I'm reminded of McLuhan's warning: "we shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us" - they tell us how to think, what's important, what gets optimized, and what gets forgotten. We are in the early stages of AI use in education (2 years now), but many schools have already signed on with the big AI vendors. What could possibly go wrong?
We are good at making abrupt changes for short-term gains, consequences be damned. But the cracks in the foundation are already starting to show as I talk with teachers.
Andy Crouch writes about the "Innovation Bargain", and he says we spend so much time looking at what's shiny and new that we don’t see what's lost or what new obligations there are.
Thanks very much for this, Rick. We’re on the same page — so much so that, coincidentally, McLuhan’s tetrad makes a feature appearance in next week’s post!
Really enjoyed this analogy. "The risk is not that AI will do nothing good; the risk is that institutional endorsement before harms are understood will entrench those harms." Definitely reminds me of Haidt's point in The Anxious Generation—how giving young people nearly free reign of the early Internet solidified intense social and emotional damages before those damages were even comprehended. Thank you for sharing!
I'm reminded of McLuhan's warning: "we shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us" - they tell us how to think, what's important, what gets optimized, and what gets forgotten. We are in the early stages of AI use in education (2 years now), but many schools have already signed on with the big AI vendors. What could possibly go wrong?
We are good at making abrupt changes for short-term gains, consequences be damned. But the cracks in the foundation are already starting to show as I talk with teachers.
Andy Crouch writes about the "Innovation Bargain", and he says we spend so much time looking at what's shiny and new that we don’t see what's lost or what new obligations there are.
Nicely written, Andrew!
Thanks very much for this, Rick. We’re on the same page — so much so that, coincidentally, McLuhan’s tetrad makes a feature appearance in next week’s post!
Outstanding. Thank you.
Really enjoyed this analogy. "The risk is not that AI will do nothing good; the risk is that institutional endorsement before harms are understood will entrench those harms." Definitely reminds me of Haidt's point in The Anxious Generation—how giving young people nearly free reign of the early Internet solidified intense social and emotional damages before those damages were even comprehended. Thank you for sharing!
What a wonderful compliment! Thanks, Diya.
If one squints one might see the children of ai supervision as the vegetative products of the plantation, down the road.