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>Can’t use AI on a date, or at a dinner party, or during a board meeting. I get the same "you won't always have a calculator with you" vibes from 90s teachers
by noosphr 1y ago
>Can’t use AI on a date, or at a dinner party, or during a board meeting.
I get the same "you won't always have a calculator with you" vibes from 90s teachers chiding you to show your work when I hear people say stuff like this.
- altairprime 1y agoI wouldn’t equate trigonometry, which underpins the classic parabolic example you’re referring to, with critical reasoning in human conversation. One is situationally useful at best; the other is mandatory to prevent exploitation by malicious people. Mental quadratics may be appealing, but the ability to reason is the bare minimum. Besides: if you’re using a calculator or AI in a board meeting, you’re likely unprepared for the board meeting.
- noosphr 1y agoI'm not sure how you did proofs in trigonometry with a calculator.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- altairprime 1y agoI ran my school district out of math to teach me in the 80s and ended up focusing on sysadmin in the 90s rather than repeating trigonometry or pursuing formal math at the local college. Sorry I can’t be of more use to your argument! Perhaps someone else will have applicable experiences.
- bigstrat2003 1y agoYou say that like those teachers were incorrect. They were correct, and still are correct. You don't always have a computer to hand, and you do in fact need to be able to do basic math.
- noosphr 1y agoIf I don't have access to my phone the power grid has been down for at least two days and by that point I've got more pressing issue than showing my work when doing basic math.
- Ekaros 1y agoAlso LLMs have fairly well proven that even if you have calculator you probably should have ability to do some sanity check on the answer. In case you hit wrong button for example. With LLMs they can be confidently wrong and unless you are able to tell you are out of luck... Plus all about capability to actually retain whatever you ask from the model...
- altairprime 1y agoIronically, America finally automated one of our oldest workplace specialties: grifting! People overconfidently declaring made-up nonsense in board meetings is a classic executive behavior. I suppose it’ll be interesting to see what happens now that everyone has one in their pocket. Will their patter improve from exposure alone, or will they more easily detected because their skills weaken from disuse?
- toast0 1y agoIt's pretty rare that I don't have quick access to a calculator. Which really reduces the basic math I need to do in my head. It's more likely I will not have paper and writing implements than not having a calculator. Besides, most people have room for fast arithmetic or integrals; fast arithmetic would be more useful, but I'm not putting the time in to get it back.