I'm taking courses at my local college (heavy duty diesel tech) and I'm finding how little use the teachers is for me. I got a digital copy of the textbook, and downloaded all the courses notes, pumped that into claude and made a discord bot that generates me quizes, tracks all my progress, and builds me a study guides off the results.
Superior to any teacher I've ever had, no matter how involved they are. I genuinely don't even see what my teacher is needed for beyond a requirement for me to be there. I can ask the bot "can you clarify X section" at 3am and it'll do in 1 second. In class, the teacher reads the slides, adds some extra points and takes questions. But my bot does all this, completely personalized to me.
Times move on, and I don't see teachers surviving. I'm hoping by next year the college will offer an "at home, self paced course" option. Theres no reason for me to be there.
I don't necessarily disagree with your point, but Western societies are already plagued by loneliness and isolation. That will only get worse if everyone just stays at home to learn. The point of schools -- I mean, less for adult education, but still -- has always been not just the concrete knowledge being taught, but also social skills, patience, humility, learning how to learn, and interaction with other humans.
If we want an education system optimised for producing capable agent jockeys, then by all means this seems an efficient way to do so. But sometimes I wonder if, for all the modern wonders capitalism and individualism have brought us, we haven't lost track of being humans - all sharing a temporary seat on a fragile spaceship, hurtling through darkness and uncertainty.
Just keeping our heads to the AI grindstone until we die doesn't really seem to be a good answer to what to do with our existence.
Ralo · · focus · HN ↗
Superior to any teacher I've ever had, no matter how involved they are. I genuinely don't even see what my teacher is needed for beyond a requirement for me to be there. I can ask the bot "can you clarify X section" at 3am and it'll do in 1 second. In class, the teacher reads the slides, adds some extra points and takes questions. But my bot does all this, completely personalized to me.
Times move on, and I don't see teachers surviving. I'm hoping by next year the college will offer an "at home, self paced course" option. Theres no reason for me to be there.
9dev · · focus · HN ↗
If we want an education system optimised for producing capable agent jockeys, then by all means this seems an efficient way to do so. But sometimes I wonder if, for all the modern wonders capitalism and individualism have brought us, we haven't lost track of being humans - all sharing a temporary seat on a fragile spaceship, hurtling through darkness and uncertainty.
Just keeping our heads to the AI grindstone until we die doesn't really seem to be a good answer to what to do with our existence.
djeastm · · focus · HN ↗
It's the great turn inward of humanity.