Author: КУЛИКОВА ВАЛЕРИЯ СЕРГЕЕВНА | KULIKOVA VALERIA
From the author
I am again trying to express my thoughts in a work about the distant future, to make the story public. And not even because I crave recognition of my point of view, but because I want to hear the opinion of members of society like me, who probably have ever thought about similar things.
I still do not find the moral strength to make value judgments - "good" or "bad" will be our future. However, I am sure that there are no random events and phenomena in the world, there are a series of patterns that lead to a result that is quite expected if you compare some facts and theories.
We can speculate about the inventions of the future, as great scientists once did. And we must be aware of the relationship - after all, Thomas Edison lived on our planet, who saw the need for high-quality lighting. What came of it? That's right, he invented the incandescent lamp. What am I driving at? Yes, simply to the fact that a person is flexible and rapid in his development and always stands for his own comfort - as soon as a problem appears, its solution is born.
But what if a person does not quite grasp the boundaries of that comfort, which concerns his personality, intelligence, hobbies, that is, his identity? What if the world, with all the human leap forward, still remains for many of us a metaphorical cage that limits our horizons and hinders development? And who will be to blame for this and, as you might have guessed, is to blame now?
In my story, I would like to reveal the issue of artificial intelligence in education from different angles, because for me this is the best option - the future is not black and white. Education is one of the most socially adapted spheres of society, which involves helping a person become who he is destined to become - with his own set of attitudes, thoughts, knowledge, etc., that is, a set of experiences transmitted by someone. And how the intervention of artificial intelligence in the educational process will affect its quality is a very interesting question. From this perspective, we can also consider the primacy of artificial intelligence in many spheres of society - what happens if a person is pushed into the background?
And, of course, my story is by no means a dystopia, moreover, it is not filled with a drop of pessimism, as many of you might think after reading, however I would also not like to talk about the future from a happily one-sided point of view, because I do not want either myself or you to engage in self-deception.
We all need to understand that where there is progress, there is also a return, and the stronger this progress is, the higher the quality level it acquires, the greater the price will have to be paid. But where and how to pay is a much broader question than one might think. Let's figure it out together. Have a nice read!
***
Why is boredom felt in all its boundless splendor in such a spacious, bright room? This has been thought about more than once or twice by little Jan, ten years old, who spent every day sitting in a wide ivory armchair and examining the barely noticeable dents on the ceiling. His problem wasn't even that he felt lousy, but that he just couldn't feel any other way. And I would have been glad, probably, to somehow overcome this damned boredom, but I didn't even have the strength to just get up or talk to someone.
You could reasonably be outraged by telling young Jan that, actually, there are a lot of things in the world to occupy your time: drawing, modeling, playing with cars, walking, well, and what else ten-year-old boys do there. I don't want to upset you in advance, but Ian would only lazily roll his eyes and wave it off in response to your words. Talking to you is also quite boring, because you don't understand the main thing!
Imagine yourself in a situation where at work the boss chooses who to assign a difficult task to, and his gaze, oh my God, stops not at you, but at your colleague. You will feel joy at first, and also, for sure, incredibly relax - because now all the responsibility does not lie with you. Introduced? But you don't need to imagine Jan - that's how things are in his short, modest life.
To explain a little who this mysterious protagonist of ours is, you need to turn to his family tree, but only then everything will become clearer with each plot twist.
Daniil Viktorovich Alfyorov is a tall and well-built man of fifty years old, who does not look at his age at all thanks to the achievements of medicine and from entertainment has only the habit of pointing a finger at everyone and giving orders. It's funny enough to realize that the surname with the meaning "freedom" is worn by a man who gave birth to a whole corporation of weak-willed and uninitiative people. Daniel was born, as they say, with a "silver spoon" in his mouth, did not deny himself anything and never lived poorer than any programmer (and you understand how honorable this profession is, provided that artificial intelligence gets out of control), he inherited a large business, which Daniel himself brought to perfection. There is only one child in the Alferov family, the mother, Alexia Alferova, has strong feelings for her husband, but, alas, they are very far from love and the desire to be together. You understood everything correctly: in our time, when women received the whole set of personal and other rights, artificial insemination technologies appeared a long time ago, family life ceased to be a significant link to strengthen the family and the patriarchal system first malfunctioned, and then completely collapsed.
Sorry, I got distracted, the story is not really about that, but still this fact clarifies the situation prevailing in the family of Jan a little. He grew up comfortably and very lonely, moreover, the situation in the coming year 2100 led us to an interesting course of events: the child does not have to be taken to some clubs, it is not necessary to give him the choice of toys he likes, because the moment will come when he will be told what and how he should do according to his abilities.
We are talking about a very convenient technology for the children of the elite, introduced into the education process at its earliest stages. It consists in quickly determining the inner portrait of the child: all his inclinations, habits, abilities, possible hobbies are determined with incredible speed by artificial intelligence. The education of children from rich families plunged into a period of automation and precision, when personal qualities of a person and professional orientation play a big role, coupled with adaptability and a broad outlook, however, the option to develop something independently from childhood was discarded, because it would not give any guarantees. Scientists, without hesitation, say that in the long run, trusting artificial intelligence, and not your own mind, is not such a bad decision, because the human brain is imperfect and simply cannot learn much by itself, and even more so in such a short time, which was set by none other than the government. The country that united the early independent states declared that it needed a huge intellectual stratum of society that would not only lead, but also give impetus to new inventions - and you know that people are greedy for everything new. And even more so, when so many interesting discoveries have already been born, coming up with something even more perfect is not an easy task. The people in power literally said, "We need great minds and we don't care how you achieve it." At that moment, believe me, the state was not concerned about the child as an individual, he was more interested in the fact that this child would not remain a child forever, and when he grows up, he will have a potentially high intelligence and will be able to bring something to science and business. And since the technology is still quite expensive, only a select few, the richest and most respected members of society are allowed to use it. This is understandable, because artificial intelligence eliminates the right to make mistakes and saves time on meaningless activities that will not bring a child either a result or a place in life, according to experts.
From here we can return to our hero, Alferov Jan. As a child, well, at a very early age, Jan was quite an energetic child and was ready to participate in any adventure, which is typical for almost all children. He was interested in drawing, after each trip to the gallery of modern art, he asked his dad to buy him all the drawing supplies. Even something like a dream took shape in his little head. But every time something broke against the stern and gloomy face of his father: "You can't know and be sure that drawing will really suit you in life. Your opinion can't be right, you'll grow up and understand." And, surprisingly, Jan understood quickly enough. I realized that there is no point in trying to be at least someone in this society full of hypocrisy and deliberate stability. He also learned that his opinion, the opinion of an ordinary human child, is not even close to the verdict that artificial intelligence makes. Here he is, unlike baby Jan, fifty years ago proved that he surpasses the human mind, and every two years his effectiveness only increases, and even doubles.
It is not difficult to guess that if something is instilled in a child for a very long time or deprived of a chance for self-expression, someone without emotions, aspirations and desires will grow up, a weak-willed doll, simply put. That's exactly what our Jan has become.
There were no new dents in the ceiling, the walls had not changed color, but Jan could not find a reason to look away from them. Tomorrow is school, a test that will determine his life, his place in society and his purpose. Jan yawned and closed his eyes. He didn't care how the test went or what they told him, but something was squeezing in his chest anyway. Or not, it seemed...Senselessly. Pointless and still boring to death.
***
***
Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Grand Esprit school is the most reliable and safe building in the entire district, the facade is made of high-quality natural materials in light shades, which gives even more sense of space. But for some reason, it was in this huge place, as in his mansion, that Jan felt cornered and completely helpless. This school has been a mainstay of modern education for many years: children study according to individual programs, there are many classrooms where they can immerse themselves in the virtual world, instead of teachers there are personal tablets with a pre-prepared program or robot assistants who have long replaced mentors, students are not divided into classes, school uniforms have long outlived themselves and it seemed It would seem that in such conditions of freedom of choice, every child should feel the happiest. But, alas, happiness is an abstract and difficult concept to achieve, and each of the students of this institution has long understood this. Ian has already mentally prepared himself to become one of them.
At the entrance, at the very top of the huge staircase, Jan and his father were waiting for a robot assistant of the latest model - Max. He greeted them with a smiling display, but, of course, he did not feel sincere joy. His task was to escort Jan to a room equipped for testing. The school boasted an enviable number of corridors, like in a maze, but the robot confidently swerved right and left, accurately determining the direction of movement. "People like them are dictating the rules now, aren't they?" Jan thought sadly. I could have done it with a sneer, but it didn't work out. The children's faces that were walking towards our hero were completely exhausted, and their range of emotions looked more like a set of stools than a small child. Jan immediately wondered what had been peculiar to him before, and now very unexpectedly: "But if they already know their abilities and know who they should be, even have a personal lesson plan, then why are they so sad?". However, it was too lazy for Jan to get an answer, because they entered under the canopy of a dark vault that hid a bunch of offices with wide and high doors. One of them was definitely necessary, but for the life of me, for Jan they were all monstrously identical, just like the faces of the newly met schoolchildren.
Max opened the tenth door on the left, which, however, did not stand out among the others, and stepped into the darkness of the room, Jan and his father following.
The room turned out to be very gloomy, filled from floor to ceiling with a computer installation with millions of small wires. Jan noticed that the walls were hung with hats of graduates of different colors - black, green, red. "What did you hang this for?" - the kid asked the robot, although it was still unusual for him to talk to a piece of iron. "This is the result of our experiment - our graduates who are quite happy in their lives after school," replied Max, whose facial expression apparently never changed at all. Artificial intelligence may have reached a qualitatively new level in all indicators of thinking, but there was no soul in it. Jan began to doubt that such a thing was even possible.
He was silently pointed to an upholstered high-backed chair that was hooked directly to a huge monitor, next to headphones, a panel keyboard and a bottle of water. "How long will it take?" Daniel asked matter-of-factly, twitching his shoulder. "As long as it can stand it," the robot replied without any change in its voice. Jan felt uneasy. He was not sure that he could stand it long enough and that the boundaries of this very "sufficiency" would be indicated to him. The robot did not inspire the boy with any confidence from the very beginning, and now in his eyes it has turned into a terrible enemy, from which it is better to run with flashing heels.
Despite all his misgivings, Jan nevertheless went to the chair and tried to sit comfortably. When he turned around, he realized that his father had already been taken out of the office, and he was left alone. Suddenly, his hands were tightly handcuffed to the chair, and a helmet with flashing electronic sensors in transparent tubes was pushed over his head from somewhere above. The monitor lit up first white, then blue, and now large capital letters appeared: "CERTIFIED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE" (certified by artificial intelligence).
In the next instant, sentences, numbers, pictures from hieroglyphs to works of art flashed before Jan's eyes at breakneck speed. At first, Jan liked everything, because he saw a lot of beautiful things: the works of contemporary artists who were familiar to him. However, everything changed very quickly: the paintings were replaced by numbers, programs, codes, what the boy did not like from early childhood - he had seen enough of his father's work.
Jan protested what he saw with a heavy indignant sigh, tried to take off his headphones, but remembered in time that his hands were firmly holding the chair. He started shaking his head and closing his eyes, but at some point he just couldn't. He realized that barely distinguishable electrical impulses were passing through his whole body, and a voice was sounding in his head: "Mistake, please do not perform prohibited actions."
And Jan sat quietly until the very end. He remembered everything only in fragments, they showed him his future and told him about the possibilities of his intellect and his father's connections. Programming led him to success, status and greatness, and, most importantly, would benefit society and the state. There was no place for drawing in this future. There were no other options, and their possible significance smoldered in the mind of a little boy who had just begun to live and strive for something. All his desires were already nipped in the bud, and what remained deep in his soul was trampled right there - in a high leather chair.
He silently left the office, did not cry, did not swear, did not even frown. My father immediately asked a question of interest - what is there, what awaits you? To which I heard in response a very specific request: "Dad, take me to the art gallery."
The boy sat in front of the work "Dawn of Life" with empty eyes, no longer thought about anything and finally stopped wanting anything. The gallery was quiet and peaceful, people were looking with interest at the huge canvases of the great artists of our time. However, the name Jan Alfyorov will never appear among them. The boy who dreamed didn't care anymore.
Afterword
My essay, which I dare to call a story, does not convey my sharply negative or sharply positive opinion about the possibility of the primacy of artificial intelligence in education. Therefore, I would like to clarify some points.
When we talk about education, we must remember not only the part in which learning itself takes place, but also what we call "education". Education implies the creation and, if you will, the cultivation of a personality within each individual. A person grows up with a number of characteristic traits that are part of his character, but only attitudes, thoughts, values, goals, that is, in general, the whole worldview forms the basis for his further existence and interaction with society.
Psychologists have long proven that a person needs self-expression and the opportunity to be whoever he wants, or at least to be someone. The suppression of such an opportunity leads to an incomplete, uneven development of the psyche and does not exclude the clouding of some of its properties or characteristic features in a person: the ability to think critically, make an informed choice, strive for something, see oneself as a unit of society, and be able to merge into it without losing one's individuality.
We can safely assume that the world of the future will rely on artificial intelligence in many ways and it will no longer be possible to control it. People want to create the illusion of control over the situation while their own offspring are taking over - this is exactly the situation, in my opinion, that could develop by the year 2100. I rely on the fact that according to Moore's law, as I mentioned above in the story, artificial intelligence gains in its effectiveness twice every two years. According to some experts, its development will even reach the ability to manifest elementary emotions, but this theory breaks down about the perfection in this regard of the emotional component of the human psyche. Thus, AI will not be able to surpass humans in the sensory sphere.
What am I getting at? To the fact that AI will, of course, be many times superior to humans in intellectual terms, but it will not be able to determine the fate of a person, her ambitions, states, goals, dreams, etc. due to its limited emotional spectrum and lack of empathy. This conclusion helps to come to an absolutely obvious thought: if artificial intelligence is not perfect in understanding the structure of the human psyche due to the inability to imitate and adopt it, it simply has no right to give instructions on further emotional and social experience of a person. People may well accept the fact that they are losing everything to AI, but they will be fundamentally wrong. The experience of the main character of my story showed that robots, which are the embodiment of artificial intelligence in action, cannot read emotions, empathize and convey socially significant experiences.
Thus, I recognize the need to develop AI in many areas (for example, medicine, construction, programming, etc.), but I assume that an attempt to introduce artificial intelligence into education, which is a social process of personality formation, will fail. More precisely, either she or the whole of humanity will fail, because the lack of education based on constant self-search, development and continuity will lead to the degradation of society - it is difficult to argue with this fact even living in the current conditions, in the 21st century.
The value of education specifically consists in not only investing knowledge, but also educating worthy members of society who are able to identify themselves as a separate element of a large mechanism, are able to distinguish and interpret their own emotions and feelings, strive for development and cohesion. My story shows one of the worst scenarios: people, having pressure from AI and praising its abilities over their own, gave their right to choose into the hands of soulless iron, lost their love for life and its very feeling, living it on their own lost all meaning, human efficiency in economic and political terms became higher, than morality, ethics and the very existence of man.
But we must all remember that man is the most unique being on the planet, the only one capable of living, accumulating and rethinking any experience. We are the only beings who bring something qualitatively new to this world, we are able to destroy ourselves and each other, but at the same time save too. After all, our future consists of a million big and not so big choices that each of us is able to make.
Your future is created by what you do today, not by what you will do tomorrow.
(Robert Kiyosaki)