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I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

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Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#21

Post by mrbungie »

kennethrc wrote: post #10
adamc wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can already see it in people who cannot navigate their automobile without google maps or some equivalent.

Define "cannot navigate"? I've been driving for decades, but where I live traffic is everywhere so I don't go more than a few miles without using Waze and its real-time traffic monitoring.

People who can't guide themselves without relying entirely on the app.

Normally, I just glance at what action I should take next (i.e. continue straight for 2km and then take a left turn at X) and then follow the road signs to do so. But I've noticed some Uber drivers and other people who keep their eyes almost permanently at the app for locating themselves, even when there's a clear GPS or network disconnection, like in an underground pass. This often results in wasted time when the app doesn’t catch up with reality, and the driver misses a turn.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#22

Post by atwrk »

golergka wrote: post #7
djcooley wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is terrifying. Our ability to think has been our biggest differentiator as a species. LLMs threaten this, and I'll die on that hill.

What's your opinion on calculators? Update: I meant to compare calculators to something like a slide ruler for logarithms. I'm not from US and I tend to forget that some people use calculators to take 20% of 500.

Where I live these are not allowed in the classroom until 7th grade or so, i.e. when the kids have learned the skills and can then employ calculators mindfully.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#23

Post by blindhippo »

djcooley wrote: post #6
kibwen wrote: post #2

As long as LLM companies can hang on for another 15 years or so, there will be an entire generation of humans who will be as utterly incapable of living without LLMs in the same way that most people in developed countries are incapable of growing their own food. Intellectual lock-in will be their moat.

This is terrifying. Our ability to think has been our biggest differentiator as a species. LLMs threaten this, and I'll die on that hill.

I think this is overestimating the impact of LLMs.

Fact is, even if they are capable of fully replicating and even replacing actual human thought, at best they regurgitate what has come before. They are, effectively, a tutor (as another commentator pointed out).

A human still needs to consume their output and act on it intelligently. We already do this, except with other tools/mechanisms (i.e. other humans). Nothing really changes here...

I personally still don't see the actual value of LLMs being realized vs their cost to build anytime soon. I'll be shocked if any of this AI investment pays off beyond some minor curiosities - in ten years we're going to look back at this period in the same way we look at cryptocurrency now - a waste of resources.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#24

Post by malfist »

adamc wrote: post #3
kibwen wrote: post #2

As long as LLM companies can hang on for another 15 years or so, there will be an entire generation of humans who will be as utterly incapable of living without LLMs in the same way that most people in developed countries are incapable of growing their own food. Intellectual lock-in will be their moat.

You can already see it in people who cannot navigate their automobile without google maps or some equivalent.

I don't really see that as a bad thing. Einstein famously didn't memorize phone numbers because you could look it up in book.

Quick external lookups are a huge productivity boost since you don't have to spend all the time memorizing something.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#25

Post by realce »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #11

[flagged]

With this progress, what will be the point of being in any upper percentile at all? Everyone will be in it if they have access to the LLM wizard.

We're outsourcing our sovereignty to a machine blob in a black box, the blob will do the thinking for all of those children.

edit: for the authoritarian tyrants that they are (mass reflexive downvotes)

Your response is to rely on opaque knowledge agents produced by the largest and shadiest corporations that humanity has ever known. Your lack of paranoia is a severe vulnerability. Good luck.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#26

Post by bamboozled »

malfist wrote: post #24
adamc wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can already see it in people who cannot navigate their automobile without google maps or some equivalent.

I don't really see that as a bad thing. Einstein famously didn't memorize phone numbers because you could look it up in book. Quick external lookups are a huge productivity boost since you don't have to spend all the time memorizing something.

It's not a bad thing so long as GPS works forever, I also think driving is much more enjoyable when you don't need to be thinking about GPS, it's nice to just focus on where you're going.

I have an awesome sense of direction which I attribute to almost never using navigation apps unless I'm really worried about traffic, and even then, I can usually find a less crowded non-recommended router, because I know my way around.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#27

Post by Version467 »

kennethrc wrote: post #10
adamc wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can already see it in people who cannot navigate their automobile without google maps or some equivalent.

Define "cannot navigate"? I've been driving for decades, but where I live traffic is everywhere so I don't go more than a few miles without using Waze and its real-time traffic monitoring.

I can confidently say that a car would be useless to me without gps. I can navigate the small town (10k people) I grew up in, but that’s it. I wouldn’t try to navigate the city I live in now (~350k people) in a car, beyond the street I live on. If I had to and knew gps was broken (hypothetically), then I’d try to reschedule, instead of attempting to navigate with signs and a paper map.

I could probably work with printed turn by turn instructions, but that’s about it.

And I think that probably comes close to what the other post had in mind with „cannot navigate“

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#28

Post by pton_xd »

acbart wrote: post #13

I wonder what can be done. It's terrifying to realize how dependent students are going to become on these tools. Too many people are just not willing to live with the discomfort that comes with learning something difficult, when the alternative is so readily accessible. Short term gain over long term gain, exemplified.

I like the use of the word discomfort here. It does take an acceptance of some level of discomfort to engage with material you don't yet understand. Similar to how you experience some physical discomfort / strain when pushing your limits exercising. As you engage with discomfort your tolerance builds and what was once a difficult exercise becomes routine. The reward is worth the effort but I worry what the future looks like with many just opting out.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#29

Post by mlyle »

golergka wrote: post #7
djcooley wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is terrifying. Our ability to think has been our biggest differentiator as a species. LLMs threaten this, and I'll die on that hill.

What's your opinion on calculators? Update: I meant to compare calculators to something like a slide ruler for logarithms. I'm not from US and I tend to forget that some people use calculators to take 20% of 500.

Not a super big fan, honestly. I'm a bit horrified when I see high school seniors who are smart, and have been through the entire HS math sequence... dig around in their backpack for a calculator to find 5 times 1.5 or 20% of 11.

I'm glad that we have calculators and computing devices, but I'm not glad that they have made teens with basic numeracy into an endangered species. Many tools we use expand our understanding, but the calculator causes our arithmetic skills to atrophy.

Re: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT

#30

Post by whiplash451 »

I feel for the author, being a part-time teacher myself and seeing the impact of ChatGPT first-hand.

However, I think there is a viable alternative:

1. Spend the beginning of the year/semester showing the potentially disastrous effects of GenAI (e.g. through various exercises involving GenAI)

2. Once students have been "vaccined" against ChatGPT, assume they will still cheat and switch to a type of teaching that leaves little room for cheating with ChatGPT, e.g. long in-person sessions where students write in classroom. Then grade their production (i.e. don't leave room for them to update after class).

The world is changing fast and brutally, but teachers are the head of the spear against mass enshitification.

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