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by switchbak 31 days ago
The thing is - everyone complains about AI stealing our attention and understanding. But you can just as easily use an LLM as a tool to gain a deeper understanding. It's just the default path for most folks is "Hey clanker, do the thing" rather than "Hello clanker, please tell me about how that thing works".

I've done at least a little of the latter, and it's amazing how underrated it is as an educational tool - especially for the solo individual.
2 comments
tines 31 days ago
And you can use a TV to read books, but nobody does.

Every technology has ways it can be used, and ways it wants to be used. This one wants to be used in a way that produces outcomes we won't like.

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switchbak 31 days ago
That’s the “diets don’t work” line. I’m not denying that most people use AI for the path of least resistance, but I am saying that there’s more potential than just that, and it’s almost entirely overlooked in the broad debate.
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tines 30 days ago
Bad counterexample, c.f. the current obesity epidemic and the popularity of GLP-1s.

I get what you're saying, it's just that I think what you're saying is not overlooked, it's simply insignificant to the debate about the effect of these tools on society. Your argument comes off to me like someone saying "everyone is complaining about how these cigarettes cause cancer, but you can just as easily use lit cigarettes to warm your hands on a cold day. This is what everyone's missing in this debate."

I don't think we can change each others' minds with talk, we'll just have to see how it plays out in the coming decades.

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switchbak 30 days ago
That's precisely why it's a good example. It's always taken work to lose weight, just because it's not common doesn't mean it's impossible. The common rhetoric loses that nuance, that's my point.

I didn't say anything else, you're reworking what I'm saying here and distorting my message.

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hexasquid 31 days ago
I think what you are describing is covered by either an E reader or the giant collection of how-to explantions on YouTube?
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tines 31 days ago
Videos aren’t books, and ereaders aren’t TVs.

The book/written word is also a technology that has preferences on how it’s used and transformations that it imposes on its users, and they’re much different than those of TV or computers.

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jjk7 31 days ago
Nobody has time anymore to read a textbook.
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