Oh, and the extreme brain drain the west imposed on everyone else, from South Africa to China, resulting in no available "brains", let's say, in those countries, and in the rich countries only brains available that aren't invested in making westerners smart, along with a disdain among existing populations of professions that require brains.
yeah but it's totally gonna usher us into a workless utopia where everyone has everything they ever wanted, because everything will be free! Or at least it will if we allow AI companies to operate completely unregulated and unimpeded.
I think the current mentality of "Make every process in life as easy and time-efficient as possible" is the problem.
AI is just a tool. What someone does with it is up to them. The current desire to not do anything, however, means people will abuse AI to make their lives more segregated from the work that enables them.
As technology progresses, people are less connected to the how and why of life. This leads to people not understanding how to do basic things. Nobody can do anything on their own and they have to pay money to someone for really basic stuff. People can hardly go grocery shopping anymore as it takes too much time. Peak capitalism?
Really just watch Idiocracy. AI isnt the problem; people's desire to do as little as possible is the problem.
Aren't people already stupid enough? The fact that the author wrote this article without verifying if the existing trend of children's IQ shows some level of stupidity.
And please excuse my language. I probably watch George Carlin videos a bit too much.
> For example, a 2018 analysis by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Oregon found that average IQ scores in the U.S. began declining slightly after 1995, particularly in younger generations. This reversal mirrors findings in several European countries, including Norway, Denmark, and the UK.
Our children are already stupid and have been for a while. Watch Jay Leno asking questions on the streets or Veritasium asking the scale of the universe[1]. Looking at the setting, this was asked on a college campus! Then, colleges are having to teach remedial math because college students even can't do basic math[2].
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG8SwAFQFuU
2. https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/opinion/harvard-univ-the-ivy-l...
Don't worry; by the time your children are effectively stupid, you will be stupid enough not to realize it and instead will praise them for how well they can verbalize what they want. You will call it cognitive progress and you will thank AI for it.
I would have benefited so much from AI when learning concepts, needing things explained to me in just a slightly different way, or confirming my understanding of a phenomenon.
As usual, it comes down to parenting. Bad parents will blame AI for their kids being stupid, just as they blame TikTok or whatever today.
Yeah, when they allowed calculators in the classroom, we all started getting dumber.
If that sounded silly, it was exactly what they said would happen, when that came to pass (I grew up in the last generation where they weren't allowed. I know lots of folks younger than me, that I think are smarter than I am).
Our kids were stupid enough when I was a kid, I'm 100% sure it's not possible to become more stupid than I and me childhood friends were and turns out most of us are doing ok. The internet helpd some of us to become super smart and some of us super dumb, same will happen with AI.
It’s like a new form of doing the average thing will keep you average, it’s always been the case that you have to go above and beyond to do better. So in that way it could be argued that the lazy/average approach might be better off with more of the computer doing work for them.
I like a scathing critique of overly-hyped chatbots as much as the next guy, but leading with the pseudoscience of IQ scores has the persuasive impact of a farting noise.
Imagine if you had that growing up. Instant access to any information with a professorial level of teaching and you could ask any question to clear up any confusion?
Our kids are going to be smarter than we could even imagine because getting access to any information they can imagine is instant taught by a perfect tutor.
I kind of both agree and disagree with this point.
Ive gotten into 3+ new engineering projects all because of AI. My entire life I only dreamed of the inventions I didnt have technical knowledge or time to complete. I would have never been able to do that 3-4 years ago.
I need an AI to dumb it down for me. It makes intimidating learning curves, do-able. Call me stupid, or smart, it doesnt really matter.
AI is not a substitute for books.. but it is a clear gift for humanity. Especially the lazy humans (Me.)
People said the same thing about the internet, that you should be getting your information from actual books and that the internet will make you lazy and complacent. There was a time when you were encouraged to write code on paper first instead of typing it directly because it made you think clearly. Some time before calculators apparently dulled your mental faculties, so you should be hand rolling all your calculations. Go back in time far enough and you'll find Socrates disparaging writing because it weakens your memory and destroys your mind. And yet humanity is here and seems to be doing all right. Every generation has managed to produce smart people that have been able to push the boundaries of scientific and technological progress. If anything we may be getting smarter. What history has repeatedly shown is that when you reduce friction for the human brain, it goes and finds more complex things to do. Such a periodic removal of friction, may very much be a necessity for progress, because it allows the paradigm of thought to shift to a higher level. The same should happen with AI as well.
Did the invention of the steam engine and all other heavy machines make us physically weaker? I guess so. People working on (literal) heavy stuff don't need the strength they used to.
But now they move around even more heavy stuff with machines.
I think something similar might happen to our brains. Maybe we won't be able to work ourselfs through every detail of a mathematical proof, of a software program, or a treatsie on philosophy. But we'll abe able to accomplish intellectual work that only really smart poeple could accomplish. I think this is what counts: outcome.
I am taking a contrary stance and not even as a contrarian voice, but based on basic patterns over the past few centuries. The whole article is geared towards a specific audience. The interesting thing is that it is not exactly wrong, but the way it presents facts is intended for a specific type of consumption: in this case -- generating anti AI sentiment.
<< Fundamental skills like mental arithmetic, memorising text, or reading a map could soon be obsolete as cognitive offloading becomes a normal way of working.
Calculator, books, gps -- the three have been trotted out each time and some ( what passed for books in ancient days ) decried by otherwise smart people, who simply could not fanthom a different way of solving an issue. Worse, they offered no reason for:
1. Why do I need to calculate everything in my head?
2. Why do I need to memorize every passage?
3. Why do I need to remember every step?
So kids, who saw an improvement simply ignored the old men.. and good thing too. Otherwise, I might not even have been able to read beowulf ( literally ).
<< it’s also the desire among people in positions of authority and influence
Is it? Recent news suggested that execs of various tech corps limit their kids passive screen time ( so no doom scrolling, no social media ).
<< able to retain concentration so that we can learn and distinguish between what is real and what is AI slop
True, but in a sense that has always been true. If so, what is the real reason for this 'collection of words'?
<< The danger here is the separation of process from “product”. In the eyes of the utilitarian tech-evangelist, the essay is simply a product, a sequence of words to be generated as quickly as possible.
And here is the issue. Author is concerned that their words are no longer going to be special; note, not completely unlike certain monks upon learning about printing press. How quaint.
<< But the process of writing is itself constitutive of understanding.Writing is thinking. It is the act of retrieving knowledge, wrestling with syntax, and organising logic that forges understanding.
Have you read some of the articles out there ( including this one )? There is no wrestling there. There might ( I am being charitable ) be some thinking, but if there is logic OR understanding, it is not beyond what is required for serving the owner of the writer. That is all there is to it.
<< When AI produces the final text, the student is the ventriloquist’s dummy, mouthing words that originated elsewhere.
Well, I will be darned. This individual is just taking words out of my mouth, because I was about to say all those talking ( sorry, writing ) heads are just parroting one another with the origin of the sound ( sorry again, word ) clearly not coming from them..
<< They possess the answer but lack the understanding of how it was derived
So.. we ban encyclopedias?
<< We are also witnessing a kind of cognitive laziness which some of our institutions are actively encouraging.
I can give him that. It does take effort not to rely on it.
<< It requires the uncomfortable sensation of not knowing
But... but.. the author knows.. he just told us all what to think...
<< float on a sea of algorithmic slop they have neither the will nor the wit to navigate.
And this is different from now how exactly? Scale? Kids who want to read will read. Kids who want to learn, will learn.
***
Honestly, I am hard pressed not to say this article is slop. Not even proper AI slop like we would expect today ( edit: because at least that is entertaining ). This is lazy human slop. High and mighty, but based on 'old man yells at the cloud' vibes.
AI can be a great tool. It can make our children (and us) lazier, but not necessarily stupider. Short video platforms OTOH certainly make our children stupider (and depressed).
Kids hanging out with and interacting with intelligent people doesn't make them stupid. I'm skeptical that interacting with intelligent machines will do so.
AI is being pushed forcefully on K-12 teachers and the effect education quality is horrible. Some teachers, including my cousin, refuse to use the AI tools but most don't. The result is that my 6th & 8th grade siblings mostly bring home assignments that are nonsensical, obviously AI-generated bullshit.
I'm infuriated to see these capable kids wasting their time working on slop a human never bothered to review before assigning and will probably never bother to grade.
The less a human being can do (because it's so helplessly dependent on a computer), the easier it is to claim a computer can do anything a human being can do
30 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 37.0 ms ] threadOh, and the extreme brain drain the west imposed on everyone else, from South Africa to China, resulting in no available "brains", let's say, in those countries, and in the rich countries only brains available that aren't invested in making westerners smart, along with a disdain among existing populations of professions that require brains.
I think the current mentality of "Make every process in life as easy and time-efficient as possible" is the problem.
AI is just a tool. What someone does with it is up to them. The current desire to not do anything, however, means people will abuse AI to make their lives more segregated from the work that enables them.
As technology progresses, people are less connected to the how and why of life. This leads to people not understanding how to do basic things. Nobody can do anything on their own and they have to pay money to someone for really basic stuff. People can hardly go grocery shopping anymore as it takes too much time. Peak capitalism?
Really just watch Idiocracy. AI isnt the problem; people's desire to do as little as possible is the problem.
And please excuse my language. I probably watch George Carlin videos a bit too much.
> For example, a 2018 analysis by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Oregon found that average IQ scores in the U.S. began declining slightly after 1995, particularly in younger generations. This reversal mirrors findings in several European countries, including Norway, Denmark, and the UK.
https://nchstats.com/average-iq-by-state-in-us/
AI is too late for the party. Mission already accomplished
As usual, it comes down to parenting. Bad parents will blame AI for their kids being stupid, just as they blame TikTok or whatever today.
If that sounded silly, it was exactly what they said would happen, when that came to pass (I grew up in the last generation where they weren't allowed. I know lots of folks younger than me, that I think are smarter than I am).
AI is a superfast internet search.
Imagine if you had that growing up. Instant access to any information with a professorial level of teaching and you could ask any question to clear up any confusion?
Our kids are going to be smarter than we could even imagine because getting access to any information they can imagine is instant taught by a perfect tutor.
When I (re)search a certain topic, I curate a list of books, I read the table of contents, I skim the pages, I compare the texts.
When I ask the AI about something, I get an answer.
AI is amazing in that it can both teach you, give you examples, help you work on projects, etc etc c
Ive gotten into 3+ new engineering projects all because of AI. My entire life I only dreamed of the inventions I didnt have technical knowledge or time to complete. I would have never been able to do that 3-4 years ago.
I need an AI to dumb it down for me. It makes intimidating learning curves, do-able. Call me stupid, or smart, it doesnt really matter.
AI is not a substitute for books.. but it is a clear gift for humanity. Especially the lazy humans (Me.)
It's giving me exactly what I've always wanted: the ability to acquire information as rapidly as I can think.
No more searching through stack overflow for an hour to find some esoteric semantics. The frustrating internet searches are few and far between now.
But now they move around even more heavy stuff with machines.
I think something similar might happen to our brains. Maybe we won't be able to work ourselfs through every detail of a mathematical proof, of a software program, or a treatsie on philosophy. But we'll abe able to accomplish intellectual work that only really smart poeple could accomplish. I think this is what counts: outcome.
<< Fundamental skills like mental arithmetic, memorising text, or reading a map could soon be obsolete as cognitive offloading becomes a normal way of working.
Calculator, books, gps -- the three have been trotted out each time and some ( what passed for books in ancient days ) decried by otherwise smart people, who simply could not fanthom a different way of solving an issue. Worse, they offered no reason for:
1. Why do I need to calculate everything in my head? 2. Why do I need to memorize every passage? 3. Why do I need to remember every step?
So kids, who saw an improvement simply ignored the old men.. and good thing too. Otherwise, I might not even have been able to read beowulf ( literally ).
<< it’s also the desire among people in positions of authority and influence
Is it? Recent news suggested that execs of various tech corps limit their kids passive screen time ( so no doom scrolling, no social media ).
<< able to retain concentration so that we can learn and distinguish between what is real and what is AI slop
True, but in a sense that has always been true. If so, what is the real reason for this 'collection of words'?
<< The danger here is the separation of process from “product”. In the eyes of the utilitarian tech-evangelist, the essay is simply a product, a sequence of words to be generated as quickly as possible.
And here is the issue. Author is concerned that their words are no longer going to be special; note, not completely unlike certain monks upon learning about printing press. How quaint.
<< But the process of writing is itself constitutive of understanding.Writing is thinking. It is the act of retrieving knowledge, wrestling with syntax, and organising logic that forges understanding.
Have you read some of the articles out there ( including this one )? There is no wrestling there. There might ( I am being charitable ) be some thinking, but if there is logic OR understanding, it is not beyond what is required for serving the owner of the writer. That is all there is to it.
<< When AI produces the final text, the student is the ventriloquist’s dummy, mouthing words that originated elsewhere.
Well, I will be darned. This individual is just taking words out of my mouth, because I was about to say all those talking ( sorry, writing ) heads are just parroting one another with the origin of the sound ( sorry again, word ) clearly not coming from them..
<< They possess the answer but lack the understanding of how it was derived
So.. we ban encyclopedias?
<< We are also witnessing a kind of cognitive laziness which some of our institutions are actively encouraging.
I can give him that. It does take effort not to rely on it.
<< It requires the uncomfortable sensation of not knowing
But... but.. the author knows.. he just told us all what to think...
<< float on a sea of algorithmic slop they have neither the will nor the wit to navigate.
And this is different from now how exactly? Scale? Kids who want to read will read. Kids who want to learn, will learn.
***
Honestly, I am hard pressed not to say this article is slop. Not even proper AI slop like we would expect today ( edit: because at least that is entertaining ). This is lazy human slop. High and mighty, but based on 'old man yells at the cloud' vibes.
I'm infuriated to see these capable kids wasting their time working on slop a human never bothered to review before assigning and will probably never bother to grade.
The bar for "AGI" is lowered