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> after your primary school years, you get a calculator to work out the arithmetic Do we? I do a lot of mental arithmetic as a software developer. When I was a

> after your primary school years, you get a calculator to work out the arithmetic Do we? I do a lot of mental arithmetic as a software developer. When I was an exchange student my host-dad was an engineer and he was incredibly good at it. As he was thinking through a problem he'd do all sorts of ballpark math to get a feel for things. Eventually, yes, the numbers would all get crunched properly. But even then he'd also be doing the math mentally to make sure that something hadn't gotten screwed up. A person who uses a calculator for everything starting from a young age just doesn't develop that skill. And I think there will be a similar problem with ChatGPT. Can an excellent writer get a performance boost starting with ChatGPT? The jury's out, but it's not impossible. But can one become an excellent writer by tarting up LLM-generated prose? I doubt it. Learning to write is a process of sweating the details. Especially so when the output is an essay. Real higher-level creativity requires foundational work. I think at best you'll get the sort of content that comes when an uninspiring politician hires a mediocre ghost writer. That said, a lot of writing is bullshit. And I mean that both in the Frankfurt sense ("speech intended to persuade without regard for truth") [1] and in the Graeber sense ("completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious") [2]. And that's where I think ChatGPT will shine. Marketing copy to fill in the "lorem ispum" space on the product page? ChatGPT to the rescue. Long sections of TPS reports that nobody will read? ChatGPT again. And once they expand ChatGPT to being able to make PowerPoint decks, a zillion ineffective middle managers will be able to return their focus to Candy Crush, harassing the interns, and creating pointless meetings. I think that's also bad, of course. Lowering the cost of bullshit production looks like a net societal negative to me. But it would be successful in the traditional tech industry metrics of "gains users" and "produces revenue". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Bullshit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Bullshit [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

lordnacho 4y ago
> A person who uses a calculator for everything starting from a young age just doesn't develop that skill. But is that a reasonable fear? It's actually quite hard to use a tool without understanding it, so you won't get a lot of people reliant on calculators who don't understand calculation. I've certainly never met someone for whom it was a problem. About using tools you don't understand, this is easy to try. Get some film editing software or 3D rendering software (assuming you don't know this area, like me) and see where you get to. I've never been able to use a tool without understanding at least something about what it does.
- wpietri 4y ago
  > It's actually quite hard to use a tool without understanding it The whole point of many tools is to not understand what's going on. I had a friend in college who could happily drive a car, but had been discouraged from understanding how it worked, because opening the hood of a car was not ladylike. So whenever anything happened, she would be filled with anxiety and take it to a mechanic, even for perfectly mundane things like putting in more coolant. Similarly, people who have a math aversion can lean on calculators to stay innumerate. I see this happen frequently when I pay for something in cash using change. E.g., the bill will be $9.77. I'll see that and think, "Oh, I want the quarter", so I'll put down a $10 and 2 pennies. Some people are fine with it, but a notable fraction of cashiers (whose whole job is handling money!) will look at me like I have two heads. But they'll dutifully punch it in and act like I'm a wizard when it comes out to be a single coin. > Get some film editing software or 3D rendering software The correct analogy here is to the word processor, not ChatGPT. If somebody who doesn't know how to write opens up Word and expects an essay to come out, they'd be similarly stymied. Or we could look at essay-writing services. A quick search turns up places that are for "learners seeking assistance". But I think we all know that nobody is really using those services for inspiration or a rough draft so that they can hone their essay-writing skills with the assistance of a professional.
- dorchadas 4y ago
  I taught high school math, there's many who rely on calculators for even the most basic calculations because they can't do them and have no concept of what it means to, say, multiply two numbers or how to even go about doing it.

lordnacho 4y ago

> A person who uses a calculator for everything starting from a young age just doesn't develop that skill. But is that a reasonable fear? It's actually quite hard to use a tool without understanding it, so you won't get a lot of people reliant on calculators who don't understand calculation. I've certainly never met someone for whom it was a problem. About using tools you don't understand, this is easy to try. Get some film editing software or 3D rendering software (assuming you don't know this area, like me) and see where you get to. I've never been able to use a tool without understanding at least something about what it does.

wpietri 4y ago
> It's actually quite hard to use a tool without understanding it The whole point of many tools is to not understand what's going on. I had a friend in college who could happily drive a car, but had been discouraged from understanding how it worked, because opening the hood of a car was not ladylike. So whenever anything happened, she would be filled with anxiety and take it to a mechanic, even for perfectly mundane things like putting in more coolant. Similarly, people who have a math aversion can lean on calculators to stay innumerate. I see this happen frequently when I pay for something in cash using change. E.g., the bill will be $9.77. I'll see that and think, "Oh, I want the quarter", so I'll put down a $10 and 2 pennies. Some people are fine with it, but a notable fraction of cashiers (whose whole job is handling money!) will look at me like I have two heads. But they'll dutifully punch it in and act like I'm a wizard when it comes out to be a single coin. > Get some film editing software or 3D rendering software The correct analogy here is to the word processor, not ChatGPT. If somebody who doesn't know how to write opens up Word and expects an essay to come out, they'd be similarly stymied. Or we could look at essay-writing services. A quick search turns up places that are for "learners seeking assistance". But I think we all know that nobody is really using those services for inspiration or a rough draft so that they can hone their essay-writing skills with the assistance of a professional.
dorchadas 4y ago
I taught high school math, there's many who rely on calculators for even the most basic calculations because they can't do them and have no concept of what it means to, say, multiply two numbers or how to even go about doing it.