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645 points bradgessler | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.649s | source
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don_neufeld ◴[] No.44009004[source]
Completely agree.

From all of my observations, the impact of LLMs on human thought quality appears largely corrosive.

I’m very glad my kid’s school has hardcore banned them. In some class they only allow students to turn in work that was done in class, under the direct observation of the teacher. There has also been a significant increase in “on paper” work vs work done on computer.

Lest you wonder “what does this guy know anyways?”, I’ll share that I grew up in a household where both parents were professors of education.

Understanding the effectiveness of different methods of learning (my dad literally taught Science Methods) were a frequent topic. Active learning (creating things using what you’re learning about) is so much more effective than passive, reception oriented methods. I think LLMs largely are supporting the latter.

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johnisgood ◴[] No.44010436[source]
You can learn a lot from LLMs though, same with, say, Wikipedia. You need curiosity. You need the desire to learn. If you do not have it, then of course you will get nowhere, LLMs or no LLMs.
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snackernews ◴[] No.44010488[source]
Can you learn a lot? Or do you get instant answers to every question without learning anything, as OP suggests?
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1. calebkaiser ◴[] No.44010968[source]
You can learn an incredible amount. I do quite a bit of research as a core part of my job, and LLMs are amazing at helping me find relevant research to help me explore ideas. Something like "I'm thinking of X. Does this make sense and do you know of any similar research?" I also mentor some students whose educational journey has been fundamentally changed by them.

Like any other tool, it's more a question of how they're used. For example, I've seen incredible results for students who use ChatGPT to interrogate ideas as they synthesize them. So, for example, "I'm reading this passage PASSAGE and I'm confused about phrase X. The core idea seems similar to Y, which I am familiar with. if I had to explain X, I'd put it like this ATTEMPT Can you help me understand what I'm missing?"

The results are very impressive. I'd encourage you to try it out if you haven't.

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2. vendiddy ◴[] No.44011022[source]
I've used it these past few months to better understand the PDF format, Nix, and a few other technical concepts.

I try to use AI to automate things I already know and force myself to learn things I don't know.

It takes discipline/curiosity but it can be a net positive.

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3. johnisgood ◴[] No.44012917[source]
Thank you, and the previous commenter. I am tired of trying to convince people that LLM can be a really good tool for learning. :/

They should just simply try it. Start with something you actually know to see how useful it might be to you with your prompts.