Hailey

There's a particular strawman response to the concerns that LLMs damage literacy, impair learning, etc that goes like "well people said the same thing about the calculator!" "Socrates said writing would make people dumb!" and the reason it's a shit take is it pretends that pedagogy just doesn't exist. We _do_ study the effect of various technologies and methods used in teaching. We _know_ that certain methods of teaching reading are ineffective and damaging, three-cueing for example.

It is in fact anti-science to believe that all concerns about new technologies and methods being damaging are automatically invalid, especially in the face of mounting evidence supporting those concerns.

Apr 5 at 1:56amWeb
Show threadRaymond Neilson1d ago
@hailey I'd also extend that - it's anti-science (and anti-history!) to conflate objections to any _specific_ technology with objections to _all_ technology. Some technologies are bad! Some technologies have costs greatly outweighing their benefits! Figuring that out is in fact part of both science and the application of technology!
Show threadRaymond Neilson1d ago
@hailey (The exclamation marks are not directed at you fwiw)
Show threadBlake C. Stacey1d ago
@hailey "You just can't stand progress! People like you are why we can't have nice things like radium watches, asbestos insulation, CFC refrigerants and leaded gasoline!"
Show threadJackson Mostoller1d ago
@hailey They also completely discount the *nature* of the technologies. How, exactly, is a system that outputs a bunch of intentionally human-sounding text on-demand remotely similar to writing symbols down to record information? I’d argue that, of any familiar technology, LLMs are probably most similar to algorithmic social media—a vast and faceless maelstrom of hyper-available information controlled by unseen powers that’s wired directly into our natural social proclivities. And we all agree algorithmic social media is an unmitigated benefit to society…right?
I would love to know how “ostensible digital maven” is enough like a writing desk to handwave away all criticism.
Show threadspinnyspinlock23h ago

@hailey it's an argument one arrives at by not thinking it through (gee wonder why) and thinking more tech more good

~~oops multiple people already made the same argument better than I did~~

Show threadLR22h ago
@hailey i have faith in the mind's unceasing ability to get bored with fixed function pipelines, no matter how complex they may be.
Show threadVANTABlack16h ago
@hailey Yeah the argument seems to ignore one really big issue "Use it or Lose it". I am sure writing does in way make people worse. Maybe people have worse memory when they can just write something down and look back at it later. Though that is probably more minor compared to LLMs. Not using some parts if your brain will make those skills weaker or not built up.