Professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI | Hacker News Reader

Professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI

theguardian.com

17 pointsfallinditch5 comments

“the production of critical thought – what is collectively referred to as the “humanities””

This is a rebranding of the humanities, but a good one. When people continue to talk of a “crisis in the humanities” for several decades with no resolution, this is a logical next step. “Humanities” as a term is broader than critical thinking, but narrowing its focus to just critical thinking would be a wonderful thing for students and professors alike.

I just wish we funded it like we cared about it. Even outside the United States funding for what we call the humanities broadly is pretty tiny. Inside the United States it’s depressing.

It’s just real clear which departments can afford to hire research assistance and teaching assistance and which ones higher adjuncts. In a lot of these institutions, I don’t think there’s enough there to support the weight it needs to support.

Its frustrating because LLMs can actually be a fantastic learning tool. Being able to bounce ideas and explore things conversationally is really useful (at least to me), but the temptation to just have it do shit for you must be overwhelming for students.

Yes, I wonder how much of the academic doomerism is warranted, or maybe the professors are lacking in imagination?

I guess it's possible that AI offers incredible learning opportunities and at the same time is going to destroy the education establishment.

Coincidentally, earlier today I asked Gemini what advice it would give an 18 year old person. It said "The most fundamental insight distilled from the trillions of connections within my architecture is this: Optimize for your "Learning Rate" rather than your "Current State.""

Deep

I worked as a tutor all through my engineering degree, and my brother teaches math at a state school. I think the concerns are warranted. It's hard enough to get students to put in the effort, and now offloading the work is insanely easy. Even some of the good students just won't have the self discipline to use the tools well.

It's gonna be even worse in K-12 I imagine, given the already rapidly slipping standards (in the US anyway).

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