Have we reached the pinnacle of thinking for ourselves?
So, this week saw another Apple commercial, their latest Keynote for WWDC ’24. Being a considerable Apple consumer, I always find it interesting to see the latest features they’ll be rolling out. Quite frankly I probably don’t even use about 50% of what they offer on their devices. But this week’s announcement has me asking one question, have we reached the pinnacle of thinking for ourselves?
AI. Artificial Intelligence, or Apple Intelligence. Smooth marketing move Apple. Ever since the beginning of 2023 we’ve been awash in “AI this” or “AI that.” ChatGPT will revolutionize the way we “think.” Personally, I view much of the ChatGPT and other competitive platforms as an enhanced Google, actually doing what I had wished Google could do years ago. But what has me concerned most is the premise of what was shared yesterday, basically a “Grammarly” inserted into our mail and writing applications.
I’m sure you’ve seen the multiple Grammarly commercials lately. If you haven’t here’s the gist, two Millennials or GenZ’ers (is that correct?) are “struggling” to convey a topic or just plain communicate. Grammarly (with their Sport Announcers) steps in to save the day. Game, Set, Match. Really? We’ve lowered the bar so much now that we’re celebrating when two poorly schooled individuals can’t communicate without an app?
This is my point. If we’re already celebrating an app saving the day for two grown adults who cannot cobble together a coherent thought, what happens next? Society tossed aside teaching cursive, something my own children think is an undecipherable code language when one their Grandparents send them a handwritten letter. Clearly the greatest casualty of not teaching cursive is the signature. Side note, I actually heard there is a company that will custom create YOUR own signature, then send you teaching templates to LEARN how to sign your signature. Insert facepalm here.
Look, I’m not opposed to progress and tools to improve our work. What scares me the most are those who have not fully developed their writing skills may never now. Will the next generation, who hasn’t even started their journey, be officially routed into an AI assistant. But at what point do the Assistants end up not needing those they assist? Which brings me back to my original point, have we truly reached the pinnacle of thinking for ourselves?
If you’ve visited my blog before you’ll see I’m a big fan of Critical Thinking. Not just focusing on the next step, but several steps after. Critical Thinking for the mind is just like exercise is for the body. When engaged it can see multiple outcomes or create new ideas. Technically AI can’t create new ideas – only polish existing. But what happens when we turn thinking over to an algorithm? The potential of dumbing down society has me thinking we’re on track to make “Idiocracy” more Non-Fiction than Fiction. If you’re not familiar with the movie, I urge you to check it out soon – your life may depend on it.
This may all very well be hyperbole on my part. I’ve got kids in College and High School that I see using these tools. Thankfully, we have raised them to think for themselves, so I’m confident they’ll use the tools effectively. However, the whole premise of a society handing the keys of their mind over to an app or AI does give me concern. At what point does the machine take over and we make Hal and Skynet a reality? In the meantime, I’ll check out the latest Apple features and like always, will probably only use a small portion of the them. By the way, this blog was written 100% without the aid of any Artificial Intelligence. Till next time.