Thoughts on thinking

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.

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.

Never underestimate laziness, or willingness to take something 80% as good for 1% of the work.

So most are not curious. So what do you do for them?

that's on them? Why do I have to take responsibility for someone else's growth?

Because we, as a society, need to create a future of mutual benefit. If you don’t, only terrible things happen, including to you.

Maybe my comment was a little harsh. I do believe we should have the structure in place for people to learn from as they wish. We should show them it's available, and the benefits of it

But the lazy, uncurious person that wants to shortcut everything, that you described? They're not even trying to help themselves. Maybe the best thing to do there is to let a little time pass and for them to see the result of their actions. You can lead a horse to water..