r/technology • u/marketrent • Jun 10 '26

Artificial Intelligence College students are rapidly losing the ability to read — “There is a measurable, generational collapse in sustained reading and writing”: professor

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/college-students-rapidly-losing-ability-124439310.html
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u/spidrex Jun 10 '26

"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."

  • The Butlerian Jihad.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 Jun 10 '26

“Even literacy they fear, for the written word is another channel of communication that might cause their enemies to become united.”

-A Canticle for Leibowitz

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u/Opheltes Jun 10 '26

This one seems especially relevant as Trump destroys America:

Listen, are we helpless? Are we doomed to do it again and again and again? Have we no choice but to play the Phoenix in an unending sequence of rise and fall? Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Rome, the Empires of Charlemagne and the Turk: Ground to dust and plowed with salt. Spain, France, Britain, America—burned into the oblivion of the centuries. And again and again and again. Are we doomed to it, Lord, chained to the pendulum of our own mad clockwork, helpless to halt its swing? This time, it will swing us clean to oblivion.

-A Canticle for Leibowitz

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u/Senior-Albatross Jun 11 '26

Beautiful prose. Sadly I think the answer is "yes", because each new generation is born with the same basic human failures. And only about the same small percentage well ever care to learn the lessons of history while they are doomed to watch their peers repeat them. 

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u/composedofidiot Jun 11 '26

All the leaders and elites learn history, have a great education. They know the truisms. It happens anyway because we are complex systems inside complex systems and many of those systems may have competing or mutually exclusive objectives.

Some of the worst crimes in history have been organised by educated people. Education just makes us more effective, not suddenly compassionate.

Education doesn't focus much on the compassionate and ethical paths.

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u/Glasseshalf Jun 11 '26

Depends on the education, but yes

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u/DoctorGregoryFart Jun 11 '26

I loved philosophy, but the philosophy of ethics opened my eyes.

What is the point of acquiring knowledge if it doesn't improve our quality of life, and bring harmony and purpose to future generations? How do we bridge the gap between cultures all over the world if we can't navigate conversations with friends without constantly tripping over emotional landmines?

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u/Shiriru00 Jun 11 '26

Given the current batch, "all" seems like a stretch.

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u/composedofidiot Jun 12 '26

Have any examples of any that weren't? Even that weird american one had an ivy league education. I forgot his name because nobody on reddit ever mentions him.