I might be misunderstanding you, but the question you posed is all over the internet. First try, first page. It does not surprise me an LLM can “help” here.
My deeper issue with this tech is not its “knowledge”, it’s the illusion of understanding that I am afraid it fosters.
Lots of people will nod and agree when a competent teacher/mentor figure shows them something and walks them through it. They even think they understand. However, when given an actual new problem that they have to solve themselves without help they completely break down.
I am all for shallow learning as a hobby. Myself I love it, but I think it is dangerous if we misunderstand the nature of the problem here. Understanding is only partly based on consumption. A significant part of any craft is in the doing.
Take something like calculus. There are mountains of beautifully crafted, extraordinary videos on just about every nuance calculus has to offer and you can watch it all. It will give you a lot of concepts and this alone might be worth something but your time is better spent watching one or two videos and then practicing problems for hours.
My personal impulse was to grab to videos or books the moment I was stuck in my younger years. I now recognize how flawed this strategy was. Sure, it was “productive”. I got stuff “done”, but my knowledge was superficial and shallow. I had to make up for it later. By doing, you guessed it, a shit ton of exercises.
One thing I do appreciate is the availability of good quality content nowadays. Something like 3blue1brown is amazing and my university actually recommends watching his videos to supplement and ground your understanding.
No matter how many videos (or LLM podcasts) you consumed though, there is no way around “doing the work”.. as some painful questioning by any professional will quickly show you.
OP here: I definitely agree that shallow learning is an issue, and that it's an intoxicating effect. I've done it a few times — spent a few minutes learning a new topic, only to realize when I put it into practice that I'd been lied to.
But that's why it's critical to engage kids in this. There's a skill in using AI. Resisting the urge to take it at it's word, yet still using it for what it's good at. You can't build a skill without practice.
My deeper issue with this tech is not its “knowledge”, it’s the illusion of understanding that I am afraid it fosters.
Lots of people will nod and agree when a competent teacher/mentor figure shows them something and walks them through it. They even think they understand. However, when given an actual new problem that they have to solve themselves without help they completely break down.
I am all for shallow learning as a hobby. Myself I love it, but I think it is dangerous if we misunderstand the nature of the problem here. Understanding is only partly based on consumption. A significant part of any craft is in the doing.
Take something like calculus. There are mountains of beautifully crafted, extraordinary videos on just about every nuance calculus has to offer and you can watch it all. It will give you a lot of concepts and this alone might be worth something but your time is better spent watching one or two videos and then practicing problems for hours.
My personal impulse was to grab to videos or books the moment I was stuck in my younger years. I now recognize how flawed this strategy was. Sure, it was “productive”. I got stuff “done”, but my knowledge was superficial and shallow. I had to make up for it later. By doing, you guessed it, a shit ton of exercises.
One thing I do appreciate is the availability of good quality content nowadays. Something like 3blue1brown is amazing and my university actually recommends watching his videos to supplement and ground your understanding.
No matter how many videos (or LLM podcasts) you consumed though, there is no way around “doing the work”.. as some painful questioning by any professional will quickly show you.