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427 points JumpCrisscross | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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lwhi ◴[] No.41901852[source]
It is no longer effective to solely use a written essay to measure how deeply a student comprehends a subject.

AI is here to stay; new methods should be used to assess student performance.

I remember being told at school, that we weren't allowed to use calculators in exams. The line provided by teachers was that we could never rely on having a calculator when we need it most—obviously there's irony associated with having 'calculators' in our pockets 24/7 now.

We need to accept that the world has changed; I only hope that we get to decide how society responds to that change together .. rather than have it forced upon us.

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pjc50 ◴[] No.41902041[source]
> I only hope that we get to decide how society responds to that change together .. rather than have it forced upon us.

That basically never happens and the outcome is the result of some sort of struggle. Usually just a peaceful one in the courts and legislatures and markets, but a struggle nonetheless.

> new methods should be used to assess student performance.

Such as? We need an answer now because students are being assessed now.

Return to the old "viva voce" exam? Still used for PhDs. But that doesn't scale at all. Perhaps we're going to have to accept that and aggressively ration higher education by the limited amount of time available for human-to-human evaluations.

Personally I think all this is unpredictable and destabilizing. If the AI advocates are right, which I don't think they are, they're going to eradicate most of the white collar jobs and academic specialties for which those people are being trained and evaluated.

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lwhi ◴[] No.41902324[source]
> Personally I think all this is unpredictable and destabilizing.

I completely agree, but then again it seems to me that society also functions according to many norms that were established due to historical context; and could / should be challenged and replaced.

Our education system was based on needs of the industrial revolution. Ditto, the structure of our working week.

My bet: We will see our working / waking lives shift before our eyes, in a manner that's comparable to watching an avalanche in the far distance. And (similarly to the avalanche metaphor) we'll likely have little ability to effect any change.

Fundamental questions like 'why do we work', 'what do we need' and 'what do we want' will be necessarily brought to the fore.

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1. Loughla ◴[] No.41902533{3}[source]
I think you're far more optimistic than I am.

I think that we'll see fundamental changes, but it will be based on cheaper consumer goods because all of the back end white collar labor that adds costs to them will be (for all intents and purposes) free.

But we will see the absolute destruction of the middle class. This will be the death blow. The work week will change, but only because even more people will work multiple part time jobs. We'll think about what we need, but only because we'll have cheap consumer goods, but no ability to prepare for the future.

I think it's bleak. Source: most of human history. We're not, as a species, naturally altruistic. We're competitive and selfish.

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2. lwhi ◴[] No.41902710[source]
Have you seen the film Zardoz?

Looking back on it, I think it could be weirdly precient.

Two classes of society; one living a life of leisure, the other fighting on the plains.

(.. maybe minus Connery in a mankini)

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3. ericjmorey ◴[] No.41904899[source]
That's a very common theme in literature concerning the future of society when technology and social hierarchy are applied ad absurdum.

The Time Machine is a very famous example.