I suppose there is a good chance that the advent of LLMs/AI is going to lead to a rebirth of the value in critical thinking and due diligence.
Hopefully, but I'm thinkin' it'll end up going in the exact opposite direction.
Right now AI is still being dialed in, so to speak. Once they get it to where most people see it as relatively accurate, it will become readily adopted.
What I see, is a World where no one needs critical thinking skills, as whenever a problem comes up, just ask your AI what to do. If the average learns that they can get better answers than they could have come up with themselves, and if it happens over and over, why wouldn't people end up just letting it figure everything out for them? People always end up taking what looks like the easy way, and thinking can be hard. Asking AI and getting an instant answer, is easy peasy.
.....and I'm talkin' down the road a bit, not right now. Ie: where all this AI stuff will eventually lead society over the next generation if it keeps going at the rate it is, or even accelerates. As is likely.
Just like how today, thanks to cell phones, no one can hardly remember a phone number. Even their own a lotta times.
Because when it's all right there in an electronic list, most see no need to commit those #'s to memory anymore. The average can now put those brain cells to work remembering some bs about pop culture instead.
Or how GPS makes it where most people no longer need to create a mental map in their head in order to know how to get around. Just let the GPS do that mental work for us.
Sure, occasionally it'll direct someone to drive into a lake, but the vast majority of time it does just fine for the average.
If AI gets to the point that most see it's answers and decisions as being better than their own, that logic and reasoning part of most peoples brains might shut off for everything greater than the most trivial of tasks.
Think Idiocracy, but with smart computers directing everything anyone does.
I've read often where people ponder what kind of World we're headed for. Usualy along the lines of 1984, or perhaps some version of a Brave New World.
However, after some thinking about where this stuff might be headed, I think it'll be more like 2112, with the Priests being the gov and tech companies. Ie: fascism.
We’ve taken care of everything
The words you read
The songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure
To your eye
One for all and all for one
Work together
Common sons
Never need to wonder
How or why
Except there is no Solar Federation coming to save us.
