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I don't think AGI is right around the corner

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337 points mooreds | 3 comments | 06 Jul 25 20:45 UTC | HN request time: 1.28s | source
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Herring ◴[06 Jul 25 21:31 UTC] No.44484239[source]▶
Apparently 54% of American adults read at or below a sixth-grade level nationwide. I’d say AGI is kinda here already.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States

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yeasku ◴[06 Jul 25 21:39 UTC] No.44484320[source]▶
Does a country failed education system has anything to do with AGI?
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ch4s3 ◴[06 Jul 25 22:08 UTC] No.44484532[source]▶
The stat is skewed wildly by immigration. The literacy level of native born Americans is higher. The population of foreign born adults is nearly 20% of the total adult population, and as you can imagine many are actively learning English.
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Herring ◴[06 Jul 25 22:56 UTC] No.44484893[source]▶
It’s not skewed much by immigration. This is because the native-born population is much larger.

See: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publicat...

51% of native-born adults scored at Level 3 or higher. This is considered the benchmark for being able to manage complex tasks and fully participate in a knowledge-based society. Only 28% of immigrant adults achieved this level. So yes immigrants are in trouble, but it’s still a huge problem with 49% native-born below Level 3.

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1. refurb ◴[07 Jul 25 02:34 UTC] No.44486215[source]▶
In my mind “literate” is not “hand complex tasks”, it’s a basic ability to read and write.

Seems like the standards have changed over time?

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2. robertritz ◴[07 Jul 25 03:00 UTC] No.44486340[source]▶
Considering the amount of digitalization in society, more government regulations, etc. I think basic literacy alone does not guarantee you can participate in society effectively.
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3. refurb ◴[07 Jul 25 04:42 UTC] No.44486828[source]▶
But in the past, literacy was typically defined as "bare minimum".

It's fine if we want to change it to "sufficiently master language to do a white collar job", but if the standard changes we shouldn't be surprised fewer people meet it.