AI has already killed academia as we know it? • Hacker News Board

Re: AI has already killed academia as we know it?

#51

Post by KevinMS » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 4:44 AM UTC

gchallen wrote: post #19

chris_money202 wrote: post #9

Flip the classroom, make students learn the material on their own (Using AI or whatever resources they want to use) and then in-classroom time is divided on working on problems (without AI assistance which can be controlled in this environment) and quizzes/exams (again without AI). We don't need lectures anymore, they are an incredibly ineffective way to learn.

Lectures have been an incredibly ineffective way to learn forever. Faculty continue to lecture, and we continue to build lecture-style classrooms, further enshrining this poor approach. Active learning works, and yet both faculty and students dislike it. Faculty like to talk and pretend they're teaching, and students like to listen and pretend they're learning. All to say—I wish it was this easy to change the academy…

Lectures are just a jobs program for academics who are stuck on thousands of years old teaching traditions. If a sane world, they'd polish their material, record a video, add graphics, and make it available for students to watch it and rewatch it at their convenience. Pretty much what they do on youtube and in documentaries.

Re: AI has already killed academia as we know it?

#52

Post by jazzyjackson » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 5:30 AM UTC

gchallen wrote: post #48

senshan wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is that an effective way to learn? No. Sorry, but I must disagree. There is much more to learning process than just the material itself. We are social animals, so the emotional aspect matters to the majority of us. Highly technical fields are not an exception. The attitude of the lecturer and his reaction to the questions from the audience, sidetrack discussions -- it all counts. At least to me and the people I hav…

A group of people sitting together listening to one person talk are not socializing. Once one person stops monopolizing their collective attention, then they can socialize. The more effective alternatives to lecture bring learners into more engaged contact with each other.

Very narrow concept of socializing. Being in a classroom together is already a signal of group inclusion. Having a collective experience to relate with each other later is part of socialization.

Re: AI has already killed academia as we know it?

#53

Post by aunty_helen » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 4:25 PM UTC

the_mar wrote: post #49

aunty_helen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15 years later I can still remember parts of my lectures that were interesting. The only thing I remember about studying is those now banned little energy drink shots.

they banned energy shot drinks?!

Not sure about state side. But it my country they started enforcing the 32mg/100ml caffeine limit. Which was an effective ban.

Re: AI has already killed academia as we know it?

#54

Post by magic_hamster » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 7:41 AM UTC

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #3

magic_hamster wrote: post #2

Solving the paper submission is easy. Just hold frontal interview where the submitter defends their paper. They can't create papers every day and still be knowledgeable about them in depth. We are hurling to a reality where the only noteworthy metric is human to human validation.

If a journal finds that it's getting more papers than peer reviewers are willing to go through, how does a more heavyweight, synchronous review process solve the problem? Many researchers already find peer review requests annoying, they're not going to agree to hold a bunch of video calls.

If the problem is that there are too many AI slop papers, then requiring real human input and feedback can help reduce these numbers. Let's say you have to defend your paper in person before you submit it, it will cut slop submissions dramatically. The current system is just not built for a world with LLMs producing mountains of content with automation.