All posts tagged: dumber

Is AI making us dumber? Depends how it’s used

Is AI making us dumber? Depends how it’s used

Published by skeptic

AI today can write our class essays, plan our meals and draft our emails. But not everyone agrees on whether this type of help is good or bad. Recent headlines have warned that artificial intelligence will not just make us lazy and stupid; they’ve suggested AI could lead to the downfall of civilization. But the truth may lie somewhere in the middle of those best- and worst-case scenarios, says Trent Cash. He’s a behavioral scientist at University of Waterloo in Canada. The type of AI tool and how it’s used make all the difference in whether someone hangs onto or picks up skills, new data show. AI will most likely weaken our skills when it simply does the work for us. “If we offload a specific skill to AI,” Cash says, “we’re probably not going to retain that skill particularly well.” Staying engaged while using AI — by learning from its feedback or examples — may, however, enhance our skills. Fears of AI whittling away human intelligence like some sort of digital pocketknife are likely overblown, Cash says. …

I Made a Smart TV Dumber to Escape Being Tracked. Here’s How

I Made a Smart TV Dumber to Escape Being Tracked. Here’s How

Published by skeptic

Your smart TV is watching you. Well, not “watching” exactly, but it is keeping track of what you watch and selling that data to other companies. They also do that in reverse, showing you ads based on what you’ve viewed elsewhere. This is partly why you might search for something on Amazon, then suddenly see ads for it on your TV, phone and on other websites.  While this tracking is an unfortunate part of the modern internet, there are ways you can minimize it when it comes to your TV. There are no good dumb consumer TVs anymore; all the best TVs are “smart” TVs, but you can make any smart TV dumber.  Before I dive in, it’s important to understand that no manufacturer wants you to do this. Many manufacturers make a significant amount of money selling ad placement and your data, sometimes more than the profit on the TV itself. They don’t want you to disconnect their products for that reason, as well as the simple fact that most people want a connected …

People Who Overuse AI And ChatGPT Are Getting Dumber Than Everyone Else In 10 Specific Ways

People Who Overuse AI And ChatGPT Are Getting Dumber Than Everyone Else In 10 Specific Ways

Published by Jenni Sidey

Despite being relatively inaccurate and inconsistent, so many people are still reliant on AI and tools like ChatGPT to make their lives more efficient and easier. It’s not just a handful either, because over 34% of people flock to ChatGPT, creating all kinds of climate, social, and emotional consequences they’d prefer to write off. However, in the long run, people who overuse AI and ChatGPT are getting dumber than everyone else in very specific ways, whether it’s their critical thinking skills or growing more entitled. They’re not doing themselves any favors, even though it feels convenient in the moment to leverage AI. People who overuse AI and ChatGPT are getting dumber than everyone else in 10 specific ways 1. They’re missing out on opportunities to learn Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock While the average person thinks critically about issues to solve problems, someone who only uses ChatGPT or AI is skipping the kind of internal thought needed to learn and grow. Especially because of how ChatGPT pulls information from across the internet, its sources and explanations for …

Are humans degenerating genetically and getting dumber as a result?

Are humans degenerating genetically and getting dumber as a result?

Published by skeptic

Are harmful genetic mutations piling up and making us less smart? H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images You are a mutant. You were born with around 100 mutations that your parents don’t have. You’ll pass about half of these on to your children, if you have any, who will have 100 new mutations of their own. And their children too, and so on. So, are we humans accumulating harmful mutations generation after generation, resulting in a decline in our physical and mental fitness? Some think so. “A substantial reduction in human fitness can be expected over the next few centuries in industrialized societies,” geneticist Michael Lynch wrote in 2010. Around this time, several studies reported declining IQ in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. It seemed like this might be direct evidence of us becoming more stupid. The idea of human degeneration was, of course, the basis for wildly unethical eugenic policies in the 20th century. There’s some very nasty history here. But while the early eugenicists were largely making stuff …

Popular lyrics keep getting darker and dumber, but there was a surprising shift during the first Trump presidency

Popular lyrics keep getting darker and dumber, but there was a surprising shift during the first Trump presidency

Published by José Betancourt

A new analysis of popular music from the last half-century reveals that while the lyrics of chart-topping American songs have generally become angrier and simpler over time, this trend shifts unexpectedly during major societal crises. The findings suggest that during events like the COVID-19 pandemic, listeners may seek out songs that offer an emotional escape rather than those that mirror their anxieties. This research was published in Scientific Reports. Art has historically been viewed as a reflection of the society that creates it. Philosophers and scientists alike argue that cultural artifacts can reveal collective psychological states that are difficult to measure through individual surveys alone. Music is particularly suited for this type of historical analysis because it is widely consumed and contains explicit emotional messages within its lyrics. The consumption of music provides a unique window into the emotional needs of the population at a specific moment in time. Markus Foramitti and Maurício Martins led the research team at the University of Vienna. They collaborated with Urs Markus Nater and Claus Lamm. The team sought …