The Dangers of ChatGPT - It Lowers Your Critical Thinking & Attention Span

[r0ckyreed]

I have expressed concerns with using ChatGPT in the past. I have taken on an experiment where I have utilized ChatGPT for the past few months. What I noticed shocked me. I noticed that I was becoming reliant on using ChatGPT to plan out my days, to ask it questions and to contemplate. What I didn't realize what I was doing was I was teaching myself to be less resourceful and less responsible for my critical thinking. You have to wonder, "How can I trust the answers ChatGPT gives me?" It is dangerous to utilize this tool because I feel like I am not alone in that I would utilize this tool but would fail to look up peer reviewed studies to confirm the answers I got. It is like I gave my complete authority away and used ChatGPT to contemplate instead of using my journal and brain to contemplate.

What I have started doing now is using Google first to look up the answers to my questions and find 3 different sources. This method does take longer but it trains my brain to not take mental shortcuts. I believe ChatGPT was made for people with a low Need For Cognition (NFC). I have a feeling that people are going to become so dependent on it just like they are dependent on their phones for getting them food, planning their routes, and remembering information. Think about it, how many phone numbers do you actually have memorized? I want you to compare the amount you have memorized and ask you grandpa how many numbers he has memorized. It may shock you. My grandparents have more phone numbers memorized than I do because in today's world, we can function well with a lower NFC, we do not have a high need for memory because "Why remember this if I can just write it down or ask Siri to help me remember it?"

Socrates was right about the dangers of journaling. That is why he did not write down anything because he believed that writing was not an effective way to communicate knowledge and believed it would make us less inclined to use our cognitive faculties to remember.

Well, he was both right and wrong. Socrates was right that over-reliance on journaling/technology would hamper our cognitive faculties. But Socrates was wrong that writing/technology can be useful for memory and cognition only when utilize in a non reliant way. Socrates' argument against writing defeats itself on its head a little bit because everything I know about Socrates is through the writings of Plato. Without writing, many ideas, lessons, and people in history would be forgotten. 

So, it isn't just an all or nothing deal. ChatGPT can be a great tool, but people seem to glamorize it and think that it won't come with negative outcomes. It will. Socrates' point remains that with advanced technology and reliance of it, will come with the consequence of depleting our innate faculties of cognition and intuition. I want you to think about that. If you do not use your cognition and intuition and instead outsource your thinking to ChatGPT and other things, then you will become a slave to what you outsource.

I rest my case,

Rocky

Edited January 13 by r0ckyreed

[Yimpa]

9 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

So, it isn't just an all or nothing deal. ChatGPT can be a great tool, but people seem to glamorize it and think that it won't come with negative outcomes. It will. Socrates' point remains that with advanced technology and reliance of it, will come with the consequence of depleting our innate faculties of cognition and intuition. I want you to think about that. If you do not use your cognition and intuition and instead outsource your thinking to ChatGPT and other things, then you will become a slave to what you outsource.

I rest my case,

Rocky

Thanks Rocko!

 

[Emissary]

I think it's valuable if you know where to draw the line. I've had great results especially recently with the ability to create personal GPT, made one for every topic that interests me, in that way it's more specialized and not so limited by censorship. It's great for enhancing contemplation sessions and makes for a better conversation partner than most humans could ever hope to be. However I don't rely on it for factual information (though having it process research papers, articles, etc. and being able to request a more understandable summary or just in general a more personal touch is nice), don't let it influence my worldview, and certainly not for any calculations, legal advice and other things of similar nature that it's notoriously poor at. Remember to always think for yourself and you'll be fine.

[Thought Art]

I find it helps me think extremely deeply

[Princess Arabia]

 

I think we can find good and bad in any tool They all serve a purpose; and depending on how we use them, can be of extreme value. We are advancing in technology faster than our brains can keep up; and for some, this can stunt their cognitive growth but can also be beneficial for some who are already highly advanced in certain areas and could use the shortcut in helping to develop other areas they are working on.

For example, a lawyer who doesn't have the time to prepare his own meals may hire a personal chef to do the cooking for him so he can allocate his time to other important things. This will not make him a better cook and probably make him less knowledgeable in the art of food preparation and stunt his growth in this area but still grow the chef into a better cook (win-win for both). Consider the personal chef chatgpt who is doing all the cooking to allow the lawyer the time he needs to develop more advanced ways of practicing law that could be beneficial to society on a whole, (this is just one example out of many). 

People like Leo will wear the same shirt or duplicates of the same shirt over and over for his videos to free up the wasted time it takes to decide what shirt to wear. Simon Cowell does the same thing and would wear a white T-Shirt and blue jeans for every episode on American Idol. 

These people don't have time to be worried about petty things. Same with the use of Chatgpt. It can be highly beneficial for those who don't have time for lower tasks and who are working on more advanced things for the benefit of society on a whole and instead of using their time and energy to research things that Chatgpt can quickly do for them, they are advancing quicker and at a more productive pace in whatever they are trying to accomplish. 

This is pertaining to anyone doing anything at whatever level - not limited to astronauts or engineers or developers. 

While it is imperative to practice the skill of memorization, knowing phone numbers by heart isn't necessary for advancing a society that's already so technologically advanced. We have to move along and go at the pace at which Consciousness is expanding. It is expanding at a rapid pace and is developing ways that aids in this expansion and is using Chatgpt to help in this way. 

So it's up to us to seek out the benefits of this masterpiece of technology or get stuck and focus on ways it can be harmful. People's memory has caused them much trauma in their lives so maybe losing that capacity may work for them in the long run and as a result be more focussed in the moment instead of reminiscing about unimportant events and circumstances that stunts evolutionary growth.

 

 

[Ishanga]

The problem is never the Technology, or Invention we create, its You being Unconscious, reacting to it compulsively, and not responding to it Concsiously, everything is a tool, you use it then drop it when not needed, same with Ego complex, you can do this when Your Conscious, when Your complusive it all rules You...

[Princess Arabia]

4 minutes ago, Ishanga said:

The problem is never the Technology, or Invention we create, its You being Unconscious, reacting to it compulsively, and not responding to it Concsiously, everything is a tool, you use it then drop it when not needed, same with Ego complex, you can do this when Your Conscious, when Your complusive it all rules You...

Say that again!

[r0ckyreed]

24 minutes ago, Ishanga said:

The problem is never the Technology, or Invention we create, its You being Unconscious, reacting to it compulsively, and not responding to it Concsiously, everything is a tool, you use it then drop it when not needed, same with Ego complex, you can do this when Your Conscious, when Your complusive it all rules You...

That’s like saying “guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” What this argument fails to grasp is that they dismiss the dangers of a certain technology/weapon. Not everything is a tool. Guns and nukes are weapons. If they were tools, then you would keep them in a toolbox and not in a safe. The issue is that certain technologies bring about more unconsciousness in society. It is ignorant to assume that everyone is at a monk level control of their mind to where they are able to not allow themselves to go into unconsciousness. There is a reason why we have advertisements and other technology, because it works in getting attention and altering peoples consciousness.

Edited January 14 by r0ckyreed

[Ishanga]

4 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

That’s like saying “guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” What this argument fails to grasp is that they dismiss the dangers of a certain technology/weapon. Not everything is a tool. Guns and nukes are weapons. If they were tools, then you would keep them in a toolbox and not in a safe.

Guns do not kill ppl, People are the ones killing other people, and life forms like the amazon. Its choice.. What Your talking about is value, we put nukes and other things in safe places because of their value, and we haven't used them much because someone knows or is conscious enough to know their potential to end life, its enormous. So in the end its all about consciousness, if Your unconscious to a high degree then Your a slave to everything, if consciusness raise up the less of a slave You are, if Your totally conscious, then Your destiny is Yours, your internal experience is complete, from that everything you do is a giving, no extraction needed, other than sustaining Your body with nurishment...

Edited January 14 by Ishanga

[r0ckyreed]

32 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

People's memory has caused them much trauma in their lives so maybe losing that capacity may work for them in the long run and as a result be more focussed in the moment instead of reminiscing about unimportant events and circumstances that stunts evolutionary growth.

To play God’s Advocate, memory you could argue is also a tool. And like you said in the beginning, they can be good or bad depending on how we use them. Memories don’t cause trauma, it is our reaction and how we interpret the situation. Memory also can produce happiness as well. The issue still remains that we are becoming more unconscious to our own intellectual gifts when we delegate our inner cognitive resources to ChatGPT, FaceBook, Actualized.org, or whatever. Leo is great, but I see too many folks relying on him to contemplate for them. You know those folks who are asking for a video on such and such topic. I’m like “dude! Just contemplate it for yourself and study the shit out of that topic for yourself! You don’t need another human being to tell you the grass is green!” This is just one example. Leo gives a lot of value, but the ultimate value comes from yourself and ability to fall in love with your own intelligence.

[Princess Arabia]

8 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

That’s like saying “guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” What this argument fails to grasp is that they dismiss the dangers of a certain technology/weapon. Not everything is a tool. Guns and nukes are weapons. If they were tools, then you would keep them in a toolbox and not in a safe. The issue is that certain technologies bring about more unconsciousness in society. It is ignorant to assume that everyone is at a monk level control of their mind to where they are able to not allow themselves to go into unconsciousness. There is a reason why we have advertisements and other technology, because it works in getting attention and altering peoples consciousness.

A hammer is a tool and can be a weapon. We are doing word semantics here. A sharp pencil don't kill people but it can be used to. Stop the word games. We invented tool boxes for consumerism. Tools can be stored under the bed. 

[r0ckyreed]

1 hour ago, Thought Art said:

I find it helps me think extremely deeply

The question now is, can you learn to think deeply on your own and fall in love with your own intelligence rather than the intelligence of ChatGPT?

Do you see how if you are reliant on external resources, then it will be very hard to fall in love with your own internal resources? 

One of the most beautiful things in life is being able to fall in love with your own mind and intelligence. It just baffles me what kinds of insights I am able to derive on my own.

Of course, I still use ChatGPT, Google, and Facebook, but I take the dangers of these tools very seriously and I now use them in moderation. The issue is people aren’t taking the dangers of technology and AI seriously. They don’t see the difference between a tool and a weapon. An object is both a tool and a weapon. I notice a lot of people focus more on the tool part of an object than they do on the weapon part. 

There is a power of reading through an entire article and book rather than having ChatGPT summarize it for you. I think ChatGPT will help us achieve great things, but it will also make us very cognitively lazy.

Edited January 14 by r0ckyreed

[Princess Arabia]

2 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

To play God’s Advocate, memory you could argue is also a tool. And like you said in the beginning, they can be good or bad depending on how we use them. Memories don’t cause trauma, it is our reaction and how we interpret the situation. Memory also can produce happiness as well. The issue still remains that we are becoming more unconscious to our own intellectual gifts when we delegate our inner cognitive resources to ChatGPT, FaceBook, Actualized.org, or whatever. Leo is great, but I see too many folks relying on him to contemplate for them. You know those folks who are asking for a video on such and such topic. I’m like “dude! Just contemplate it for yourself and study the shit out of that topic for yourself! You don’t need another human being to tell you the grass is green!” This is just one example. Leo gives a lot of value, but the ultimate value comes from yourself and ability to fall in love with your own intelligence.

The only part of my post that I was uncomfortable with and was debating on erasing or not, you quoted. Isn't that something. I will leave it there though because it still is valid to some degree.

[r0ckyreed]

3 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

The only part of my post that I was uncomfortable with and was debating on erasing or not, you quoted. Isn't that something. I will leave it there though because it still is valid to some degree.

😊🙏 That was the only part I respectfully disagreed about. But I am glad you kept it in because it helped me articulate additional thoughts.

[Princess Arabia]

@r0ckyreedI see you make some valid points but seem to be dismissive about the other sides. There are multiple ways of looking at things and i notice you are usually stuck in your own perspective. You tend to be very right-brained in your thinking and get stuck in your view points. 

100 years ago maybe people would have argued against smart phones and point out all the ways it could be damaging to humans, yet it is the very thing that has brought you into my awareness.

It's use has diminished some people's capacity to spell on their own but has also made tremendous advancements in other areas of life. 

Up down, up down, advance decline, advance decline, create destroy, create destroy, it's the cycle of life. Up to you to fuss about life's creation but it knows what it's doing.

[Princess Arabia]

9 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

😊🙏 That was the only part I respectfully disagreed about. But I am glad you kept it in because it helped me articulate additional thoughts.

Great

[r0ckyreed]

14 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

@r0ckyreedI see you make some valid points but seem to be dismissive about the other sides. There are multiple ways of looking at things and i notice you are usually stuck in your own perspective. You tend to be very right-brained in your thinking and get stuck in your view points. 

100 years ago maybe people would have argued against smart phones and point out all the ways it could be damaging to humans, yet it is the very thing that has brought you into my awareness.

It's use has diminished some people's capacity to spell on their own but has also made tremendous advancements in other areas of life. 

Up down, up down, advance decline, advance decline, create destroy, create destroy, it's the cycle of life. Up to you to fuss about life's creation but it knows what it's doing.

I agree. I am just pointing out the dangers. I know that it is inevitable and that AI will be as common as toilet paper one day, and like toilet paper, it will be very useful and helpful but also full of shit. Lol. I am amazed by the intelligence we are creating in the world. I am just pointing out the dangers.

It’s kind of like Socrates. He was against writing, and he had very valid points. But it was Plato’s writing that kept his ideas alive. 

So, it is the same with AI in that I am stating the dangers of AI/technology through the use of AI/technology in which without AI/technology, I could not communicate in this way and talk about its dangers. I am just pointing out that there is a big cost. This cost could prevent you from accessing your full inner-cognitive capacities, or it may not.

I appreciate you.

Edited January 14 by r0ckyreed

[Princess Arabia]

4 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

I agree. I am just pointing out the dangers. I know that it is inevitable and that AI will be as common as toilet paper one day, and like toilet paper, it will be very useful and helpful but also full of shit. Lol. I am amazed by the intelligence we are creating in the world. I am just pointing out the dangers.

It’s kind of like Socrates. He was against writing, and he had very valid points. But it was Plato’s writing that kept his ideas alive. 

So, it is the same with AI in that I am stating the dangers of AI/technology through the use of AI/technology in which without AI/technology, I could not communicate in this way and talk about its dangers. I am just pointing out that there is a big cost. This cost could prevent you from accessing your full inner-cognitive capacities, or it may not.

I appreciate you.

Thank you and I do appreciate your thought-provoking posts. They open up the mind and allows for other perspectives one might not have seen through.

[UnbornTao]

Some of the downsides of technology. Socrates criticized the invention of writing, thinking that it'd stifle people's memory. You can of course find upsides to any tech as well.

[Ishanga]

2 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

Some of the downsides of technology. Socrates criticized the invention of writing, thinking that it'd stifle people's memory. You can of course find upsides to any tech as well.

Yes agreed, and this is an important point, only a few things may be considered absolutely wrong, thinking Child sex abuse, Elder abuse and such things, but most other things that many label as "wrong" are only wrong in a very conditioned subjective experience, the conditioning is the important word there, so with a higher consciousness in place as an everyday experience, then one can see with greater Clarity, with that comes the realization that in this world, duality is here, materialism is here, no system to manage that massive amount of ppl works perfectly, and sometimes what looks very bad is a necessary action, and visa versa, Tech is just like anything, just use it, don't let it use you, You are the master of Your Universe, or should be, if not then that is the work and where the attention should be...