Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills
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How many phone numbers do you know off of the top of your head?
In the 90s, my mother could rattle off 20 or more.
But they're all in her phone now. Are luddites going to start abandoning phones because they're losing the ability to remember phone numbers? No, of course not.
Either way, these fancy prediction engines have better critical thinking skills than most of the flesh and bone people I meet every day to begin with. The world might actually be smarter on average if they didn't open their mouths.
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How many phone numbers do you know off of the top of your head?
In the 90s, my mother could rattle off 20 or more.
But they're all in her phone now. Are luddites going to start abandoning phones because they're losing the ability to remember phone numbers? No, of course not.
Either way, these fancy prediction engines have better critical thinking skills than most of the flesh and bone people I meet every day to begin with. The world might actually be smarter on average if they didn't open their mouths.
Memorization is not the same thing as critical thinking.
A well designed test will freely give you an equation sheet or even allow a cheat sheet.
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How many phone numbers do you know off of the top of your head?
In the 90s, my mother could rattle off 20 or more.
But they're all in her phone now. Are luddites going to start abandoning phones because they're losing the ability to remember phone numbers? No, of course not.
Either way, these fancy prediction engines have better critical thinking skills than most of the flesh and bone people I meet every day to begin with. The world might actually be smarter on average if they didn't open their mouths.
Even back when we only had landed lines, I could barely remember my own phone number. I didn't think it's a good measure.
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Well thank goodness that Microsoft isn't pushing AI on us as hard as it can, via every channel that it can.
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Good. Maybe the dumbest people will forget how to breathe, and global society can move forward.
Oh you can guarantee they won't forget how to vote
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Can confirm. I've stopped using my brain at work. Moreso.
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Memorization is not the same thing as critical thinking.
A well designed test will freely give you an equation sheet or even allow a cheat sheet.
You're right it's not the same thing as critical thinking, but it is a skill we've lost. How many skills have we lost throughout history due to machines and manufacturing?
This is the same tale over and over again - these people weren't using critical thinking to begin with if they were trusting a prediction engine with their tasks.
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Well thank goodness that Microsoft isn't pushing AI on us as hard as it can, via every channel that it can.
Well at least they communicate such findings openly and don't try to hide them. Other than ExxonMobil who saw global warming coming due to internal studies since the 1970s and tried to hide or dispute it, because it was bad for business.
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Good. Maybe the dumbest people will forget how to breathe, and global society can move forward.
Microsoft will just make a subscription AI for that, BaaS.
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Quickly, ask AI how to improve or practice critical thinking skills!
Chat GPT et al; "To improve your critical thinking skills you should rely completely on AI."
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It was already soooooo dead out there that I doubt they considered this systematic properly in the study...
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Microsoft will just make a subscription AI for that, BaaS.
Which we will rebrand "Bullshit as a service"!
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Sounds a bit bogus to call this a causation. Much more likely that people who are more gullible in general also believe AI whatever it says.
This isn't a profound extrapolation. It's akin to saying "Kids who cheat on the exam do worse in practical skills tests than those that read the material and did the homework." Or "kids who watch TV lack the reading skills of kids who read books".
Asking something else to do your mental labor for you means never developing your brain muscle to do the work on its own. By contrast, regularly exercising the brain muscle yields better long term mental fitness and intuitive skills.
This isn't predicated on the gullibility of the practitioner. The lack of mental exercise produces gullibility.
Its just not something particular to AI. If you use any kind of 3rd party analysis in lieu of personal interrogation, you're going to suffer in your capacity for future inquiry.
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Well thank goodness that Microsoft isn't pushing AI on us as hard as it can, via every channel that it can.
Learning how to evade and disable AI is becoming a critical thinking skill unto itself. Feels a bit like how I've had to learn to navigate around advertisements and other intrusive 3rd party interruptions while using online services.
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Good thing most Americans already don't possess those!
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Which we will rebrand "Bullshit as a service"!
I thought that's what it means?
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Memorization is not the same thing as critical thinking.
A well designed test will freely give you an equation sheet or even allow a cheat sheet.
Memorization is not the same thing as critical thinking.
A library of internalized axioms is necessary for efficient critical thinking. You can't just turn yourself into a Chinese Room of analysis.
A well designed test will freely give you an equation sheet or even allow a cheat sheet.
Certain questions are phrased to force the reader to pluck out and categorize bits of information, to implement complex iterations of simple formulae, and to perform long-form calculations accurately without regard to the formulae themselves.
But for elementary skills, you're often challenging the individual to retain basic facts and figures. Internalizing your multiplication tables can serve as a heuristic that's quicker than doing simple sums in your head. Knowing the basic physics formulae - your F = ma, ρ=m/V, f= V/λ etc - can give you a broader understanding of the physical world.
If all you know how to do is search for answers to basic questions, you're slowing down your ability to process new information and recognize patterns or predictive signals in a timely manner.
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The same could be said about people who search for answers anywhere on the internet, or even the world, and don’t have some level of skepticism about their sources of information.
It’s more like, not having critical thinking skills perpetuates a lack of critical thinking skills.
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Memorization is not the same thing as critical thinking.
A well designed test will freely give you an equation sheet or even allow a cheat sheet.
When was the last time you did math without a calculator?
