I think the debate around reducing complex tasks into simple and ignorant ones (pressing a button) is worthwhile, but not the most urgent one. Most car owners used to know basics of how engines worked in order to do basic repairs. Now they’re more complex and most people don’t know what a piston or timing belt is, you just take it into the shop. And really, does the parent with a reliable econobox for getting from A to B really need to know? Same thing with PCs. But there’s still a healthy proportion of people who are into these things and preserve and innovate the knowledge.
The standards of necessary life skills also change over time. Baking bread, food preservation, fire starting & wood handling, penmanship, paper map navigation, phone etiquette, etc… these used to be basic life skills. For a good 1-2 generations, installing software from physical media and manual updates, configuring email clients, and keyword searching has been the norm. Now those skills are becoming less relevant.
This isn’t an argument for AI, it’s more reflecting on the fear around losing skills and what really matters.
The argument around critical thinking and creativity are more pressing to me. But it’s also not a new argument. Similar arguments have been made around new media in the past, around novels, radio, TV, videogames, and most recently Gen-Z’s post-covid social media-fueled not-so-social ways of being. Of course the context and speed of AI re: big data is novel, but the themes are the same. It’s a scary inflection point with massively disruptive implications for how humans do and do not interact with each other and express themselves.
If I may make an argument for faith in humanity, it is true that humans are deeply lazy and refuse to change until it’s too late. Humans are also deeply curious, creative, and are constantly inventing new ways to interact 😸💩😝.
While I think we have to be vigilant about fostering critical thinking and creativity. We are also in a period of great upheaval, oppression, and hardship. Tragically, it is also during such times that humans create the greatest art and think the most critically.
https://anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/haterdom/2025/08/26/i-am-an-ai-hater.html This article has been going around lately and it’s a great summation of strong anti-AI arguments in context of their dominant form as tools made by billionaires for billionaire goals.
I think the debate around reducing complex tasks into simple and ignorant ones (pressing a button) is worthwhile, but not the most urgent one. Most car owners used to know basics of how engines worked in order to do basic repairs. Now they’re more complex and most people don’t know what a piston or timing belt is, you just take it into the shop. And really, does the parent with a reliable econobox for getting from A to B really need to know? Same thing with PCs. But there’s still a healthy proportion of people who are into these things and preserve and innovate the knowledge.
The standards of necessary life skills also change over time. Baking bread, food preservation, fire starting & wood handling, penmanship, paper map navigation, phone etiquette, etc… these used to be basic life skills. For a good 1-2 generations, installing software from physical media and manual updates, configuring email clients, and keyword searching has been the norm. Now those skills are becoming less relevant.
This isn’t an argument for AI, it’s more reflecting on the fear around losing skills and what really matters. The argument around critical thinking and creativity are more pressing to me. But it’s also not a new argument. Similar arguments have been made around new media in the past, around novels, radio, TV, videogames, and most recently Gen-Z’s post-covid social media-fueled not-so-social ways of being. Of course the context and speed of AI re: big data is novel, but the themes are the same. It’s a scary inflection point with massively disruptive implications for how humans do and do not interact with each other and express themselves.
If I may make an argument for faith in humanity, it is true that humans are deeply lazy and refuse to change until it’s too late. Humans are also deeply curious, creative, and are constantly inventing new ways to interact 😸💩😝. While I think we have to be vigilant about fostering critical thinking and creativity. We are also in a period of great upheaval, oppression, and hardship. Tragically, it is also during such times that humans create the greatest art and think the most critically.