Is this the beginning of the end for critical thinking?
Way, waaaay back in the Paleolithic age, hundreds of thousands of years ago, humans really needed wisdom teeth. Somewhere along the way, controlled fire and food preparation methods evolved. Before that, food had to be consumed in it’s original form. Ever try to eat a raw potato?
Back then, we needed strong jaws and lots of teeth to work though food. Now, we can boil, roast, grill, ceviche our way to nice, soft, delicious foods.
We don’t even need wisdom teeth anymore. Do you still have yours? Lots of people get them pulled and don’t miss them. What about the your appendix? It evolved from an organ that did something into the last few pages of a slide deck.
Books, TV, the calculator, spell check, google maps, self driving cars — all of these things have changed the way we live our lives. All of those innovations and advancements were focused on doing stuff. What about thinking stuff, feeling stuff?
Artificial Intelligence is changing things every day. People can multiply themselves. Endless amounts of information are a few keystrokes away. Lots of jobs are being eliminated and new ones are emerging. I was once a web developer, a job that didn’t exist before the internet.
Amidst all these advancements, I’ve witnessed another trend. I’ve watched some people turn off their creative brains and critical thinking. I’ve watched curiosity kind of get outsourced.
Here’s an example. During workshops I lead, there are moments when a team needs to get close to a problem. To be in a position to understand and solve for it, they need to feel what it’s like for people who have it. That often involves speaking with or observing people, testing out ideas and building lots of empathy. AI is excellent at finding past examples, generating new ideas and summarizing findings. But I’ve seen a widening gap. People tend to care less about the problem. AI creates just enough distance between the problem solver and the problem haver that empathy suffers.
I’m not sure what to do about it or if it will even matter in the long run. Maybe that direct connection is less important than I thought it was. Or maybe we are about to supercharge creativity, critical thinking and empathy. Maybe it’ll be like wisdom teeth, slowly replaced with a better way, leaving the original way without a job to do.
What do you think?