This reminds me of the recurring pattern with every new medium: Socrates worried writing would destroy memory, Gutenberg's critics feared for contemplation, novels were "brain softening," TV was the "idiot box."
That said, I'm not sure "they've always been wrong before" proves they're wrong now.
Where I'm skeptical of this study:
- 54 participants, only 18 in the critical 4th session
- 4 months is barely enough time to adapt to a fundamentally new tool
- "Reduced brain connectivity" is framed as bad - but couldn't efficient resource allocation also be a feature, not a bug?
- Essay writing is one specific task; extrapolating to "cognition in general" seems like a stretch
Where the study might have a point:
Previous tools outsourced partial processes - calculators do arithmetic, Google stores facts. LLMs can potentially take over the entire cognitive process from thinking to formulating. That's qualitatively different.
So am I ideologically inclined to dismiss this? Maybe. But I also think the honest answer is: we don't know yet. The historical pattern suggests cognitive abilities shift rather than disappear. Whether this shift is net positive or negative - ask me again in 20 years.
[Edit]: Formatting
Where I'm skeptical of this study:
- 54 participants, only 18 in the critical 4th session
- 4 months is barely enough time to adapt to a fundamentally new tool
- "Reduced brain connectivity" is framed as bad - but couldn't efficient resource allocation also be a feature, not a bug?
- Essay writing is one specific task; extrapolating to "cognition in general" seems like a stretch
Where the study might have a point:
Previous tools outsourced partial processes - calculators do arithmetic, Google stores facts. LLMs can potentially take over the entire cognitive process from thinking to formulating. That's qualitatively different.
So am I ideologically inclined to dismiss this? Maybe. But I also think the honest answer is: we don't know yet. The historical pattern suggests cognitive abilities shift rather than disappear. Whether this shift is net positive or negative - ask me again in 20 years.
[Edit]: Formatting