I have indeed forgotten how to do long-division, or how to multiply 3-digits numbers in my head. I also forget things without writing them down in a calendar.
How are these bad things ? We have tools for a reason
You are not a child whose basic brain biology is being formed and improved by learning how to do these. Neuroplasticity is gone for you and it's all downhill from there. Children _need_ to learn because it builds the basis of every single thing they're going to improve on later. They're already being given a world in a catastrophic state, if the only answer they have to things is "i input it in the funny chatgpt box", you might as well condemn them to die.
Jensen saying huehuehue i don't know how to do math in my head in indicative that 1/ He never has normal, day to day interactions where simple calculation needs to be made on the spot 2/ He also doesn't give a shit about making the world worse.
No, neuroscience agrees that there is a slowdown, as well as specific points at which different parts of the brain stop improving at the rate it used to. 35+ years old is widely agreed upon to be a point at which it is extremely difficult to form new neural connections at the rate it used to when you were 16.
No, you are not on track to become a vegetable the day you turn 25. Yes, it requires more and more investment, and literally noone in neuroscience disagrees with that.
The context of Jensen Huang's comments and Tante's commentary is in teaching children the multiplication table, long division, and square roots. As adults we might use a calculator to multiply or divide large numbers to high precision but we understand what we're doing because of practicing easier arithmetic by hand.
> How are these bad things ? We have tools for a reason
The bad thing is not bothering to learn basic arithmetic. If kids don't learn that they won't understand what the tools are doing.
I guess you'll be avoiding any thoughts that require you to do basic mental arithmetic from here on out. It actually won't be as blissful as you think. Trust me, no one envies your inner world.
I’m kind of sad I can’t do that sort of multiplication in my head anymore. But I think you are missing the point of the article. It’s not that it’s bad people can’t do mental math, it’s about why it is that all these supposed geniuses and titans of industry keep publicly admitting (bragging?) that they lack basic skills, such as knowing their own zip code.
Sure, remembering basic facts about your life isn't a "skill", per se. But it's pretty crazy to think that Jensen literally doesn't know his own address.
But again, I think you're missing the point of the article. The point of him bragging that he can't remember basic stuff about his own life is both in-group signaling and a test to the interviewer. If the interviewer pushes back and asks "You really don't know your zip code? Are you insane?", the interviewer is never going to get any more time with any of these rich and powerful people. It's an easy way to filter out any critical coverage and a way for the media to show fealty.
The title of the podcast episode is "Jensen Huang vs the AI Doomers", not "Shovel seller is so rich he cannot conceive of what it's like to be a normal person".
I wouldn't. I can think of at least 10 regulations (labor and environmental chef amongst them) that would render such a maker uncompetitive from the start. Chinese makers would eat its lunch.
Doesn't matter, we need to opt out of the rat race that consists of making the planet worse for the next generations in exchange of quick bucks for the oligarchs.
The same applies to labour conditions and quality standards. And don't bring up arguments like "it can't work" or "that hurt competitiveness": all workers around the world want the exact same thing, a livable planet for their children. The only ones to object are the global elite who one ends up defending when they make the current status quo sound inevitable.
> all workers around the world want the exact same thing, a livable planet for their children
Actually, they don't. First of all they want livable conditions for themselves. Ecologism is a hobby for people with full bellies.
I remember during communism which failed to even feed and clothe us - but The Party kept telling us that we were actually winning and we were so morally superior to those "corrupt capitalists". This is what happens when ideological justifications replace rational thought.
> Ecologism is a hobby for people with full bellies.
Almost the entire planet where this debate is raging, is the part of the planet where people have full bellies. On average, too full, even.
Ecologism is also a hobby for people that don't want their kids to starve, as people living in Mesopotamia around the time of Akkad, or people around the Sea of Aral starting in the 1980s have discovered.
> Almost the entire planet where this debate is raging, is the part of the planet where people have full bellies.
Exactly. And most of the pollution happens in the other part.
We’re crippling our economies and render our companies uncompetitive to merely export environmental effects around, while pushing our voter base to the extremes.
All for naught too, because when the orc armies come (attracted by our weakness to even defend ourselves) they will do the the environment what they did in Ukraine…
> And most of the pollution happens in the other part.
Where does it happen exactly?
> All for naught too, because when the orc armies come (attracted by our weakness to even defend ourselves) they will do the the environment what they did in Ukraine…
Who are the orcs here? Russia? Europe is rearming like it's the 1980s.
I have indeed forgotten how to do long-division, or how to multiply 3-digits numbers in my head. I also forget things without writing them down in a calendar.
How are these bad things ? We have tools for a reason
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