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Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

arxiv.org

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Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#341

Post by looofooo0 »

DocTomoe wrote: post #306
jwblackwell wrote: post #303

One slightly unexpected side effect of using AI to do most of my coding now is that I find myself a lot less tired and can focus for longer periods. It's enabled me to get work done while faced with other distractions. Essentially, offload some mental capacity towards AI frees up capacity elsewhere.

I like to think of AI as cars: You can go to the Walmart outside town on foot. And carry your stuff back. But it is much faster - and less exhaustive - to use the car. Which means you can spend more quality time on things you enjoy.

Car culture societies are as bad as smoking for general health.

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#342

Post by nottorp »

santiagobasulto wrote: post #308

Wasn't THE SAME said when Google came out? That we were not remembering things anymore and we were relying on Google? And also with cellphones before that (even the big dummy brickphones), that we were not remembering phone numbers anymore.

Yes but your cell phone contacts don't have a chance to call a completely different number out of thin air once in a while.

At least for now, while Apple and Google haven't put "AI" in the contacts list. Can't guarantee tomorrow.

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#343

Post by noio »

llamasushi wrote: post #279

Socrates: "And now, since you are the father of writing, your affection for it has made you describe its effects as the opposite of what they really are. In fact, it will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the…

Hah, this is super interesting actually.

Is this comment ridiculing critique of AI by comparing it to critique of writing?

Or.. is it invoking Socrates as an eloquent description of a "brain on ChatGPT".

I guess the former? But I can easily read it as the latter, too.

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#344

Post by delegate »

jwblackwell wrote: post #303

One slightly unexpected side effect of using AI to do most of my coding now is that I find myself a lot less tired and can focus for longer periods. It's enabled me to get work done while faced with other distractions. Essentially, offload some mental capacity towards AI frees up capacity elsewhere.

I find the opposite to be true. I am a lot more productive, so I work on more things in parallel, which makes me extremely tired by the end of the day, as if my brain worked at 100% capacity..

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#345

Post by BoorishBears »

jwblackwell wrote: post #303

One slightly unexpected side effect of using AI to do most of my coding now is that I find myself a lot less tired and can focus for longer periods. It's enabled me to get work done while faced with other distractions. Essentially, offload some mental capacity towards AI frees up capacity elsewhere.

On one hand, I've found that it reduces acute fatigue, but on the other I've found there's also an inflection point where it can encourage more fatigue over longer time horizons if you're not careful.

In the past I'd often reach a point like an unexpected error or looking at some docs would act like a "speed bump" and let me breath, and typically from there I'd acknowledge how tired I am, and stop for the moment.

With AI those speed bumps still exist, but there's sometimes just a bit of extra momentum that keeps me from slowing down enough to have that moment of reflection on how exhausted I am.

And the AI doesn't even have to be right for that to happen: sometimes just reading a suggestion that's specific to the current situation can trigger your own train of thought that's hard to reign back in.

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#346

Post by wiseowise »

darkwater wrote: post #333
dyauspitr wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My total output is definitely higher.

5 years from now, will you ability to explain or build from first principles on your own be increased, though?

Yes. Because none of this bullshit matters. I’ve heard this mantra for 20 years now.

Smug face: “weeeell, how can you say you’re a real programmer if you use a compiler? You need write raw assembly”, “how can you call yourself reeeeal programmer if you don’t know your computer down to every register?”, “real programmurs do not use SO/Google” and all the rest of the crap. It is all nerds trying to make themselves feel good by inflating their ego with trivia that is not interesting to anyone.

Well, what do you know? I’m still in business, despite relying a lot on Google/SO, and still create solutions that fix real human problems.

If AI can make 9 to 5 more bearable for majority of people and provide value in terms less cognitive load, let’s fucking go then.

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#347

Post by monegator »

DocTomoe wrote: post #306
jwblackwell wrote: post #303

One slightly unexpected side effect of using AI to do most of my coding now is that I find myself a lot less tired and can focus for longer periods. It's enabled me to get work done while faced with other distractions. Essentially, offload some mental capacity towards AI frees up capacity elsewhere.

I like to think of AI as cars: You can go to the Walmart outside town on foot. And carry your stuff back. But it is much faster - and less exhaustive - to use the car. Which means you can spend more quality time on things you enjoy.

In this context: Brain only is going on foot/bike Search Engine is by car LLM is direct delivery to the home with the clerk packing your groceries (with them making the choices for you)

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#348

Post by ricardobeat »

chneu wrote: post #320
DocTomoe wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to think of AI as cars: You can go to the Walmart outside town on foot. And carry your stuff back. But it is much faster - and less exhaustive - to use the car. Which means you can spend more quality time on things you enjoy.

There are detriments to this as well. Exercise is good. Being outside is good. New experiences happen when you're on foot. You see more things on foot. Etc etc. We make our lives way too efficient and we atrophy basic skills. There are benefits to doing things manually. Hustle culture is quite bad for us. Going by foot or bicycle is so healthy for us for a myriad of reasons.

While this is absolutely true, “walking to Walmart” is a terrible example due to the lack of pedestrian infrastructure and distances involved :)

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#349

Post by michelsedgh »

delegate wrote: post #344
jwblackwell wrote: post #303

One slightly unexpected side effect of using AI to do most of my coding now is that I find myself a lot less tired and can focus for longer periods. It's enabled me to get work done while faced with other distractions. Essentially, offload some mental capacity towards AI frees up capacity elsewhere.

I find the opposite to be true. I am a lot more productive, so I work on more things in parallel, which makes me extremely tired by the end of the day, as if my brain worked at 100% capacity..

Yeah and after a few days of this, I find I can't do anything and stop all the side projects for a few days until im recharged again and can get back to it.

Re: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task

#350

Post by looofooo0 »

xixixao wrote: post #337
lm28469 wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got it backwards, there wouldn't be a walmart outside of town if there were no cars, you'd walk to the local butcher/baker/whatever in <10min.

Where you’d be able to afford much less (not judging the trade-off, but that’s the primary reason why the US is headed in the opposite direction).

Not true, food shopping cost in Germany are way less then in the USA and in my dense neighborhood >20.000 people/km² I have 3 supermarkets (also baker, butcher, etc.) within 5 min bicycle ride.
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