When I was young and starting out with computers, programming, BBS’ and later the early internet, technology was something that expanded my mind, helped me to research, learn new skills, and meet people and have interesting conversations. Something decentralized that put power into the hands of the little guy who could start his own business venture with his PC or expand his skillset.
Where we are now with AI, the opposite seems to be happening. We are asking AI to do things for us rather than learning how to do things ourselves. We are losing our research skills. Many people are talking to AI’s about their problems instead of other people. And they will take away our jobs and centralize all power into a handful of billionaire sociopaths with robot armies to carry out whatever nefarious deeds they want to do.
I hope we somehow make it through this part of history with some semblance of freedom and autonomy intact, but I’m having a hard time seeing how.
Librarian here, can confirm.
I started my Master’s in Library and Information Science in 2010. We were told not to worry about the internet making us obsolete because we would be needed to teach information literacy.
Information literacy turned out to be something people didn’t want. They wanted to be told what to think, not taught skills to think for themselves.
It’s been the single greatest and most expensive disappointment of my life.
This must be one of the wisest statements I ever read on the internet.
How does one go about learning information literacy?
classes in philosophy, literature, politics, and digital media. typically.
you know, those evil humanities that are destroying society… because they don’t produce ‘value’.
Rhetoric is a big one too, not just to use but to be able to identify when it’s being used to manipulate you
Needing a masters for $18/hr sucks too.
if people don’t want to use computers to expand their mind, empower themselves and others then, obviously they won’t get those benefits
you can still use computers to do those things