Why We Must Fight the Demise of the Essay
“I was reminded of theologian Jonathan Tran’s reflections on why college matters: it is a sacred time, set apart for learning, a time suspended from ‘real life’ in a meaningful way. Or, at least, it should be. When done well, it forms hearts, minds, and souls for a lifetime of service and meaningful work. This is what AI now threatens.” - Providence
One interesting fact is that sales of the old "blue books" are up a LOT at many universities where professors and other instructors are realizing that more and more students are relying on AI applications like "ChatGPT" to do their work. Were I a college instructor at any level, I'd be doing the same.
And really, the article is quite right that a demise of essay writing--or at least the demise of the same without AI assisting--has some really bad implications for our future. Absent something of a rebellion against AI, or at least a constraint of what we're going to use it for, we're facing upcoming generations of people incapable of forming complex thoughts.
Or maybe we're about there already. To draw a picture, my daughter ended a relationship recently with a seemingly good guy--college graduate, former college baseball player, Christian--in part because he used AI to generate a response to her texts. We might infer that even for some very qualified young people, they are finding it hard to put a couple of sentences onto paper, or even a cell phone.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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