Is GenAI Dangerous? Blast from the Past

Much anxiety is expressed about GenAI's adverse impact on the critical thinking skills of students who may over rely on generative technologies and, as a result, forget how to use their brains.

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This piece from MIT’s Technology Review published in March 1931 titled ‘Machine-Made Minds: The Psychological Effects of Modern Technology’ serves as a great reminder about the skepticism towards GenAI.

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Both GenAI proponents and critics fall into the trap of exaggerated optimism and pessimism. It’s just another technology; we shall get used to it soon.

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The following quote in the article is very interesting:

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“If the machine really controls our thoughts, no wonder it controls all else.

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Consider the mental equipment of the average modern man. Most of the raw material of his thought enters his mind by way of a machine of some kind—often through the agency of several machines. Newspapers, magazines, moving and talking pictures are the clearest examples.”