A.I., Language, and the Brain

 

Michelle Goldberg has an article in the N.Y. Times today about the hatred Gen Z has for A.I. (link), but I think, if Goldberg's article articulates the problem correctly, that Gen Z is confused.  It is not the technology they hate, it is the uncontrolled corporate greed and political "undersight" that is causing them problems.  It is unhinged capitalism.  

I fear A.I., of course, but it is not really a fear of A.I. but of the people who control it.  I know they will use it to put us all under their thumbs.  "They" do it with every technology.  

But "they" will do it in different ways.  

I think about the fiasco of the Trump/Xi summit.  You had the ruling class of two extreme ideologies face to face--individualism vs. collectivism.  

I prefer the Nordic way, of course.  

When Putin meets Xi this week, it will be a different matter.  The question is who will be the big spoon and who will be the little one.  If A.I. would let me, I'd show you.  

I don't care anymore, really.  Gen Z is the dumbest, most beautiful generation.  I shouldn't say "dumb."  They just can't read or write or do math very well according to those who measure such things.  But they can talk.  They sure can.  

Which brings me back to something I was saying a few days ago about language acquisition.  Children simply learn to talk.  It is one of the most evolved part of human existence.  It is crazy.  

But. . . they don't just learn how to write.  They have to be taught.  Now isn't that something?  Consider that for a moment.  Different parts of the brain, both on the left side.  In looking that up, I learned something new:

Interestingly, typing on a keyboard activates a slightly different network than writing by hand. Typing primarily relies on the motor regions controlling your fingers and prefrontal areas for spatial organization, whereas handwriting requires much more complex integration of visual, tactile, and language centers.

I wonder how much that matters in creative endeavors.  Perhaps I should try writing my blog posts by hand on one of those tablets that digitizes handwriting.  Then I could upload it here.  As I've already said, though, about writing by hand at my new desk, it seems much more difficult as I can't easily change a word or sentence.  Everything has to be thought out as in a chess match, many moves ahead.  

There have been some interesting studies on the connection between reading and writing.  In one, three groups of students were studied.  One group spent all semester writing, one reading, and one split 50/50 between the two.  At the end of the study, which group do you imagine showed the biggest improvement in writing?  

I'll let you sit with that a moment.  

Early reading is associated with higher I.Q.s.  What is not known is whether early readers have higher I.Q.s or whether early reading raises I.Q.s.  What is known, however, is that reading and I.Q. are connected.  

O.K.  Ready?  The group that spent the entire semester reading showed the greatest improvement in their writing skills.  

I have no idea how they measured that.  I just remember the results of the study.  

So, trying to tie all this together, A.I. is a language based system.  They are trained on massive amounts of texts to give human-like responses.  

Just sayin'.  The group of people who most hate A.I. are the ones with the tanking reading skills.  But like I said, they sure can talk.  

And by God, they are prettier, too.  

My mother doesn't seem to understand the connection between any of these things, though, for whenever I read or write, she has to interrupt me, as she has all morning.  If things are disconnected here, blame my mother.  

Now I must go attend to her needs.  She's been banging around like a madwoman since rising.  It is recycling day.  She is making me crazy.  

My I.Q. is tanking.  

I think I'll do some reading about music and the brain.  I'll keep you informed.