The Social Edge of Intelligence: Individual Gain, Collective Loss

> If I read thousands of books that explain the details of another civilization in another galaxy, very thoroughly and consistently, but it it just happens to be all made up - did I gain knowledge?

sounds a lot like math - made up entities that very thoroughly and consistently fit together.

Great thoughts.

The decline brought by writing was not only in memorization. If in previous ages to understand something was to study deeply, eventually the definition may shift to having asked ChatGPT about it and skimmed through the response. This is discussed thorougly in Technopoly, which I'm still reading.

You should also consider that besides the effects of AI adoption in highly technical and scholarly people it will also affect a majority of average workers who may be more vulnerable to atrophy than others.

Not only that, but eventually AI will be native and people's perspective and usage will not be affected by previous generation habits. If people hardly bother to write their own emails, comments or essays then how will the AI-native generation approach that?

Although you make very solid points, I've been leaning to think that the AI effect on society will be shaped by the average user, not users such as yourself and the colleagues you observe in which case the doom-saying starts to make better sense.

One measure is the ability to find an optimal solution among many options. From solving an integration problem (option = equation, optimal = correct) to life (option = life choice, optimal = best QOL).

Statistically, an LLM finds a better optimal solution than one individual. But LLM solutions are more similar to each other than individuals’, so among many individuals, a few find a better optimal solution than the LLMs.

Hence why I think we need AI that responds more uniquely. Whether that be fine-tuned local models, one LLM that’s more influenced by its prompt and well-supports extremely long prompts, AI tools for humans, or something else. I’d love to see a local AI with continuous learning that generates complex UX to better interact with the user (more than prompts), but that may be far-fetched…

yeah! Just like gravity, which we all know is, uh, umm, uh, hold on a second,

Wait, I meant light, yeah, photons! It's photons all the way down! And what are photons you ask? shit, no more questions. Got to go.

I agree with your point.

We are all shaped by the cultural and social environments we come from, so my perspective is based on the context I’ve experienced. That difference itself is what I find interesting. These kinds of cultural and intellectual frictions make me think more deeply.

I also agree that asking good questions requires some level of foundational knowledge. But at the same time, it’s difficult to ask good questions without that foundation. As you mentioned, more experienced users will likely benefit more from AI.

Still, I think humans tend to find ways to adapt to these kinds of challenges, so it’s possible that new forms of education will emerge. For example, ways of learning how to use cognitive tools like LLMs effectively.

That said, I admit this is an optimistic view. In reality, as you pointed out, the gap will likely widen. People from more educated backgrounds will be better positioned to use these tools effectively, while others may fall further behind.

I agree with your perspective, and I appreciate your thoughts. It’s interesting to see so many different viewpoints—these differences are what make discussions like this engaging.

Have a great day.