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April 2024
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ENDING WITH GRACE9/11/2023 In my book, Provocateurs, Chapter 8 talks about Envisioning the End you Intend. A foundation I have followed through the years is closing down its operations for good. I got the chance to talk to the current Executive Director about the rationale and the processes they're working leading to this path. Ending with grace is a purpose-driven response to closures, good byes, and changes. This means a lot for those who were part of the organizational journey from the very start, the founders- Board, Staff, members, grant recipients, and the people on the ground who were touched by the impact funding and breakthrough activities. This means a lot as well to those countless people in the community who were involved in some ways or another to the activities and programs and celebrations of solidarity with the people in the South. I am quite shocked at first as an outsider to hear this but I salute the courage to truthfully assess their situation. This is a very difficult decision to make and no Board, staff, or members would take this further unless it's considered to be (at that time) the best alternative amongst other options. As a consultant and advisor, I can't get into the minds of the decision-makers but I believe that there is a bundle of rationales that are taken into consideration in such an undertaking. But what happens next is not really much discussed but fortunately, my book looks at many such wondrous things that can take place after closures. Evidence is replete with many spin-offs, small and large that can I heard from the Executive Director that a bunch of members is meeting informally over coffee. All good things will end eventually but this is an interesting development to watch. We can all learn from this process and be amazed as to what 'reimagining the futures' would be like for this community.
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OWNERSHIP7/31/2023 I have been busy teaching over this summer. One of the things I noticed in terms of real learning is that the student or the learner must take learning seriously for it to take place. With ChatGPT and AI-generated content, students are being spoon-fed with information that is not curated, appropriate, and generalized to mean anything that could be suitable for their own use. The detection is simply a matter of finding if the language is sophisticated, the grammar is flawless, and the text sounds repetitive and when compared with other submissions, they all sounded the same. It is pathetic that we are producing a bunch of new graduates that relegated thinking to automation. There are many wonderful things that ChatGPT can do to aid in learning but replacing critical thinking skills is the worst side effect of all. Universities, colleges, and academic institutions must have a company-wide policy as to what the students can't do with AI because it will harm their learning and because it is ubiquitous, it is easy to resort to this device. If students are ignorant as to the sources, limitations, and stupidity of automated content, they can easily use it not knowing that they are selling themselves short and becoming part of the automated herd. Back in the 80s, learning was traditional and non-modern, but it worked for me. Computers came in the 90s and early 2000s donated from the US but we didn't bother learning more than what was expected. The Internet opened up a lot of doors in the early 2000s for learners but we were still pretty much into books and published materials. I can still recall some of the learning in the classroom during my first Masters when we would discuss issues in the class through the use of argumentation and debate. Thinking about this for my daughter gives me concern for her future. As a society, while this technology is nascent and there are still imperfections yet, we should start building an ethical and governance policy for the use of this technology that will ensure the younger generation does not see it as an easy way out and not even an answer to their schooling/academic requirements and obligations. We should regulate the developers to the point that future developments do not create more risks for human consumption in areas where it can subvert or undermine human evolution. Risks assessments should be part and parcel of any policy pertaining to this technology. We should own this technology and not own us. We should start delineating its boundaries and restricting its use for greater social benefit and not accelerate intellectual societal decay.
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NON-THINKING6/5/2023 With the talk of ChatGPT as the game-changer in education, training, and literacy, what actually changed was the training on non-thinking. A colleague of mine who is an instructor was just so happy that ChatGPT is around to help him with case study formulation. I get the convenience but I fear the far greater implications to the education process where every student, faculty, trainer, and executive would just depend on the technology to tell them what to think and not just how messages can be permutated in million ways. I believe that technology for good is good but technology without mediation, controls, and governance could spell doom for humanity. The already social media-raised generation is now saturated with every gizmos and gadgets so that they don't have to live the real life, work hard, and achieve success based on what they put in but live in virtual life where virtual reality is manufactured based on their preferred version of reality. When I wrote my book, I relied mainly on basic editing software which is a great help for a professional with English as her second language. While this is so, I made sure that I write using my own voice, my wording, my inflections, which would make me different but also interesting. Imagine countless of books and manuals written these days where every wording, tone, content are regurgitated by AI and machines? We will sound exactly the same, as in robotic. We will be mouthing each other's messages and will echo what is mainly acceptable in the mainstream, whoever that mainstream dominant voice in the multiverse is. The days of being unique is over. Conformity powered by technology here. But with all the investments in education, this is not something you would want to have attained after a number of years of schooling, higher education, executive trainings for professional development, and so on. If schools are not putting guidelines on this thing, we might as well homeschool our children so we they don't get what the machines pick and serve on a silver platter on to our kids' brains. Get out of this conditioning before it's too late. |