That’s fine but I spent 15 minutes with ChatGPT yesterday, reading long and inventive explanations on how having sex with underage kids is not pedophilia if it’s done by Harvey Milk. Let’s definitely hand over these economically valuable tasks to an algorithm that considers pedophilia to be a great thing.
I have been in search of a piano teacher for my child. Went to see someone yesterday. A very lovely lady, teaching for a music school. At the end of the lesson that went well, she gave me this great pitch for the online program the music school has for children to supplement their instruction – computer games to teach the notes, hours of video instruction, children earn prizes after completing each lesson. I didn’t know that gamification of piano playing was a thing. It creeped me out. I mentioned in passing that I am trying to keep my child away from a computer, and was told that parents love this because at least their children do something useful on a computer. It didn’t quite have the AI aspect in it (yet), but I am sure the next iteration will. Whatever happened to actually playing the piano to learn? Although I liked her and the location was very convenient for us, I keep looking. I am hoping this is not some new trend in the piano instruction and can find someone who teaches the old fashioned way.
I agree that it’s very creepy. Parents anaesthesise themselves with this cope that “at least he’s doing something useful on the screen. No, he’s not. He’s playing video games. Unless you plan to stand over him the entire time and stare directly on the screen, he’s playing video games or worse.
I did manage to find a teacher today who is more traditional. I think it is important for everyone to have activities away from screens. It doesn’t matter what it is – walking, playing, painting, writing, reading… so what if AI can do some of these things better. People were created to do and create things themselves, not just to consume AI products. My child is happy to just sit in front of a piano and explore sounds. I think bringing computer based games into it will kill whatever it is that draws them to the instrument.
ChatGPT can do a lot of things, including writing mediocre books and articles. But what it cannot do is to give you a sense of accomplishment that comes from writing these things, which is as important (or perhaps more) than the quality or speed of the finished product.
I happened to watch the original Star Trek season 2 episode 24 last night and coincidentally the subject was a new computer model to run the whole ship. It was disastrous and prescient. I recommend the episode
Amanda
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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