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Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

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Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#481

Post by 4k93n2 »

netsharc wrote: post #21

An obvious comparison is probably the habitual usage of GPS navigation. Some people blindly follow them and some seemingly don't even remember routes they routinely take.

checking out a streetview app beforehand is another option and makes it a bit easier to memorise things. instead of having to remember '2nd left, 3rd right, 1st left' you only have to remember the landmarks at each turn and then the instructions become 'left, right, left'

another thing ive done a few times for long journeys is to write down on paper a list of the road numbers and then beside each number write the distance that needs to be travelled on that road. just do the route in an app before you leave and copy the details from that. having only the list to work off definitely forces you to keep your brain more active

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#482

Post by player1234 »

pixl97 wrote: post #348
taco_emoji wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

self-driving cars are only 5 years away, just like 10 years ago

"Airplanes are only 5 years away, just like 10 years ago" --Some guy in 1891. Never use your phrase to say something is impossible. I mean there are driverless Waymo's on the street in my area so your statement is already partially incorrect.

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Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#483

Post by n4r9 »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #220
n4r9 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a two year old and often worry that I'll teach him some intuitive arithmetic technique, then school will later force a different method and mark him down despite getting the right answer. What if it ends up making him hate school, maths, or both?

It’s valuable to learn different techniques to achieve the same result. That’s what math is all about.

I agree. My worry is that teachers will force one method, especially if they haven't seen the other.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#484

Post by iso1631 »

mirsadm wrote: post #411
iso1631 wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have very little knowledge of how transistors shuffle ones and zeros out of registers. That doesn't prevent me from using them to solve a problem. Computing is always abstractions. We moved from plugging to assembly, then to c, then we had languages that managed memory for you -- how on earth can you understand what the compiler should be doing or what it is doing if you don't deal with explicit pointers on a day b…

There's never been a case in my long programming career so far where knowing the low level details has not benefited me. The level of value varies but it is always positive. When you use LLMs to write all your code you will lose (or never learn) the details. Your decision making will not be as good.

So when you use a compiler to create your assembly you will lose (or never learn) the details.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#485

Post by player1234 »

asdff wrote: post #363
ASalazarMX wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then your job has turned into designing solutions, and asking a (sometimes unreliable) LLM to make them for you. If you keep at it, soon you'll accumulate enough cognitive debt to become a fossil, knowing what has to be done, but not quite how it is done.

And really where is your moat? Why pay for a senior when a junior can prompt an LLM all the same? People are acting like its juniors who are going to be out of work like companies are going to just keep paying seniors for their now obsolete skills.

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Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#486

Post by theshrike79 »

mirsadm wrote: post #411
iso1631 wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have very little knowledge of how transistors shuffle ones and zeros out of registers. That doesn't prevent me from using them to solve a problem. Computing is always abstractions. We moved from plugging to assembly, then to c, then we had languages that managed memory for you -- how on earth can you understand what the compiler should be doing or what it is doing if you don't deal with explicit pointers on a day b…

There's never been a case in my long programming career so far where knowing the low level details has not benefited me. The level of value varies but it is always positive. When you use LLMs to write all your code you will lose (or never learn) the details. Your decision making will not be as good.

I've seen cases in my career where people knowing the low level things is actually a hindrance.

They start to fight the system, trying to optimise things by hand for an extra 2% of performance while adding 100% of extra maintenance cost because nobody understands their hand-crafted assembler or C code.

There will always be a place for people who do that, but in the modern world in most cases it's cheaper to just throw more money at hardware instead of spending time optimising - if you control the hardware.

If things run on customer's devices, then you need the low level gurus again.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#487

Post by lofaszvanitt »

sdoering wrote: post #111

This reminds me of the recurring pattern with every new medium: Socrates worried writing would destroy memory, Gutenberg's critics feared for contemplation, novels were "brain softening," TV was the "idiot box." That said, I'm not sure "they've always been wrong before" proves they're wrong now. Where I'm skeptical of this study: - 54 participants, only 18 in the critical 4th session - 4 months is barely enough time…

What study? Try it yourself.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#488

Post by nindalf »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #359
mountainb wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's useful evidence in the same way that contemporaneous fiction is often useful evidence. The first season aired from 1989-1990. The living conditions from the show were plausible. I know because I was alive during that time. My best friend was the son of a vacuum cleaner salesman with a high school education, and they owned a three bedroom house in a nice area, two purebred dogs, and always had new cars. His m…

I'm not against the spirit of what you're saying, but are you aware the show itself made a meta episode about how comical it was that Homer could live in a house like that? That was never meant to be a reflection of current living conditions. That show is not the best example of what you're describing. https://youtu.be/axHoy0hnQy8?t=29

This is so perfect. I just love that they can make fun of themselves and that you can remember such a reference from decades ago.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#489

Post by vidarh »

jplusequalt wrote: post #315
vidarh wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It takes longer to read code than to write code if you're trying to get the same level of understanding. You're gaining time by building up an understanding deficit. That works for a while, but at some point you have to go burn the time to understand it. This is true whether an AI wrote the code or a co-worker, except the AI is always on hand to answer detailed questions about the code, do detailed analysis, and ru…

>very rarely productive any more to dig into low level code manually What data are you basing this assumption on?

A couple of years of first hand experience delivering things far faster than I could before, and helping teams do the same.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#490

Post by vidarh »

sodapopcan wrote: post #355
vidarh wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use AI heavily to review the code too, and it makes it far simpler. E.g. "show me why holds" makes it far more pleasant to do reviews. AI code review tooling works well to reduce that burden. Even more so when you have that AI cod review tooling running as part of your agent loop first before you even look at a delivery. "prove X" is another one - if it can't find a test case that already proves X and resorts to wr…

You never quite learn things are well when you just read, though. I know no one really cares these days, though (sincerely).

Engaging in a conversation over why and evaluating evidence is not remotely the same as just reading.
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