Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest movie directors of all time. Although it has garnered mixed reactions, I love Nolan’s movie Tenet. I’ll admit, Tenet challenges everyone’s cognitive ability via visual chaos. But, let me hop onto my crumbling soapbox for a quick defense of this chaotic Christopher Nolan film. Tenet explores the implications of humanity's obsession with overpowering nature. Overpowering nature tends to improve our own well-being, but occasionally this is not the case (think atomic bomb). Paradoxically, those who are in a position to produce something that will overpower nature and are aware of the potentially negative consequences will move forward with creating that product.
This observation about humanity’s desire to overpower nature is not new. While Plato had some things to say about this, Nietzsche also wrote, “…everything that occurs in the organic world consists of overpowering, dominating…” [1]. I wouldn’t say that everything consists of overpowering, but I will concede humans have this tendency—for better or for worse. Some areas where overpowering nature has been positive includes indoor plumbing, air conditioning, water filtration systems, supermarkets, etc. Other areas are more questionable: weapons, social media, email, gasoline cars, etc. Recent developments in artificial intelligence have caused me to reflect on the automated processes that make information distribution and processes more efficient than humans, and how that impacts us mere mortals with regards to education.
As of 2009, a study showed that almost half of all students in all universities in the United States receive an “A” [2]. The conclusion of this study is that grades have been inflated. In other words, the A standard now was a B or C standard 20-30 years ago. The worry about this trend is that the bar of what is intellectually demanded of students has decreased. The study, however, neglects to determine whether the increase in “A” students is due to increasing intelligence or a lower standard for everyone, but other studies show that the latter is true. In addition to recent declines in vocabulary competence in the United States and Europe [3], a recent 2023 study found a reverse Flynn effect. The Flynn effect suggests that every generation’s level of intelligence, on average, will increase. Flynn showed it has been the case, so he postulated it will continue to be the case. But for the first time, the average intelligence of Americans and Europeans is declining [4]. They offer four possible explanations: (1) we have hit the intelligence ceiling and humanity as a whole cannot get any smarter, (2) grading standards have laxed, so adolescents aren’t being intellectually challenged, (3) media has intellectually injured our brains, or (4) technology has started to do the work our brains should do.
I should note, they measure intelligence by IQ levels and other factors. These measurements may be problematic, but it’s some measurement, and something has gone wrong. One of my favorite quotes from President Dallin Oaks, a Latter-day Saint leader, says “We have thousands of times more available information than Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Yet which of us would think ourselves a thousand times more educated or more serviceable to our fellowmen than they?” [5]. That being said, I’m not sure what to do with the first explanation, but the other three seem highly plausible. My proposal for remedying this intellectual crisis is (1) be strong and abandon AI in the classroom, (2) read and contemplate good books, and (3) talk to living, breathing human beings.
First, we should have the strength to shun AI from our educational journey. AI can do many wonderful things, but it should not act as a crutch to our intellectual development. In a class recently, I watched a student type into ChatGPT “Rebuttals to Hume’s argument against miracles” because a teacher asked for counterarguments to Hume. This student then raised their hand, and said “I think…”. But alas, they did not really think. Second, we should read and contemplate intellectually demanding books. Whizzing through Diary of a Wimpy Kid is nice, but does not demand much intellectually. There are so many excellent books that require us to stop and think for hours. These kinds of books are not books we just want to finish; we want to understand these books. Lastly, we need to talk to human beings. I think we learn so much through face-to-face interactions and dialogue. Oftentimes, we learn more effectively from and with each other.
We have created technology that overpowers a limit in our nature, but I’m afraid we may lose something valuable if we embrace this technology with nonchalance. The educational experience is not about getting a good grade, getting a job, or finding a sweetheart (though these all can be part of the experience). In the words of my dear friend Kaity M., “Your job is to learn. That’s it, and it’s lovely.”
