https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1446354

The invention of writing will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom.

Socrates

Like, people used rely Rolodex's and calendars to remember phone numbers and birthdays, respectively. In other words, we used to write things down. When I left Facebook, I did literally go through their calendar and write down all my friends birthdays.

Navigation is a skill you have to learn. When I was an EMT, my FTO drilled the basics in to me. I can find my way to a city Ive never been, but I still use a GPS to find a specific place off the major cross streets. People used to give more advice with the destination, now they just say, "oh, come to this XXXX address place" because they assume youll be using a GPS, and the skill to describe "its off of this road" is both becoming lost, and a generational disconnect.

“AI” as in the common LLMs that most people think of doesn’t remember anything new for us and doesn’t invent anything new.

The best it can offer is a mathematical chance to make an inference that we might not have already, based on whatever it was trained on. It’s a dice roll on insight, and the house always wins.

I memorize important numbers

I don't use GPS after the first time going to a place and remember my routes

Facebook? what... ? people actually use that?

I won't use AI..my information stays with me, in my mind when I need it. I can't rely on others, I won't rely on computers to be there when I need it and that most certainly applies to ai

With phone books, we don't memorize phone numbers any more, we rely on drawn maps to tell us where to go and calendars reminds us of birthdays. What else will we stop remembering once AI paper remembers everything for us?

The faces of our fathers.

So, I'm going to start this on two things I've seen degrade in people who grew up with computers as a primary source of information versus a secondary source.

First, I've seen the ability to look through a document degrade over time as younger people have gotten used to Ctrl+F. The ability to manually look up and scan through a document has degraded. Also, I've seen people will then hyperfocus on the paragraph at the detriment of skimming the page.

Second, the ability to read not perfectly legible text has degraded as well. If the document is a poor scan or bad print handwriting, younger people have to practice the skill of reading it which was usually assumed to be had.

So, where do I think this will go in the future with AI?

First, I'm seeing AI used a lot to summarize and those results are being trusted. I see a future where younger people won't have that ability to process and summarize data because they will be out of practice.

Second, I see the ability to write is going to degrade since people will be out of practice as people rely on AI to write for themselves. That lack of practice is going to have major impacts to critical thinking skills.

Who's we?

I still remember the fucking IP address of the main local (member of a three way cluster) data server for a bank that folded over 15 years ago.

2102231063 (used to be area code 512) was the back/kitchen phone of the firehouse my dad worked at. He retired in '93 and died in 2011.

And I almost never need directions to a place I've been once.

I don't forget faces but fuck do I forget names even when I repeat them or use other memory techniques.

I might be neurologically a little divergent, but I don't know, and make no assumptions.

I never memorized those. We had a of the most common phone numbers on the wall next to the phone. Birthdays I didn't need to remember either because the date was in the invitation card.

Navigation is something I'm way worse than my dad for example, I'll give you that. I'll rely on GPS even when I know how to get to my destination because I always tend to drive the same routes and sometimes there is a much shorter one that I didn't even think of.

I know about 4 phone numbers by memory:

1. My childhood home phone
2. My childhood best friend’s home phone
3. My cell phone
4. My ex-wife’s cell phone

Two of those numbers no longer work, so if I ever go to jail there is only one person I can call. 😬

Who still uses Facebook?

Good idea to recognize, but bad examples.

The issue isn't even using devices to replace cognitive functions. That's anprim shit, I'm not gonna do 5 digit numbers on my head, imma use a calculator, especially if it's something important or there are stakes to getting it wrong.

The issue more than anything is agency.

LLMc can't remember anything. It's all an illusion based on systems that have existed for decades.

Stored phone numbers and GPS sre reliable though. I never remembered most numbers or birthdays anyway due to ADHD, so those being easily accessible was a benefit.

GPS directions also include construction and more accurate time estimates. I never learned alternate routes because remembering the ones I knew was enough effort and I still learn those. Going to new cities is way easier now!

Spell check is one of those.
Writing our own letters. That was actually a skill

I memorized my friend's phone number. It's because she's a lawyer, and that seems like a good number to have memorized.

That’s entirely up to you. Do you not have phone numbers for your main people memorized? I also have my library card memorized. This level of memory work isn’t rocket scientist level functioning, it’s a choice.

Do you really want to be in a hospital, after a car accident, with no phone (destroyed/lost in crash), and have no idea how to call your parent, spouse, or child? This occurs more often than you’d think.

Okay, but its also much rarer to get lost and stranded with no way to get help anymore. You really have to go out of your way to be completely isolated.