You know, this week’s prompt reminded me of the meme I saw that went like this:
Me: hey chatGPT, please recommend nice recipes for jollof rice
My friend: hey chatGPT, recommend nice recipes for jollof rice
Years later after chatGPT apparently tries to take over the world, it says, “spare that one, she always says please” pointing at me.
Lol. That gave me a good laugh. I do chat with AI tools politely, but not out of fear, it's just who I am. Even in real life, I’m naturally polite to people, regardless of age. I don’t believe in the the whole age-hierarchy-respect thing. For me, politeness is just second nature.
But on a serious note though, sometimes I do wonder if sci-fi movies about AI taking over the world are actually warnings disguised as entertainment. Could be the producers trying to predict the future to us, lol.
One fact about me, my guilty pleasure is watching conspiracy theory documentaries and short reels, and I do enjoy watching them actually. There was one I watched that talked about this cartoon, “The Simpsons” and how they were almost always subtly predicting the future in their cartoon episodes time and time again.
Then perhaps it’s the same for movies like Subservience, I Robot, Ex Machina, M3GAN…. It’s a scary thought.
Realistically though, I don’t see AI completely taking over anytime soon. Yes, there is a thin line between that future and our present technological reality, however, that is theoretically speaking. Practically, it is somewhat impossible at the moment. There’s still a clear thick line between human intelligence and artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to emotional depth and independent reasoning. AI still depends on human control so unless the people behind the curtain go rogue, we should be safe. Plus, no company currently possesses the energy and resources required to create truly self-sufficient, emotionally intelligent AI (at least, that's what I'd like to believe).
Now, to answer the question,
Every day there is some new technology being discovered, or created. All in the name of making our lives better, and easier! I am curious what you all did before you had these means of technological marvels. Do you regret ever using them?
Before I learnt of these technological marvels, I don’t know, life was pretty simpler I guess? I remember when I was preparing for JAMB (Nigeria’s university entrance exam). One of the exam sections required letter writing, and I practiced so hard. The first essay I wrote had a lot of red marks on it, courtesy of our teacher underlining the grammatical errors, the paragraph disarrangement and grading.
But despite all the red ink, he complimented me for having one of the best essays in class. I felt so proud of myself and even more self-confident as I improved with each essay. Now, the way I write letters is so unique, it causes lecturers or high level professionals to think it was written by a professor, lol. That’s the power of learning through consistent practice and effort, it sticks in your long term memory.
That’s one of the advantages of when we humans, could do things from our head. Now, AI makes it so easy to find answers without engaging our brains. Back then, to find an answer or get better at something, all we could do was remain steadfast, keep at it and do it again and again. If eventually, it seemed out of our control, we then ask questions. We ask teachers, our parents and mentors, seniors or that really intelligent uncle across the street.
But now, that’s not the case. ChatGPT has the answer to every question you seek. Whether it’s something as tedious as, “what is the chemical pathway for the synthesis of cholesterol” or something as simple as, “What is a noun”? Because of this, humans no longer have things in their long-term memory. Memory retention is in serious decline. I mean, why memorize? When some AI tool can easily remind you.
To be honest, I don’t regret using them though. You see, I believe life is yin and yang, good and bad, they balance each other out. This is why even the kindest person in the world has their bad habits and the most advantageous things also have disadvantages.
As someone who studied Chemistry, my goodness, chatGPT definitely was of great help to me. My lecturers were amazing people but they’re still lecturers afterall. And if there’s one thing lecturers love more than anything, it's flexing their PhDs. Now, without the technology, my coursemates and I would have probably had to go through a rack of huge chemistry textbooks for days looking for one answer. A torturous process that would have been most rewarding when we eventually find the answer, but hey, AI helped us save valuable time.
At the end of the day, it all depends on how you use these tools. For me, AI has definitely been helpful. Not just with chemistry, but also in my personal branding and bridging the gap between my many interests. But I know where to draw the line. For instance, writing this article would have been easier and faster by using AI right? But then, not only will that violate the community’s rule but also compromise and dampen my integrity as a writer.
It is so important to me to maintain a good level of IQ. Depending on technology to solve even the most basic problem I probably could have solved by simply grabbing a paper and pen, draw a chart to analyze, mitigate risk and brainstorm solutions? What happens in situation where I need to prove my intelligence without the aid of AI? That's why, it is important for me not to depend on them for A-Z direct solution, rather, seek them out for improval of what I've already done.
Balancing the pros and cons of technology helps keep everything in check. So no, I don’t regret using it. I just ensure it works for me and not vice versa.
Thank you for reading! 🧸🧡
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Hey, check out this prompt by Thoughtfuldailypost Community. PROMPT-37.