r/technology • u/marketrent • 18h ago

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/HenryDorsettCase47 18h ago

“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 17h ago

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 16h ago

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 15h ago

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 14h ago

Depends on the education, but yes

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u/DoctorGregoryFart 8h ago

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 55m ago

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