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The AI zombification of universities

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Re: The AI zombification of universities

#181

Post by erxam »

Esophagus4 wrote: post #124
sheept wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For US undergrad, with all the resources available online, going to university just for education doesn't justify the high tuition. Research is mostly limited to graduate school anyways.

The course material isn’t really what your undergrad tuition pays for. You’re paying to be surrounded by smart kids that will ensmarten you too and for access to the school’s career networks.

>You’re paying to be surrounded by smart kids that will ensmarten you too and for access to the school’s career networks.

If you're paying and it isn't for a new campus building with your family's name on it, then you're not going to have access to those things at all.

Suuuuure, you're going to be able to access some sort of 'career' network. You'll be able to find amazing and high-paying jobs such as... um... uh...

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#182

Post by joseda-hg »

0xkvyb wrote: post #14
jsoaoxhd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is obvious. Teaching must be no-tech—just go back to 1950s. The other problem of course is attention span due to social-media erosion. The big tech has really done a number on society already and they’re just getting started.

but how would you do that? what about homework and coursework? students will just transcribe claude slop on paper and submit that.

I thought it was widely agreed that most homework was literal busywork

Do it on the classroom or it doesn't count

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#183

Post by streptomycin »

bawolff wrote: post #92

It does feel like there is an easy solution to this: Have tests. Supervise said tests to make sure people don't cheat. That's how it worked when i was in university. Admittedly maybe that is easier in the sciences than humanities, but still, it seems doable. Cheating isn't a new phenomenon it just got cheaper and easier.

The tests will be made by AI as well, because professors who spend less time on making tests can spend more time on research and get hired/promoted more. For the same reason, professors won't care who is using AI to cheat on the test that was made by AI. Maybe some people will care, but not enough to do anything about it.

(Cheating was already rampant in many classes 20 years ago when I was in college, I can't imagine what it's like now.)

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#184

Post by llbbdd »

Esophagus4 wrote: post #173
llbbdd wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abbreviated: - Surrounded by other kids who have access to the same internet you do - Access to the school's career networks (LinkedIn)

I will challenge anyone who thinks they can get an equivalent quality of undergrad education and access to career services remotely.

Lol, nice to meet you. Left freshman year, got paid, got out. Questions welcome. College for tech jobs became useless after like 2008. Books are cheap. I'd challenge anyone in response to prove they got a degree in the 21st century.

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#186

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

jimbokun wrote: post #104
Lerc wrote: post #51

If people attend university for certification instead of education I think the battle is already lost. AI is an easy, but possibly high risk approach to gaining the certification without work, but the tried and tested approach is doing the bare minimum, cramming, then forgetting everything after graduation. If you penalize people who use AI but in the process have learned the required information you make the problem…

The purpose of the university has always been certification. “You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library." - Will Hunting

Do let us know where we can find a chemistry lab or biology lab or the facilities used for various other engineering undergraduates in a public library.

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#187

Post by nwhnwh »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #80
nwhnwh wrote: post #33

> The prevalence of AI use on college campuses, particularly at “elite” universities, is a cancer on our culture that threatens to turn a generation of promising young Americans into a class of drooling morons... Modern education is like that, even before AI. Check this https://www.jstor.org/stable/25006902

> Check this Evidence of people complaining about a thing isn’t evidence of the thing per se .

Your "intelligence" failed to show you that I didn't refer to it as an evidence.

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#188

Post by nwhnwh »

underlipton wrote: post #54
nwhnwh wrote: post #33

> The prevalence of AI use on college campuses, particularly at “elite” universities, is a cancer on our culture that threatens to turn a generation of promising young Americans into a class of drooling morons... Modern education is like that, even before AI. Check this https://www.jstor.org/stable/25006902

Right. I got my bachelors degree more than a decade ago, and they did a good enough job of it without AI. College was the first time in my life that I'd ever heard, "You cannot aspire to [ambition]," and I heard it there quite a few times. Higher education needs reform more intensive than a simple defense against LLMs (as does the legal system and profession, as does the software engineering field, as does the field…

Yeah... Most professionals are just cogs in the machine and a discussion for a few minutes with them would reveal how ignorant they are about humanities, for example.

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#189

Post by nwhnwh »

mold_aid wrote: post #130
nwhnwh wrote: post #33

> The prevalence of AI use on college campuses, particularly at “elite” universities, is a cancer on our culture that threatens to turn a generation of promising young Americans into a class of drooling morons... Modern education is like that, even before AI. Check this https://www.jstor.org/stable/25006902

How exactly is it that you think Enzensberger is arguing against nwhnwh's point. Will an excerpt from Discourse Networks 1800/1900 be far behind, be still my heart

I don't understand.

Re: The AI zombification of universities

#190

Post by nradov »

asdff wrote: post #169
nradov wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK so the frontier models will be capable of doing even more, but the simple stuff they can do today will get much cheaper.

I don't think that is a safe assumption to make. Moore's law is not playing out any longer as it used to. Jensen Huang already called it dead 4 years ago.

Incremental reductions in compute costs don't depend entirely on Moore's Law.
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