kids and teach them to use those tools as exactly that - tools. I am kind of curious to see what the world is going to look like in 10-15 years and what our kids will have to deal with. Potentially slightly terrified, but very curious.
This is exactly my concern as well. But I think that concern can be expanded past AI as well, and to other forms of technology.
Even something as simple as calculators. To a child just learning the concept of multiplication, the shortcut of a calculator is always there, but if they learn to rely on it too early, they'll never learn how the actual math behind it really works.
That's true, good point. To be fair, I am also against calculators in schools haha Learn the skill first, then use shortcuts.
We homeschool, and that's my philosophy as well.
Learn the skill, master the concept, then use the calculator later to save time/effort.
Great philosophies Susie and Kayin!
AI is so helpful, but here you have hit the core of where things can go terribly wrong: "And if we outsource too much of the thinking, we may eventually lose the reps that help us know what matters." Wow.
Thank you Jolene 🙏. It’s a powerful tool that should be used responsibly. And it can give us so much, but can also take away if we’re not careful.
Love your real world experience of the self driving car tying into this, really puts it into perspective! We can easily lose the "feel" of these things even if the output gets produced with the help of AI. And at that point, what's the point of doing it? You lose the meaning out of it imo.
Good point Dido! And driving is one of those skills I don't want to lose. I think its even broader than driving - with self-driving, we could potentially lose some of our reaction times as well. Appreciate your comment!
Deciding what we're willing to give to AI is such a really important point in a world where we could be losing critical thinking skills with AI (even though it is truly helpful).
Appreciate your comment. This topic has been on my mind quite a bit lately. The dangers are definitely real! Wisdom is choosing where AI can help us, but also holding our ground on what we need to protect.
Sometimes I feel like ai use makes my writing style sound too artificial when I overthink what to say. Kind of a weird passive effect, but it does also encourage me to stick closer to the first words that pop in my head!
When it comes to your more technical skills, especially tasks that AI is effective at, how do you prefer balancing automation and manual solutions?
Good observation on the writing part. Lately I have been trying more and more to write like I talk, which is generally very wordy. I'm sure you probably have noticed this in our face-to-face interactions haha.
In the technology world, I personally prefer automation. At least in my space, time management is of the essence, so I mostly lean toward automation to save time. I try hard to exercise critical thinking and systems thinking skills in an attempt to solve broader problems as opposed to just the one at hand. Its easier said than done, but the pay-off and impact is greater.
Building a reality where practice is minimized or taken out of the equation present a truly interesting dilemma. That’s really great insight and I’ve not quite put it this way in so far as how AI impacts us
Lee, I appreciate you reading the article. And happy it resonated with you. I think we’re going to continue to need to find the right balance between outsourcing our tasks to technology and deciding what we’re not willing to give up. One thing is for certain, tech will continue to evolve. Our challenge will be standing our ground for the activities we believe will make us grow.
This is SO similar to my thinking recently. You should check out my post “The Serendipity Gap”. It’s definitely different than the angle you’ve taken here, but the overlap is solid - efficiency, productive friction, and more.
I’ll definitely be following you from here on out. Oh, and I’m also an engineer … and a father of four. So … wow. 😊
Hey Brett! Refreshing to hear you’re in the same boat. Oh the joys of juggling family (4 kids, especially), Substack and our careers! But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Will check out your article. This overlap of interests (AI, efficiency, productive friction) is definitely a fascinating space.