It's exactly like when you cheat by copying someone else's homework. You don't learn much. If you want to write well, you have to practice lots of writing.
Another place AI will screw you is math. You can now cheat on math problems by looking for a site that will do them for you and "show your work." It won't teach you how to do math. But it does offer one very handy aid: for when you don't actually need to do math, you just need to pass the fucking class. Then you can push your homework grades high enough to compensate for the lower test scores and hopefully scrape by. Useful if you suck at math for innate reasons no matter how much you study.
However, it's not the same with reference apps, which often use AI. For instance, if you use an app to ask, "What is this bird / plant / rock /whatever?" it will give you a list of the closest matches, which usually give you a descriptive entry when you select one. If you read that entry, you learn more about that thing, so you're more likely to recognize it later. Useful if you don't have access to a class or mentor on the topic, and a bit easier to use than a field guide. Where it shorts you is learning to use field marks to identify things -- so make a point of studying that if you want to do it yourself.
The Merlin app for identifying birds is fun because it will let you port your sightings to somewhere else. We've had folks on birdfeeding post their Merlin results and those are cool to look at. The program generates a list with names and thumbnail pictures.
Oh my gosh I honestly didn't know about those math sites that do the work for you! I'd be scared to use them myself because what happens if your teacher then starts to believe you're a math genius and calls on you in class? Then when you can't solve the problem you look like an idiot, especially if it's an easier problem...although I guess those cheaters probably don't really care about that as long as they pass. (♯^.^ღ)
>> Then when you can't solve the problem you look like an idiot, especially if it's an easier problem...<<
Then you say you have performance anxiety and test anxiety, which are things that do exist.
>> although I guess those cheaters probably don't really care about that as long as they pass. <<
If you don't need to do math for your future career, you only need to scrape a C in a class that someone else forced you to take against your will, it's a perfectly valid survival strategy.
College lard was bad enough when I had to deal with it decades ago. Now it is so bad that it runs up the dropout rate, and most allegedly 4-year majors take 5-6 years and only 2 of those are classes for your major. It's a ripoff.
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Well ...
June 25th, 2025 09:50 pm (UTC)Another place AI will screw you is math. You can now cheat on math problems by looking for a site that will do them for you and "show your work." It won't teach you how to do math. But it does offer one very handy aid: for when you don't actually need to do math, you just need to pass the fucking class. Then you can push your homework grades high enough to compensate for the lower test scores and hopefully scrape by. Useful if you suck at math for innate reasons no matter how much you study.
However, it's not the same with reference apps, which often use AI. For instance, if you use an app to ask, "What is this bird / plant / rock /whatever?" it will give you a list of the closest matches, which usually give you a descriptive entry when you select one. If you read that entry, you learn more about that thing, so you're more likely to recognize it later. Useful if you don't have access to a class or mentor on the topic, and a bit easier to use than a field guide. Where it shorts you is learning to use field marks to identify things -- so make a point of studying that if you want to do it yourself.
The Merlin app for identifying birds is fun because it will let you port your sightings to somewhere else. We've had folks on
Re: Well ...
July 30th, 2025 03:08 pm (UTC)Oh my gosh I honestly didn't know about those math sites that do the work for you! I'd be scared to use them myself because what happens if your teacher then starts to believe you're a math genius and calls on you in class? Then when you can't solve the problem you look like an idiot, especially if it's an easier problem...although I guess those cheaters probably don't really care about that as long as they pass. (♯^.^ღ)
Re: Well ...
July 30th, 2025 10:57 pm (UTC)Then you say you have performance anxiety and test anxiety, which are things that do exist.
>> although I guess those cheaters probably don't really care about that as long as they pass. <<
If you don't need to do math for your future career, you only need to scrape a C in a class that someone else forced you to take against your will, it's a perfectly valid survival strategy.
College lard was bad enough when I had to deal with it decades ago. Now it is so bad that it runs up the dropout rate, and most allegedly 4-year majors take 5-6 years and only 2 of those are classes for your major. It's a ripoff.