Dumb and Dumber or Smarter and Smarter?
Within a blink of an eye we will be inundated with Artificial Intelligence
programmed devices, machines, finance managers, life coaches, health monitors,
chatbot ‘friends’, and other conveniences that we can’t even imagine at this moment in
time.
Life, we are told, will become far easier. Compatible life partners instantly
identified and located. Learning accomplished at the click of an icon, swipe on one’s
phone, or voice command. Life decisions effectively concluded in a timely manner.
Personal crises managed or averted. We will enjoy a fairytale existence and live happily
ever after.
The above description represents the rosy prediction of our future. Below is a
less comforting perspective.
As our appliances become ever ‘smarter’ humans will become successively dumb
and dumber with each generation as we become increasingly dependent on our ‘smart’
devices. Because so many college students are employing AI tools to do their work and
thinking for them, Allysia Finley wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently, “Why hire a
brainless bachelor’s degree holder for a rote job that a bot can do at lower cost and with
no complaints?”
The outcome of this dependency is a responsibility-free existence where we are
lured to taking the easy way out, lured to deferring decisions & tasks to our electronic
masters, and lured to retreat into our preferred safe space isolated from any form of
discomfort.
Fear and predictions of doom and gloom have been part of the human condition
from the beginning. So has the willingness of humans to refuse to accept the conditions
of life and strive to create a better, brighter, safer, and smarter future. It is the latter
view that has fueled the mission of The Learning Community International for over 40
years.
Our mission to empower learners to achieve their educational goals through a
customized and collaborative process of reflection, self-evaluation, and self-correction
stands in stark contrast to the plethora of online educational programs that claim to
offer individualized or customizes learning. A close look shows them all to be little more
than the faint echo of traditional schooling.
For 40 years TLCI has focused on growing a learner’s intellectual capacity by
treating each learner as a unique individual. Only through the development of a truly
individualized and customized educational program can the learner’s needs, interests,
and goals be successfully addressed. To achieve success, every learner is assigned a
personal TLCI advisor who guides and directs the individual throughout the year.
TLCI learners use electronic tools such as computers and phones but are
supervised to ensure the proper use of these devices. ‘Smart’ technology is a useful tool,
but a disempowering master and excessive and thoughtless use of electronic tools have
been shown to promote declining human intelligence.
To counter such a negative outcome, TLCI includes critical thinking courses,
activities, and practices. Examples include Using AI to Empower Learners and Skip
Downing’s On Course strategies for creating success in college and life. These and other
thinking and practical skill activities are integrated into every Individual Learning Plan.
Our learners are encouraged and guided to take advantage of experiential
learning opportunities that provide real-world skills and knowledge. They interact
regularly with their advisor throughout the year who challenges and prompts the learner
to reach a deeper and more rewarding understanding of their studies.
Consistent with TLCI’s declaration that the world is the classroom, learners have participated in
opportunities ranging from building model dams under the supervision of a major
construction company and publishing novels to participating in an international AI
conference and learning about fashion as an apprentice in New York.
The battle to prevent a dumb and dumber future has barely begun, but TLCI has
been on the cutting edge of ensuring that our learners graduate smarter and smarter
since 1984.
Join the Supercharging Human Authentic Intelligence alliance! Check out what
TLCI has to offer your family today.
Manfred Smith
