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> 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 h

> 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.

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.