To be honest, I think it depends on the environment. In the past, if you didn't come out of a good university, your access to knowledge was limited. But these days, in terms of access to knowledge, I think things have clearly improved, whether or not AI is illegally sharing knowledge.

Looking back now, was it really happier before AI existed? I'm not sure. In the past, when I wanted to find out whether I was right or wrong about some piece of knowledge or information, I'd contact several people and, far from getting an answer, I'd often be told not to bother them. But AI, in that respect, is the best teacher I can think of.

I think the times are continuously getting better. It's just that there's a problem of power concentration among the people who handle it. Still, if AI is a tool of that nature, then I suppose that can happen.

But considering what access to knowledge was like before AI came along, I think having AI is better.

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rhines 12 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I'm not sure of this. I remember back in the day finding people's blogs, reading old forum threads, participating in said forums - there was a ton of info out there and easily found. Now those kinds of sites are rare, and those that still exist aren't surfaced by search engines like they used to be.

AI has the benefit of having trained on all that material, it's a snapshot in a sense. But as people increasingly stop creating content like that and we turn to AI instead of asking for help on forums we stop growing the knowledgebase that AI draws from.

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TonyStr an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Knowledge was already extremely accessible in the age of the Internet, but it required time to read and learn. AI is making that same knowledge applicable without the prerequisite of learning.

Most people are not interesting in learning for learning's sake, they are motivated to learn something they can apply (see: kids complaining about how learning Math in school doesn't transfer to useful skills). Why learn about architecture and technical debt, if you can tell the machine to make it faster?

	▲	jdw64 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I don't think you're wrong, but fundamentally we're in an age of information overload, and this may be the new normal. In other words, the environment where you had to know things deeply and become an expert, like in the past, may be different from an environment where you know many things broadly and combine them. I basically don't think you're wrong. However, books and reading have their information fixed at the point of publication, whereas depending on where you live or your community, the information you get buried in differs. Because I was in an Asian country, it was actually very hard for me to synchronize my programming skills with the latest technology in the US. The frameworks commonly used in my country are stuck at roughly 15 years ago. The time lag between US technology and my mainstream technology is about 5 years. In my area, it's about 15 years. Anyway, thinking about your opinion, I think there are both valid points and dark points. I think learning for its own sake is important. I agree that people should have an attitude of learning for its own sake, but I don't think it's mandatory. I think it should vary depending on the environment. Still... I do think having that attitude is a good thing. I like your idealism, senior. However, that holds for people who are middle class or above and can survive. Because rich kids can picture the future and are given the right to love learning. But if you're poor, that's very hard. And when you grow up in such a poor family, there's an emphasis on it having to lead to practical skills. And even if someone loves learning for its own sake, I think quite a lot of people love the honor that comes from learning. But that too can be called loving learning itself. It's purely a matter of individual values. I don't think you're wrong, senior, but I also wonder whether the old ways are right in today's era of excessive information. It's just that because our lives and the environments surrounding us are different, we came to different conclusions. I upvoted because I agree with your thoughts. But there are points where I differ. Have a good day.

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graemep an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

The internet pre-AI did far more to make knowledge accessible than AI has done. Its useful, but its not the critical thing.