Why A.I. Won’t Make Us Dumb
The idea, as some have posited, is that we will end up becoming dumber as we rely more and more on AI, from the workplace to ordering our groceries. If it were true that humans are as programmable as a computer, this might be somewhat valid. Fortunately, it’s not.
Some journalists and pundits predicted Google and search engines in general would make us stupid. They too, have not and aren’t likely to.
Most of these proclamations are made by those in the technology sector; software engineers and scientists, coders. This is not a negative or statement against them, it’s just that coding is about solving problems and software can do that wonderfully. The humans that write a lot of code, who spend years and decades doing so, tend to think in more computational terms.
They see the wonders of what can be done with code. After a while, like any profession where one specializes, much of anything happening in the world is seen through that lens. That becomes a key element of how we create and define our realities. It is natural that some coders might see AI in this way, especially those who are most reliant on its success. Much of this is driven by our various biases. We all do it, often without realising it. It’s part of who we are as a species.
Then there are always those in society that have fears and concerns over a new…
